Throwback Thursday: Greg Illingworth and the Reservoir

G33K: iso 100 | 50mm | f5.6 | 1/320th

In January of this year Greg’s UK/JP video dropped, one of the spots that was featured in it is not far down the road from where we’re based. A huge victorian reservoir that’s been featured in the NSF video and on the front cover of Ride UK where Baz Keep was doing a huge table out of it. Last year Greg, Brad (his brother), Dave Summertime, Ross Thompson, Murphy and I went down to have a session and to snap some photos of something I’d wanted to shoot for years, even if it was just to take a photo of the sheer scale of the place.

Greg had heard of the place but had never rode it before and was excited to see what it had to offer. We were thinking of lines that hadn’t been done before and saw this possible huge carve through some trees, grass and sludge over a giant pipe and a set of stairs but the angle was tight. After spending a good hour clearing up the crap and giving Greg a bit more of an angle it was time to get the gear set up. I’d only just bought some new lights too and was excited to get using them, as it was a particularly bright day I needed all the power I could get to reduce the contrasty sun that was blasting down in the heat trap that was the reservoir.

After a couple of dummy runs on the bits of the transitions that were clear of any obstacles and had perfect run ups and run outs he was ready to give it a blast. You couldn’t have asked for a better first try, he blasted at the tranny as fast as he could, maxing out his speed on the bike and carved the 40ft plus gap like a surfer on a tidal wave, it looked like it was going to engulf him, the size of the tranny and the gap to the size of Greg made you realise how big a thing this was. After he pulled it and rode away clean the place exploded with cheers and screams from the guys, it was an awesome days riding and I was stoked on getting the snap.

You can watch the video in Greg’s UK/JP edit below the photos, hope you enjoy.