[Transcend]

This will be an ongoing post as i continue to write the story and add photos to it.

A lot of these shots were taken from a moving car while Josh pretended to be Michael Schumacher (or Gwen Stefani - depending on the moment), so things may get a tad blurry. They were also batch processed, so I apologize in advance for any that aren't great. They will however, help tot tell a fun story.

Motionboy2 (Josh McGuckin) and myself travelled headed to Europe last summer to cover the Mountain Bike World Championships in Livigno, Italy and the World Cup Finals in Fort William, Scotland. This isn't so much about a ride (although we did ride a bit) but about our trip overseas to cover some of the absolute best riders on the planet doing their thing.

Josh and I have been friends sinde about 2000, when I was living in Boulder, Colorado. For awhile (3 months) I couch surfed at his place. Thanks, Josh.

We knew that we would have fun in Europe together, so off we went.

I headed to the UK a week earlier then Josh, as one of my University friend's just moved home to London, so we had great plans of partying in one of the World's most historical cities.

My friend and I stayed at a third friend's house, who was in London as a producer for the CBC (canada's national broadcaster) but was on assignment in China. We were staying on Oakley street in Chelsea/Islington (how fitting). It turns out Chelsea is a pretty swanky area, and the guy next door had a limited edition lotus something or other. Sweet.

Here I am hanging out with the Queen.

We did all of London's big tourist sites by foot and tube in one day. We clocked over 3 miles on foot. WOOO. I even turned into a chick for awhile and went shopping during my whirwind tourist trap tour day.

That's the tower bridge, NOT london bridge, FYI.

I even turned into a chick for awhile and went shopping during my whirwind tourist trap tour day.

I spent most of that afternoon looking for Doctor who, only they took all the police boxes away a few years ago, ironically, so terrorists couldn't blow them up. The garbage pails went with them.

Here I am looking for the doctor...the phone booth is a poor substitute. Judging by the smell, it makes an awesome public toilet though!

 

[stiksandstones]

Hey, thats cool they even have midgets in london!

Nice images!

 

[Transcend]

Thanks more to come shortly

 

[sanjuro]

hard to believe you went to an Oakley store. too bad you can't find any stateside...

 

[Transcend]

Here's a photo of a tavern we went to. Due to it's shape & name, it was a no brainer to take a picture of it.

Ye Olde Cock

Following a few more days of ridiculous partying it was time to head to Livigno.I flew over out of one of London's smaller airports, Luton, on an early morning flight. The day was off to a roaring start. I had to leave Islington at about 3am in order to get the last night train out of london to the airport, which is a decent hike outside of the city. I had a 6am flight, ended up getting to the airport much faster then I expect and camped in the airport overnight. Not fun, and extremely exhausting in and of itself with $10 000 in camera gear under my head and a laptop under my arm.

Ryan air how, I love you. I flew rountrip to Milan on the worlds most profitable airline, yet perhaps it's most insane. Ryan air, you see, has dirt cheap price...60euro to Milan and back, only they have no assigned seating. The english like to queue right? Wrong. Throw any notion of queuing out the window, and prepare to be treated like cattle. As soon as the flight attendants show up, it is mayhem. I'll go more into detail on this later on, when we head back from Milan.

While in the air, the good ladies and gentlemen of Ryan air like to turn the jet into a 3rd world bazare. They sell anything and everything, from toys to perfume to booze, and they stock it all on board. Crazy.

I flew into Bergamo Airport, about an hour outside of Milan.

Bergamo. Humid, hot and hazy.

 

[Transcend]

Upon arrival in Milan, I had to catch a bus to Stacione Centrale Milano - Milan's central station. There, I would grab another bus to take me out to Milan Malpensa airport on the other side of the city. Josh was flying in from Denver and Malpensa is the area's International airport.

At first I was dreading this, but it was actually a pretty scenic ride and I got to see a ton of Milan and the surrounding countryside. It was pretty cool having a bus driver younger then myself racing though downtown Milan traffic and dodging trolley cars. That kid could DRIVE.

I got to Malpensa about 30 mins or so before Josh was slated to arrive, so I sat around and people watched for a bit. not much happenning besides the entire ferrari F1 pit crew coming in from somewhere...that weekend was the Monza GP. Later in the trip, we would get passed just outside Monza by the entire travelling circus. Team trucks, haulers with the official Benz's etc. It was pretty cool.

