Kendal Santa Cruz bike night

It was OK
The highlights for me were of course Danny Mac, Martyn Ashton (who should co-host it next year) and Lee Craigie’s film.
Not sure about the Dan Milner film though,

Would’ve been nice to have a couple more unseen films, and to have had that kn*b who wouldn’t stop shouting kicked out.

Danny Mac and Martyn were good and Peaty for making it interesting

I thought Martyn Ashton & Danny Mac were excellent,but the rest of it was pretty poor.The people next to me were of the same opinion.
Attempting a on stage beer tasting session was taking the proverbial..

I quite liked the fact that a couple of the films were almost satirising the mtb film genre as a whole and the other films were firmly of the type being satirised.

The Philipines and Nepal films were essentially interchangeable and there was a whole load of opportunity to do something interesting there but hey, somebody did a wheelflick and then there was a pissed up montage so that’s cool.

I think they’ve now reached a point where they could almost have 2 shows running simultaneously, the first showing the usual kidz&skidz with edgy jokes, heckling and on stage beer tasting and the second showing more in depth films and interviews etc.

did Danny Mac do any bike riding?
if not, what a swizz!

did Danny Mac do any bike riding?

Yes he did.

Agree about the beer tasting and heckling and it was a shame that they couldn’t finish the high st film.

As above really. Fully agree with Ashton to co-host. Felt sorry for Ed that the structure kept being lost. It was mayhem and at times slightly frustrating, but still fun and great to see legends of the sport.

Yeah I agree with the above,lots of long pauses,no leading or researched questions just crazy, Martin would make a great host for next year or at least someone with a bit more focus and interest in what the audience actually want.

I enjoyed the films though and love the format of the event, long may it continue raising money for a great cause.

Overall it was Ok.

Couple of things though, struggled to tell what Aneela was saying, her microphone volume was too low in comparison with Ed, who was using the same type of mike.

Speaking of Ed, I thought it was a bit **** the way he threw a lot of the raffle tickets out of the box halfway through drawing the raffle, whilst saying “These haven’t won anything” & his comment along the lines of girls tagging along with their boyfriends on rides didn’t go down at all well with those sat near me…

To be fair to Ed I thought his remark about female riders tagging along with their boyfriends was a sort of devil’s advocate position to get the conversation going.

The beer tasting was rubbish. Credit to Ed, he noticed they were losing the room and moved on.

I like the party vide*, but they need to get rid of the idiots who kept shouting out during the films and interviews. More new films would be good.

We went to the endurance night on Friday and it was equally as unprepared with poor interview questions and loads of tech glitches with the films and microphones.

They could have made more of Danny Mc and Martyn A. They seem to get on well with a mutual respect. It would have been brilliant to let Martyn interview Danny about his different films and how they came up with the different tricks. Let the two trials guys geek out about their corner of our sport, it would have been interesting and entertaining for 95% of people there.

We won a box of beer from Thornbridge so overall a good night.

*party vibe !?!?! Just read that back. WTF, that’s the kind of thing my dad would say. I’m getting old.

The sexist comments from Ed wore a bit thin. Especially the ones that came directly after Aneela McKenna’s film.

The boat film was absolutely terrible!

Is there somewhere we can get a playlist from last night. I want to watch some of the films again.

Had a reasonably enjoyable night, but on reflection today – it was an absolute shambles.

I think they need to lay off the beer next time, along with the ironic sexist “banter”.

Why so much crappy filler and then squeezing Danny Mac into 15 mins at the end?

Would it have been that hard to prep some decent Qs? You’ve got a knowledgeable and committed crowd and they don’t just want to see Peaty and Danny Mac answer the same superficial stuff they’ve talked about 1,000 times before.

Thank god Martyn Ashton was there to save the day. What a class act. More professional, funnier and more charismatic than anyone else on that stage – by a long chalk.

Him to host next time please.

PS. Young Tom’s “tripping balls” gag was a cracker though.

Second half would have been a disaster without Martyn. His observation of it all being a bit loose was obviously being generous!
Thought Peaty was a bit flat but like the evening in general there was always a nick-of-time laugh to save the proceedings from the jaws of defeat.

Lee cragie should have got more airtime, here film was genuinely worthwhile and would have much preferred to hear more about that than the bizzare live beer tasting.
In fact, Lee and Mart to present next year.

I agree with the general view, Martyn Ashton was great, and brought intelligence and inspiration to the evening as did Lee Craigie- she should definitely have had more air time. The young lad Tom was great too. The boat film was a bit ****. I gather it was meant to be ironic but it didn’t quite manage to be ironic…. or funny, or particularly entertaining.
I couldn’t understand what that woman was saying, and it was not because of her Scottish accent.

And there were 4 blokes in our row who between them got up to go to the bar and toilets every few minutes. I had to get up to let them past about 12 times in the first half. In the end I said I wasn’t going to move again and told them they could wee themselves next time!

Thank god Martyn Ashton was there to save the day.

Second half would have been a disaster without Martyn. His observation of it all being a bit loose was obviously being generous!

I was thinking of leaving after a few minutes of watching ‘Live beer tasting’ & I love the stuff. Why they didn’t use Martyn Ashton and Danny Mac more is beyond me,it’s a bike night FFS! Sad to say I’m not planning on going back next year..

I though it was a very poor evening, highlights were the young lad and Martyn Ashton, agree Martyn should host next year, time for a change, sorry Ed it just didn’t work.

