Boohoo that Paula and Eric are able to afford the van and afford/given the bikes to use.
At this point that van and those bikes are just as much a tool as your bikepacking setup. I’m sure you have a great time doing your thing, and they have a great time doing it their way. Those not looking the same isn’t a bad thing.
but in fairness it was not my idea to strip it down to the purest idea, it was them . so I just pointed out what the purest way is.
and of course I understand that they want and need to place the products of the sponsors.
I thought the video was great…BUT…It was far too short to truly get the message across.I wish each mini adventure was at least an hour long episode so we could really find out more about the places, the people and the reasons why for each trip.
I can totally relate to so much of the video as, after almost 40 years in the sport, I too see that the pure, wide-eyed adventure has been lost to the gear, the gadgets, the numbers and “the grind”. That is not why I do this sport and is also why I find it so hard to find like minded people in the triathlon space anymore. Here on ST especially.
I have combined bikepacking trips with events for almost twenty years now,either riding to,from or in-between races on four continents and it is funny, on the road, looking like the meandering Vagabond that I am,I am accepted and welcomed by strangers the world over. Once at the races though, it changes and I am generally left alone…except at Ultra’s…They “get it”…
So to Nick and Eric,well done,you just made me even more impatient for my next adventure and even more keen to test out all my new camera gear and drones. I doubt I’ll do my next rides the justice you guys did on film but I’ll sure try.
old warren miller films… would explain resort lay outs, ski lifts and amenities , how to get there , aside just from people skiing footage
…AND showcase the best way to get in and out of a car…or am I confusing that with the Dukes of Hazard.
I’ve known Eric personally for over a decade seeing him race up close with the itu circuit (I think he 1st man out from Rio, so I don’t know if he went as an “alternate” or not). He started doing some really good bike cam videos in itu races with voice over recaps. I thought those were just the best. Hell, ITU had to figure out if athletes could even do that, and I think a compromise was made that the data/video had to be “property of ITU” or something like that (but athletes given freedom to do whatever they wanted with the video). I enjoyed those, although that’s probaly a niche market of people buying in, but I think that’s where it all started with his creativity outlet. I appreciate their vibe / lifestyle and ability to sorta find a niche that they can be successful at, even if this type of genre isn’t really my cup of tea. But I can appreciate the work the artist put into making this type of masterpiece.
But the best thing about them was the pithy one liners.
If you don’t do it this year…
That remi ds me, “peak ratings” on youtube seems to be a revival of what i am looking for. Back on topic, i also did start following eric with his itu bike videos and talking through the thought process during the race
Don’t know if you have much taste for durianrider
But he did big bike packing rides back in the day
He and a mate rode the mawson trail a few years back
They did it the camping, sleep at footy ovals type of stuff. Smash the beans and bread at country shops
I take what is good from him
and can’t say I like all his stuff as much as I did few years back
On my phone I have to do breaks on the lines
To see all the text.
Yeah I wasn’t knocking them
I’m not their number one fan but have listened
To their podcast a bit when it started on my
road trips. Have a bit of time for Eric and how he
Is / was pretty open about perspective / priorities
Yeah,I have followed Durianrider for years, from his days in Chiang Mai with Freeley the Banana Girl all the way through to his IndiPac gong show a handful of years ago. If the guy wasn’t such a total headcase he would be awesome to look up and hang out with but I can’t get past all the accusations of intimidation, extortion and sexual assault (with video testimony).
Watching his videos for me, is like watching the UFC reality show The Ultimate Fighter. A bunch of anti-social, dysfunctional wannabe elite athletes in front of a camera exposing the worst and best of what it takes to be the top 1% (mostly the worst).
He is entertaining though, in a car crash kind of way.
yeah taking the fruit analogy with durian rider youre dealing with a real fruit platter of exotic, over ripe, raw, rotten, sweet, sour and all that is in between.
he is an accomplished climber on the bike but does not seem to care for riding hard on the flats.
most of the syd elite guys who go down to adelaide for tdu dont manage to put up times on norton summit on the level what he can do. not trying to derail this into a side chat but just got to put things into perspective. and being a good climber means being super light, weight weenie and always looking to lose more weight…
The film looks like a very extensive and very stunning tourist ad.
I’m envious that Eric is able to do those things, though I suspect the image of his life presented in the film is, er, somwehat selective.
Anyway, after watching I want to visit all those places, but I don’t think I’ve been told a story (and from a documentary I expect a story as much as from a feature film). There’s no beginning, middle or end here, just a montage of moving images with people commenting on how cool the places and the activities are. A bit of a music clip with speech…
It’s like when I read a positive review of a movie where the reviewer focuses on praising the videography and music, and just glances over the plot, I instantly know the movie is not for me. Videography and film making aren’t the same thing.