Eventually Josh showed up and I made a stop at the tie store in the airport to grab myself a sick silk tie, made in the fashion district of Milan. Those of you who know me know I have an aversion to ties, but I figured..When in Rome... (or Milan, anyways).

We headed down to rental, both pretty giddy at this point. We had both been on the go for more then 12 hours, and there was plenty of travelling left before we would pull into Livigno and grab some dinner.

The rental guy was pretty curt, and gave us about 15 maps, a quick warning about the drivers and we were off to the car park to pick up out go-kart.

The adventure truly begins as we pick up our Fiat Punta. 1.2L of turbo charged diesel fury. It was a tiny little thing, as Josh said " It is about the size of my camera", but holy crap - this thing could turn and burn.

Josh, rockin' the Punta about to get our groove on down the Autostrada.

 

[Transcend]

Any tourist will tell you, when you drive in Italy, you take your life in your hands. I should thank Josh in advance for getting us home safe and sound. He drove in perhaps the most dangerous city in the world, and then he drove on the wrong side of the road for a week. Not a single scratch, barely a closecall and only one missed exit.

There is absolutely no question in my mind now why Italy is the home of Ferrari after this trip. Speed limits are merely a suggestion, the road signs are retarded, and when being passed it is the PASSEE's responsibility not to cause a wreck. Yes, this is actually a law. Aggressive driving is the only way to go.

We were supposed to roll down the Autostrada for a 100km or so and then get off and head straight into livigno on a smaller highway. Unfortunately, we missed the first exit due to not having a sweet clue how the roadsigns work. You see, there are no exit numbers. Each exit sign is placed over the exit lane, and has about 12 city names on it which you see about 1.3 seconds before you'd have to exit going 140km/hr +. These cities are somewhere down the road the exit leads to, possibly hundreds of kilometers, and they may be a 12 person village no local has ever heard of, let alone tourists.

We pulled over at a rest stop where we proceeded to pee in the parking lot as the bathroom had attendants and they wanted 2euro to take a leak. While I poured over the map, Josh burned the first of our driving CDs. that **** was indeed, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Ps: sorry to the rental agency guy who had to park the car with AMERICA, **** YEAH! blasting from the speakers when you started it. Consider the cd a bonus.

with a new route mapped out we were soon on our way...only to find out that the way we were going was about 3 hours longer then planned. A 4 hour drive was now about to become a 7 hour drive due to one missed exit. Fortunately for us, it was worth every second.

Instead of simply touring along a secondary highway straight towards the Swiss border, we managed to pick a route that took us through every tiny little Farming village, Winery and Alpine town in Northern Italy. This time, it paid to be clueless!

A little farm community

 

[Transcend]

Eventually we ran into a small town where we met the Village people!

The biker and his motorcycle gang greeted us...

then the cop performed his best dance move...

and finally, the construction worker made his appearance!

 

[Transcend]

I guess in Italy, it's no shirts, no shoes, no pants, no problem!

We could tell we were getting further north as the towns started to get fewer, and nature stared to get more imposing.

Soon the lakeside villas were dissappearing in favour of the small alpine villages. The air started to get cooler and the pictures more interesting. Seeing these things perched 1000' + up the side of a mountain side is pretty impressive. They don't photograph well at 300mm, in a car going 140kmhr hanging out the window but here it is anyways.

 

[Transcend]

Eventually it was time to head into the Alps.

I think it's time to leave the main road...

them mountains are getting bigger...

The roads got narrow, the traffic got scarce, the turns got tighter and Josh seemed to wake up and smile more. I think I pooped myself a few times as we zig zagged along some of the most insane switchbacks I have ever been on (including those in Colorado, sans guardrail). These things were wicked sketchy, but on we went like Mcrae and the magician. We got brake checked at 1 lane 10 yard mountain tunnels a few times, and brake checked a Maserati HARD as Josh got more comfortable with the roads.

Once we hit the Alps proper, things got exciting.

