Vihti: A Self Shot Mountain Bike Movie

How much effort would you be prepared to put into your sick edit? If your mates are filming, it’s not too bad to push up and ride a feature a few more times. But on your own? How far would you go? Maybe a few runs with the camera in a few different positions? Some drone shots too?

This film, Vihti, by Joonas Vinnari, has all the energy of Brage Vestavik’s X Games entry, plus a mind boggling array of camera angles and clips that would be impressive in any mountain bike film – let alone a self shot one. The effort that’s been made here reminds us of Ben Page’s self shot Frozen Road film. But this is definitely a shredit, rather than a story – so is effort and technical merit alone enough to entertain you? Let’s hear from Joonas, and then you can see the results:

After a year of scouting for new trails near where I live, I found a blank canvas to build something new. No trails, just some deer tracks and rocky trenches made by Russian soldiers from World War One. Russians built these fighting lines to Finland in case the Germans would attack Russia through Finland during WW1. That never happened, and now after 100 years it was time to use them for something else.

When you spend all of your spare time in the forest for 8 weeks alone building, riding and filming you might learn something. I learned a lot about the forest, my gear and myself.

Joonas Vinnari

Joonas’ Tips and Thoughts:

• Be patient when filming alone. Some days you might only get one useful shot.
• Note to myself after breaking one carbon crank and slashing two tires when riding in trenches from World War One that are made of rock, use DH casing tires.
• When filming alone, always try to get a shot, any shot. Just put the camera somewhere. Like Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
• Don’t leave home without camera batteries.
• In-camera editing is a great memory saver when out there (if possible with your camera).
• Risk management plays a big role when you’re alone in the forest. Know what you are doing and don’t take risks. There is always another day if you’re tired.
• Respect nature.

Camera gear used for this project:

• Canon EOS R
• GoPro Hero Black 7 & MAX
• Chest mount and helmet mounts
• Cable cam from Wiral
• EVO SS & DJI Ronin RS 2 gimbals
• Tripod, clamps and arms

Was it time and effort well spent? Let us know in the comments!

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Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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