Clean 2011, suite et fin.

Clean 2011.

Tuesday 24 January 2012
by Ben Swales
popularity : 13%

Looking for some inspiration before heading out for a street ride? Mark Westlake has what you need… After our quick feature on Mark’s blog, which keeps its finger well and truly on the pulse of the street trials scene, we hadn’t really covered much of what Mark and Co have been up to (due to a lack of time more than anything, we’ve been enjoying all of his updates and videos). He’s been busy though, travelling up and down the country, filming, interviewing and riding with some of the UK’s (and the world’s) most creative street trials riders, and his most recent updates to the blog are evidence of all the hard work and enthusiasm he’s been putting into the site.

So what exactly is Clean? It’s a prolific and well put together project by Mark Westlake, a talented street trials rider and well-known member of the UK trials scene. Mark’s been riding for years and is also very active on Trials-Forum.co.uk and a key member of the Tarty Bikes team. Not only that, but he’s also an excellent photographer, a promising video maker and staunch supporter of the small but dynamic brakeless movement. In 2011, he set up his blog, Clean, with the objective of promoting the flourishing and dynamic UK street trials scene. Thanks to Mark’s dedication and appreciation of what makes a good feature, Clean quickly became one of the UK’s most popular trials sites, with regular (well, semi-regular) updates, quality content, and an original ‘street’ look and feel thanks to Mark’s use of his trusty typewriter of biro for each article. In April, Clean published its first video, the much-anticipatedClean 001). Filmed in black and white at a variety of spots all over the UK, it brings a whole contingent of creative and talented street riders to the fore, including Ali C, Ben Rowlands, Joel Bennet, Sam Nichols and Mark himself, and has a real sense of community and some killer riding! The video’s success was immediate and today it has been watched over 325,000 times (many of those here at Tribal Zine HQ!). Ali C, who is one of the hottest street riders of the moment (a bit of a misnomer really, he’s been at the forefront of the scene for over a decade now!), is magnificent, using his vision, creativity and talent on a bike to put together some incredible lines and combos. The other riders are equally impressive; there isn’t a boring line in the whole video! Mark’s camera work and editing are sublime as well, drawing influence from BMX videos and their mobile shots, a refreshing new perspective in the days where trials videos were becoming more and more static, relying on tripods and tape measures for the most part.

Mark’s round up of 2011 brings you most of his videos from the year under one roof, so sit back and enjoy them all, then go out and get creative on your bike! Here are a few of our favourites to get you started.

Clean - BPL. 22 December 2011. A short but sweet edit to end the year with; Mark had been ill and Ali’s injury was still painful, but the riding in this video is still as fluid and creative as ever. The Clean crew are looking forward to 2012 and wanted to get these clips out before starting afresh, so Mark put this together as an end of year treat. “The last three months have totally sucked. Weird illnesses meant that between the roadtrip and now riding has been off the agenda… All the while, in the back of my mind was ‘The Video’. In the brief window where Ali’s broken foot was healing enough to let him ride and I was still able to breath, we filmed a few clips. Ali’s got this idea odd year’s are bad and even years are good. Hopefully he’s right. All the same, they still managed to get some decent lines filmed…

Clean - 24:2011. 7 October 2011. Clean’s second long video, filmed on the famous 24 Tour roadtrip, features the usual mix of inspirational riding and quality fiming/editing…

Clean - Hull. Ali and Mark went to Hull. It was Ali’s first proper ride after his injury, and he was quite clearly back on form.

Clean - Sean Watson. A video-interview with one of the weirdest and most creative riders we’ve ever seen, Canada’s Sean Watson, an artist on a bike, filmed during his visit to the UK and in which he talks about his life in Canada and his influences and shows off some of his legendary brakeless riding.