Josh said it best in his emails home: "In the mountains the roads were NARROW about 2 car widths total, when you came up on anything larger than our fiat then we held our breath. Eventually we came up on this truck...full size semi cab with no trailer. This thing was ripping along and we just followed. Anytime you come into the towns the roads narrow to about 1 car width and following the truck was like having a guide. He drove through and blocked for us... The oncoming traffic isn't going to challenge a crazy man in a rig right!?"

Our road hog buddy, breaking trail. Brake dust would routinely blast from the side of the wheels as he locked them up. It was a site to behold.

Josh goes on: "The highlight was watching this crazy rig get passed by a full sized box truck on a windy mountain road that didn't seem wide enough for the two. I couldn't, or didn't want to keep up with the box truck, that guy was fast!"

This was the most spectacular racing move I have ever seen. Only it was in an avalanche tunnel, on a mountain side, in a remote region of Northern Italy. The box truck was haulin' mail and ain't nothin' was gonna stand in his way.

 

[Transcend]

As we headed deeper into the Alps, the weather closed in and what appeared to be snowclouds loomed overhead. By this point we were heading into the final pass before dropping into Livigno so it just made the trip more memorable.

Ok now THESE are big mountains.

That above photo was just before hitting the customs booth to drop into Livigno. Napoleon declared Livigno, which sits in a secluded valley on the border with Switzerland, the worlds largest duty free zone. It has remained so to this day, and has since become one of the largest playgrounds for the rich and famous this side of Monaco. Tag Haueur, Swatch, Canon, Nikon, Levi's, Swarovski, Sterling Silver, Diamonds, Ducatis - you name it and you can get it in this little town, tax free and at a reduced rate on top of that.

After pausing in the booth and not getting so much as a wave, we dropped into the valley below.

Bleary eyed and hungry, we rolled into our hotel after crusing town trying to find it, grabbed an AMAZING meal, and hit the sheets in time the clock to strike 9. We had both been awake for over 24 hours at this point, and it was time to get our timezones in order.

The circus is in town.

 

[Transcend]

We woke the following morning to Sunny Skies and killer Italian Breakfeast (with gaz!) and a view that absolutely made our jaws drop.

We barely saw anything the night before due to the curvature of the valley and the fact that it was getting dark in a hurry when we dropped down into town. By the time we found our hotel it was pitch black. Imagine our surprise when we headed up the gondola early that morning and saw this:

Good Morning Campers!

Of course, before we managed to get into the gondola, we had to find the credentialling offices. I am MBPA, so I was in "the book". Josh however had a different experience, and the process was oh so Italian. I'll let him explain it, again from his emails home.

"I woke up this morning to get my Media credentials and they were closed... they were there, but closed. It was like a scene from a movie, a whole line of people outside and there is a lady standing there twiddling her thumbs waiting for the clock to strike 9. Well finally it struck 9 and she started out getting us all set (by this point there was quite the line) Turns out my name is "mountain biking" and I am shooting for "Josh McGuckin Magazine" As you can probably tell with a small error like that my credentials caused a whole lot of issues."

Mountain Biking McGuckin - credentials and all. The village of Livigno below.

We were finally off to the races!

Why can't every race have a start gate with a view like this?

 

[Transcend]

From the top backside of Livigno you can see the Matterhorn in Switzerland! McGuckin and I were going to mosey on over for an afternoon, but Switzerland has some insane 24 Euro "road tax" to be allowed to drive our rental car there, so we skipped it.

I kept trying to get a decent shot of the Matterhorn, but people kept getting in the way with big helmets on. Brown, MOVE!

I decided to mvoe a bit and the damn kids on bikes were no longer in my way. Seriously, those kids have no respect these days.

The Matterhorn.

Of course, I turn around and head 100' and what happens, yup - those damn kids get in my shot again. This time I decided to play along and grab a few frames.

 

[Transcend]

Stay Tuned - Next installment includes our epic battles with the police, the 4x race (eventually), dinner with Mr extreme and things that go boom!

 

[.:Jeenyus:.]

Awsome write up so far!

Definitely will be sure to tune in for more.

 

[stevew]

Fvcking good.

 

[Tame Ape]

I was goingto bust on your shants but I've got a pair hanging on my wall. You got lucky this time!

