Riding down the twisted route of Parkwood Springs, Sheffield, with only trees and green for company, you’ll come across a view you wouldn’t expect to find in a forest.
Just behind a set of trees, the sun has leaked across Sheffield’s skyline bringing the rider to his ultimate finale. This is just one of the many mountain bike trails to be found in the UK’s fourth largest city and showcased in Steel City Media and Cotic’s videos.
Cotic, a bike design company, first approached Steel City Media back in 2011 and together they have produced seven short mountain biking videos around South Yorkshire. Both companies are Sheffield based, with Cotic being founded by Cy Turner and Steel City Media, Joe Bowman.
The latest video, called “Rise of the Straightline”, was filmed in Wharncliffe Woods, which according to Joe Bowman, “is one of the best places to go for downhill biking”. This trial is known to most as the training ground used by Steve Peat – an international mountain biking star and local legend. Indeed, this neck of the woods can challenge even the most experienced riders, with its steep and technical downhill runs, rock gardens, drops and many trees.
The main theme of the video is to point fun at a mobile app which records your timings, in a light-hearted, fun way. According to Joe, “Since this app was created, mountain bike riders have become obsessed with using it, wanting to beat their own time and compete against others”.
And so, the idea behind this film is to laugh about this by featuring the ‘Straight line man’ racing down the Wharncliffe Woods trail all in a straight line, avoiding every corner so as to enhance speed. “It was so much fun filming this video; we managed to pull in a big crew of mountain bikers to help us!”
Each of Cotic’s films aim to promote a different brand of Cotic bike, by creating a new character each time, whilst also encouraging people to get back out on their bike and ultimately provide entertainment. “The films tend to be very tongue-in-cheek. Sometimes there is a topical theme but other times the videos are just random.” Joe continued.
The films have been a huge success, with the video ’26 aint dead’ seeing ½ million views on youtube. This video was topical at the time of filming as there was a new wheel size introduced and mountain bike riders were annoyed about having to change their bikes to keep up with the trend.
“The theme of this video is to tell people not to worry about the style of bike they have and to get them to ride regardless of their wheel size.” He continued, “To do this, the video starts with a funeral of a 26 inch wheeled bike (filmed in my mum’s garden!), which used to be the typical mountain bike size before being phased out. Then it shows a guy, who doesn’t care about this trend, riding a 26 inch wheeled bike at top speed around Wharncliffe Woods and Parkwood Springs.”
The main audience of our videos is usually the mountain biking community and people with an interest in extreme sports – most of our videos have on average 50/60,000 views. “I love filming around Sheffield. It’s such a good scene for mountain bikers here and there are so many riders that it is easy to find someone to ride with. There is also a big mix of different trails.” Joe said.
The videos cover several destinations across Sheffield, including Grenoside, Wharncliffe Woods, Blacka Moor, Lady Bower and Sheffield city centre. “I would definitely recommend mountain bike riders to come to Sheffield. It’s a great weekend away as you can do stuff in the city centre, there are lots of great pubs with a good nightlife but you can escape to the countryside afterwards.” Joe said.
If you’re tempted to trial the trails of Sheffield then watch some of these videos, filmed at several of the Sheffield mountain bike trails: http://www.cotic.co.uk/videos/
So don’t waste any time. Plan your trip and visit us here in Sheffield:
http://www.theoutdoorcity.co.uk/
And follow us on:
Written by Sarah Malone