Yeah it’s not too different from all of Eric’s other content.
The content I’ve watched by Eric was a lot more saturated with storytelling I’d say (helped by the fact that it was shorter and partly focused on Paula’s career; or maybe I was just cherry picking what I thought I would like).
very well written at the same time, if it was easy everybody would do it, so while I agree with you, I guess they will learn a lot from that and the next one will be a lot better.
Watched the film yesterday. felt like doing a longer post.
Overall, i think the production quality, visuals, and music were A+++. amazing stuff. i am not a creative person, and as ive gotten older i realize the effort and skill it takes to put things like this together so hats off. I am a solid follower of TTL and really think this was a great piece.
I do, however, have a few nits to pick. I really do not want to come off negative, as i really respect what Eric/Paula/Nick are doing for our sport, how the pod is very beginner-friendly, inclusive, etc.
I felt some of the dialogue was forced. many conversations felt a little “manufactured” given the rest of the film and i think that message came across without those conversations shown. perhaps on the more constructive side of criticism, for the next TTL film, perhaps this is an area of improvement. The film did a GREAT job of conveying those thoughts without them needing to be said, so when they were said i felt like it was just like a bit much.
The whole Nimmo Bay thing left me feeling a bit unsure and weird, honestly. Sure, many of us have a family member/friend with a cool house somewhere, so when he was doing all the Colorado running stuff i didn’t feel this way. But, the whole - lemme call my olympic gold medalist friend, who can private fly me on water plane out to a uber luxury resort place, super fancy meals, take me out on a very nice expensive boat to swim in the middle of nowhere…I felt very detached from that whole thing. googling, Nimmo bay is like 10,000 per person per night minimum, and the excursions are like $15,000 each on top of that. OK CAD dollars yes, so USD slightly less but no argument, that is an uber luxury super rich type of place, and it showed that way in the film.
I know eric and paula appreciate the finer things (coffee machines, bikes, vans), and i have no problem with that! but the film’s whole message was sorta to strip away all the excess and do what speaks to you…for that to be the thing it all ends with, again felt a little weird. that experience didnt really look like “stripping it all back”. yes, he was with friends and did an awesome swim, but it was the fanciest, most exclusive, ostentatious (too strong? idk) setting imaginable. i get they may have partnered for the film with the resort. we all have to make $$ i have no issue. I just felt like the luxury nature of that resort, and the films unrelenting focus on it, undermined the larger message of the film to strip back to the basics of what motivates us all individually and what might get us out the door for that next workout. i don’t think eric meant to send the message that he needs to be in a place like that to feel like that, but yeah i just think it was tough to overlay that setting into the messaging of the film.
The kicker of all this is, from TTL and the vlog, i feel like i know that Eric doesn’t need a place like that to be happy. if he was in that same canadian wilderness WITHOUT that fancy resort, getting there by kayak or rowboat, the feels would be the same, for him and for us i’m sure! he would be equally happy bikepacking through a random place with nothing, eating slop, etc., as long as it was somewhere cool and maybe paula/flynn along for the ride. so again this contributed to my confusion and conflict about that portion of the film, that that setting turned out to be his place where he needed to go to find the thing, so to speak. It also seemed like an unnecessary focus on those aspects, the plane, Nimmo resort, the fancy food, the nice boat, etc. I wanted to know, how far/duration was that point to point swim? I was DYING for underwater shots of that self-described clear water, monologue of what the cold water felt like, what wildlife may have been nearby, etc. I got none of that (IIRC? someone correct me if I’m misremembering!!). i came away wanting WAY more storytelling of the swim itself, and less of all the resort/transportation-based stuff.
Again, love TTL and my overall impressions are positive of the film. i’ll still watch the vlog and listen to podcast every week, this review doesnt change anything about my support level for TTL, still very very high. If they make another film, i’ll be lining up to watch it! I’m guessing the TTL team will want to know honest thoughts from viewers as well, and i can’t help but say that’s how i felt when the film ended.
And just to be clear, I was not implying that the production here was easy. Nothing of the kind.
I think all your thoughts are right on, and it’s fair that everything could be made better. I think in general though this project was done in the midst of other projects and life events. If he was taking this huge break to really tell this special story of this particular place you’re right.
I think in general for Eric (and Nick) they’re doing a passion project of showing cool places, doing cool stuff, and trying to create an emotion in you from watching that. Always could be better, but I look at the filming of these projects like a slice of life as it happens. Ya, they have time to do some staged shots, but for the most part, life is flying by and they are capturing it as they go and what you see is what they are experiencing and feeling.
To ask for more is to ask for it to be more of a production and less of a shared lived experience.
I really enjoyed this, as I love reminders that it is important to prioritize finding joy in what we do. I’m happy that there are people who will take the time to make films like this, so thanks!