 

[Transcend]

Following DH practice, as is pretty typical at WCs, was the 4x practice around sundown. So after a snack in the press center, we all trudged back up the course to grab some shots of 4x practice as the riders are sure to show off. Only we get halfway upa nd realize this isn't going to be good. It's a maze of snowfencing in 3 colors, television scaffolding and insane mountain rescue goons working as security.

The ugly purple MBPA vest means we abide by a set of rules set out in the UCI rulebook for photographer placement, course access etc. The goonsquad had not been notified of this, or if they had, they really didn't care.

They had orange fencing for the fans, blue fencing for the media and it was all a good 3 ft below the course, so in essence, the fence was 6ft high. This meant it was impossible for us to get photos. A job we are paid to do, and that some of us travelled halfway around the world to get. Not a bunch to let uninformed volunteers put a damper on things, we all dutifully flattenned down the fence and stood next to the course, as we do at every single event.

Cue the goonsquad! Much yelling in Italian started, directed at us. First we were to move, then we were to move or be moved, then we were to move or be moved by the police. We didn't move, the riders kept on riding and practice ended. It was absurd, it was amusing, but it wasn't over.

If you think I'm moving, you're nuts.

One of the few shots from that evening.

 

[Transcend]

That night we also got to be treated like rocks stars by the Livigno organizing committee. In order to promote tourism and their new bike park, all media types were invited to a mountain type gala for a traditional italian dinner.

More to come - work to do right now...MR EXTREME!

 

[JRB]

Bad ass. You are really worldly for an angry little Canadian, Fraser. I hope you have a ton more cool pics. The story ain't so bad either.

 

[Motionboy2]

Here are a couple riders that got in my way

and fraser hangin' wit da PD

and a few sites

 

[Mtnrider]

Beautiful photos Josh! How about some more!

Brent

 

[maxyedor]

Fraser is such a tourist!

 

[Transcend]

Fraser is such a tourist!

Darn tootin'! This summer it's Brazil and possibly back to Ft bill and Willingen.

 

[maxyedor]

Darn tootin'! This summer it's Brazil and possibly back to Ft bill and Willingen.

That was meant to be an insult. Tourists are bad, travelers are good. The difference being travelers don't have pictures of themselfs in phone booths.

 

[SK6]

two things,

great pics!

Second, I thought you were older...

 

[Transcend]

That was meant to be an insult. Tourists are bad, travelers are good. The difference being travelers don't have pictures of themselfs in phone booths.

 

[Transcend]

two things,

great pics!

Second, I thought you were older...

27 and as bitter as they come.

 

[SK6]

27 and as bitter as they come.

ROFLMAO!!!!

You have much to learn young Padawan!

LOL!!

 

[SK6]

Those pics are the shiznitz dude...no joke.

 

[SK6]

What frame is that?

 

[Transcend]

What frame is that?

Honda.

 

[Transcend]

Sorry guys, no update tonight. I need to be up in 6 hours to go hunt down some deer and geese. 560mm, not double aught though.

When we pick up we'll have dinner with Mr Extreme, almost get arrested (twice), party our asses off and travel to Scotland to battle the Midges.

 

[-dustin]

transcend, how tall are you?

 

[Motionboy2]

That was meant to be an insult. Tourists are bad, travelers are good. The difference being travelers don't have pictures of themselfs in phone booths.

Fraser is the tourist, I am the traveler, it is funny how we can travel in the same car!

 

[Motionboy2]

transcend, how tall are you?

Kneehigh to a grasshopper... Or no taller than about 5ft 6 or so.

 

[SK6]

Sorry guys, no update tonight. I need to be up in 6 hours to go hunt down some deer and geese. 560mm, not double aught though.

When we pick up we'll have dinner with Mr Extreme, almost get arrested (twice), party our asses off and travel to Scotland to battle the Midges.

You suck! I was waiting all day and checking in between schoolwork and mid terms for updates....now quit your stalling and update damn it!

 

[PatBranch]

This is one of my favorite threads. Awsome Photos! and story!

 

[Bicyclist]

I just want to quit taking pictures after seeing these pics. They're so incredible. Good work!

 

[Transcend]

more to come, sorry if the natives are getting restless. I have been slammed with work this week and haven't really had a chance to sit down and get stuff together.