On 5th day of MTB Himchal, health of our car was not good. After having proper checkup and servicing, we moved from Baghipul towards Bahu which was camping site on 5th day !!! Let's continue with next PHOTO JOURNEY of 5th day of MTB Himachal 2011 -
Somehow it was boring day for us... Nothing very scenic and bored of clicking similar shots all through... And our car had to broke down on same day... On top of that it's difficult to handle officials who start giving their expert fundas on 'how to click photographs and where' ... I hope someone read it and try to learn :) ... I was amazed to listen one of the official suggesting an angel on which a media-person should shoot. Creative people also accept new ideas but the tone should be friendly :)
Anyway all this happen although MTB team is unique in itself :) ... Many photographers/media folks in Delhi and Shimla are very well aware of that fact :) ... Recently I met few folks in Delhi Photo Festival who were contacted for photography and got to know about some amazing stuff which could not be shared on this blog :)
Anyway, all the riders kept riding during free-ride and were not able to locate starting to Stage-2 :) ... Suddenly they realized that free ride of 12 kilometers is over and now they should have been able to reach the starting point of Stage-2.
Here most of the riders from Nepal and Army are waiting for Officials to come and decide where is Stage-2. Usually assigned folks move ahead and mark the area from where a stage had to start. This time, there was some confusion and no one reached the place. Since there was no marking, riders kept riding assuming that it's free-ride and went ahead. All of these riders were really irritated and one of them called the officials to check the status. No one had any clue, which was strange that no one in main organizing team knew about the stage-2 of India's toughest mountain terrain biking !!!
Anyway, action was taken after that call and it took 30 minutes for them to reach the point, which was lot of time by considering schedule of a day. After all this mismanagement, stage-2 of day-5 started...
Suddenly we realized that roads were moving upwards and weather was changing. Although he could not decide weather camp is at height or there is again a downhill after this uphill, which was usual thing to happen everyday. Steep uphill and a sudden downhill to end the day ...
Bike Marshals moving ahead and their bike flying in air !!!
This particular stretch was a bit interesting as from top we were able to see multiple layers of road coming up... This was something that was different from other places. But lighting was not very favorable and mist made the things more difficult. Evening was hazy on 5th day of MTB Himachal 2011..
A defocused photograph, but can give an idea about the deepness of this valley... and this was stage-2 of MTB Himachal 2011 !!
Stage-2 was mainly like --- It had start with downhill tarmac and then this uphill... Then we crossed Village Urtu.. After Urtu Kachha road started and after Bandal village, downhill started... And then again tarmac & kachha after few miles...
Today we had request Ajay Padit Chettri to show some stunts when see us shooting him :) ... And each time we showed us new stunts.. Here only one tyre in air .. On finish of last stage on final day, both of the tyres of his bike were in air and photograph will be shared in same sequence...
Suddenly all the riders came into action when it started getting dark and downhill was last phase of this stage. Here Mr. Amitabh Pandey in action during MTB Himachal 2011 !!!
It was also good time to try panning !!! Mr. Darshan was extremely happy to see this photograph and 45 minutes spent at this spot were proven worth.
Another panning photograph shot during MTB Himachal 2011 !!!
Rider corssing flying finish point of last stage of the day-5 during Mountain Terrain Biking 2011 !!!
After Second stage, there was free ride through Durah Village and free ride ends with uphill... The Stage three was through Tandi Village, Garshai, Dathu, Seobagh, Kattar and Kandhaghai Pass...
It was getting dark and next free ride of kilometers was to finish as quick as possible. Rain was also expected during night but luckily we were safe :)
More Photographs of the event to come... So keep watching this place and get in touch at VJ@travellingcamera in case of more information about this event !!!
FOR MORE PHOTOGRAPHS OF MTB 2011 :-
Please keep in mind that I was not a rider in this event and can't comment anything about the difficulty level of these stretches... If I have mentioned anything about the same, that's my personal opinion and feel free to correct me...
Please leave your comments about this post and share suggestions for future postings...
To know more about this event, I can be reached at VJ@travellingcamera.com