You think riding your mountain bike in a 100+ mile off road marathon is hard? Try producing a documentary around it.
Having personally ridden and completed the Leadville Trail 100 mtn bike race 3 times before, I wanted to create a film that celebrated the incredible stories that you see in an all-day race at altitude.
The LT100 is 104 miles of mountain bike racing, most all of it is at 10,000 ft. above sea level with a total of 14,000 ft. of climbing. Held each year in Leadville, CO, this race brings the amatuer and elite riders together for an epic day.
The race is such a cool format – that you get to line up at the starting line with Lance Armstrong and Dave Wiens. Because it’s an ‘out and back’ format, most racers are going out as the leaders are coming back and you get to be a spectator for a moment from within the race.
As a Director you want as many cameras as you can get your hands on – all in full resolution HD. And while I had a good idea where most of the drama would occur there are so many variables on a 100+ mile course that you just never know.
In addition to the cameras on the ground, you go with things you can count on like a helicopter and a motorcycle. But a helicopter has limits like wind, altitude, and running out of money. The race lasts 12 hours and helicopter fees at thousands of dollars per hour, you have to make choices. We used the Cineflex camera system, which is a gyro mount on the belly of the chopper allowing 360 degree pans and the ability to zoom all the way in to a rock solid tight shot of a single rider.
The motorcycle has limits mainly based on terrain. This is a mountain bike race with many very steep, loose, rocky sections and a lot of singletrack which is literally only wide enough to allow only one bike at a time. So the photographer and cameraman used two different types of off road motorcycles: One for the smoother, fire road parts of the course and another serious motorcross bike to track with riders on the steepest most technical parts of the course.
The shooting crew had to be fit, able to hike with gear at high altitudes and prepared for everything from rain to snow. And they got EVERYTHING on that 15th of August 2009…including fresh snow with the temperature in town reading in the thirties.
Another huge challenge in this race is communication. There is no reliable cell signal and the range of the walkie talkies wa slimited. So, we had 4 Satellite phones as backups and a relay system with the walkie talkies. I would switch head sets in the heli between talking to the pilot and cameraman, then talking with our crew via walkie talkie, cell phone or Sat phone. We also had someone stationed with the race communication office to communicate where racers were on the course.
So, at the end of the day… we nailed it. We captured the race leaders and all of the racers with the drama of rain, wind, hail, sleet and snow. The crew survived, got amazing footage and sound.
Now the challenge of editing 80 hours of raw footage down to a finished 75 minute movie began. In less than 60 days the movie which was shot in High Def, and mixed in 5.1 surround sound would play in theaters nationwide…so really for us, the race was just the beginning.
Frank Matson