The films were generally rubbish, the Q&A’s dull and unstructured, poor sound levels, mics not working, the frame rate on Danny M film kept dropping too, the most promising looking film was the Helvellyn one that stopped half way through.

The D***s that were shouting and heckling should have been shown the door early on and paying £18 a ticket to watch people taste beer was a joke, Ed didn’t actually move it on, one of the Kendal MF staff prompted them to move on from that particular disaster.

I won’t be back as im sure others wont be either…….

You must have been in the row behind us Vickypea. Blokes seemed to be coming and going the whole night.

Then two **** having a loud chat about something to do with work.

vickypea – Member
And there were 4 blokes in our row who between them got up to go to the bar and toilets every few minutes. I had to get up to let them past about 12 times in the first half. In the end I said I wasn’t going to move again and told them they could wee themselves next time!

Same here – row S?

Don’t think I was limited to our row Stace! Quite a few knobs scattered about.

I don’t think Ed was particularly at fault, previous years have apparently been fine.

I took Ed’s comments to be picking up on the recent Rachel Atherton controversy where it was suggested to her that she was fast because she had to keep up with her brothers.

Rachel Atherton accuses Rob Warner and Claudio Caluori of ‘taking the piss’ in her race run

I assumed Ed was being ironic, not sexist.

Ed was fine. Ashton was brilliant. Would like to see him host it with Ed next year or just Ed by himself. The trail ninja video was naff. Not as well organised as previous years

We were in row B, so there must’ve been a few similar groups.
I think Ed’s comments about women were intended as jokes, that’s how I took them. I went on one of his skills courses last year and he didn’t make a single remotely sexist comment all day.

Echo the comments above. Idea of Martin hosting next year has been widely discussed by the organisers already apparently, along with all the negative feedback!

Who was the poor STWer who’d try to swap tickets so he didn’t need to sit with his ex?? Just behind us and she definitely didn’t see the funny side of that!

Who was the poor STWer who’d try to swap tickets so he didn’t need to sit with his ex?? Just behind us and she definitely didn’t see the funny side of that!

Whole evening sounds like a hoot, just not necessarily in the way the organisers planned. 😀

Perhaps Monkey Tennis instead of live beer tasting next year.

Forgot to mention that I was very impressed with the way Danny M effortlessly jumped back onto the stage 😀

I think next year they shouldn’t sell alcohol. You shouldn’t be aloud to talk or even sit with friends. Were mountain bikers it’s off season it’s party time! I thought the heckling was pretty good so whoever it was bravo. The films weren’t great at all. But it’s “santa Cruz” so they want lots of money for not a lot of return maybe?!?!

Another disappointed punter here! Poor hosting some poor choices of guest on stage.Enjoyed the local film from Graham Beaumont and the Young Tom fella and Lee Cragie bike packing effort.
As for the beet tasting WTF even I got that pissed off I shouted out to put a film on.As for not selling Beer it was only bearable half cut.Some great guests that deserved better and the paying punters deserved better.
Needs a good shake up I found it an embarrassing showcase for out sport 🙁

I was last at the bike night a couple years ago and it was then much better organised. I think leaving Ed to the presenting worked much better, last night was just chaos at times. Nobody knew who to take the lead. Saying that I enjoyed the film’s, and the guests made the best of a bad job in terms of the Q&A’s.

Anybody know what actually happened to Josh Bryceland? Thrown out supposedly which was unfortunate as he has been a entertaining guest previously.

Who was the poor STWer who’d try to swap tickets so he didn’t need to sit with his ex?? Just behind us and she definitely didn’t see the funny side of that!

That was myself. It wasn’t so I didn’t have to sit with her, I just thought we might be better off with some time apart. But nobody wants to know the ins and outs of my relationships. Pun not intended.

She wasn’t amused at the time, the poor girl, don’t think anybody wants their break up announcing to such a large audience. But now she’s seen the post and seen I tried to do it in both of our best interests she’s okay with it now.

Glad to hear that you liked Tom’s film, which won best Adventure Sports film.

Rich – Tom and the film were just brilliant. One of my highlights of the weekend. Great lad.

Yes it was a refreshing change from all the jibbing, shredding and epicness.

🙂

My two peneth….
Wasn’t impressed.
Chaotic amateurish presentation, (the beer tasting was a joke!) drunks at the front shouting, idiots making me stand up every ten mins so they could go to the bar/toilet, the horrible smell of hot dog behind me which she eventually spilt on my clothes. The films… Apart from Lee Craigie’s and young Tom’s which were incredibly inspiring, nothing I haven’t seen on YouTube many times over. And to cap of a shit night I got back to the car to find the wing mirror missing. I left like a bear with a sore head.

Will I go back next year? If Martyn Ashton is compare, I get a free ticket and can manage to get a decent ride in the lakes over the weekend. Otherwise I’ll stick with the Banf Mountain film festival once a year.

2/10

Floss (Vicky Pea’s husband)

I was embarrassed to take the (non-biker) Mrs to that.
I’m extremely disappointed that I spent good money and an evening of my time.
Don’t think I’ll go to another.

Young Tom and his film were great.
Danny & Martyn were good on stage.
The local films and Lee Cragie’s one were pretty good too.

The rest was dire.
Overall, far too much “rad-ness” and irony.

Truly awful.

How about another chat about Transit vans next year?