Dozer
02-04-2007, 06:34 AM
This week we are saying G'day to a very familiar voice and face from all aspects of Australian MTB and Australian radio. Some of you may be surprised to learn that this guy is on farkin........
With great pleasure, everybody meet ...Jim!
http://forums.farkin.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=64281
Who are you? (Name, age, job etc)
Name: Jim Trail
Age: 44 (gak! How did that happen!?)
Job: Real - ABC operations, Unreal – freelance bike fun…er, work.
Why did you become a member of Farkin?
Back in the olden days a wee lad, let’s call him Nathan, won the World Cup. I interviewed him for Triple J and scheduled it for a Saturday morning. It didn’t go to air. People flamed-on so I eschewed lurkdom to hose things down.
You have a voice that many members would recognize. Where have we heard and seen you?
Let’s see, I’m currently and seasonally…
SBS Cycling Central mtb reporter
Australian Mountain Bike Magazine news editor and general faf-writer
2007 MTBA venue commentator
Oh, and I spent 13 years on Triple J.
Was working at Triple J what people would see as glamour? (Did you meet rock stars everyday and sit around on the lounge drinking whiskey and smoking cigars?)
Only when I was working in the Sydney office (having primarily been based in Canberra). There was more than a bit rock’n’rol – and it sure was fun. Well, maybe the five hour midnight to dawn shifts dragged a bit (like the night I had to play all the really long tracks due to an earlier overindulgence in chili pizza that forced my attention to another room via the back-door!)…
There were lots of outstanding free concerts, from Big Days Out to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins in a tiny venue (though I really should have used those free Nirvana tickets that night in ’97 – “They’ll be back,” I said. How wrong could I be!)
There were lots of challenging Outside Broadcasts, ranging from presenting on the banks of the Murray River in Renmark for Unearthed, to producing another where the our sound tech was set upon by a punter mid-band. (Funny, thinking a technical issue may pop up I’d told the young band that whatever happened they had to keep playing. Despite a full fist fight taking place right in front of them they didn’t miss a note!).
Bouncing down the Cairns DH course three months before it was finished in ’96 was hilarious! We were there for Unearthed and I was not going to leave without putting this Jacobs bloke on the radio, so I strapped a mic to my jersey, stuck the tape recorder in a bum-bag and followed him down the hill (my first time on a dually and probably the only time I’ve ridden the full length of a DH course –an unfinished one at that). Jacobs was riding along talking on the phone – I was crashing my brains out and taping every moment. Half way down we huddled under a bridge in the misty rain and did an interview with a tiny microphone on a twig – probably looking more like a couple of helmeted trolls arguing over a bug!
Then there were all the cool Xtreme Games and other events I got to go to and report on - before finally getting to a stage where I used to come to work thinking, “What nutter has done something crazy somewhere in the world this week - and how do I get their phone number for an interview?” I reckon I had the Perfect Job for a year or two.
And the Olympics.
Definitely a career highlight. As Triple J Olympic Executive Producer I got to play with the whole station for two weeks. I totally rejigged how we broadcast to fit in the biggest party of the year (and some sport - only the good bits, no waffly sportoid guff). I spent the preceding six months interviewing Olympians, then got a super rare accreditation that got me into everything! That, and I was one of only five people allowed in the Cauldron on the Olympic MTB course, doing commentary for the greater ABC. Good times, good times!
You get to see some awesome MTB events both through riding and working with SBS. Where are the highlights for you?
From a riding point of view, Wildside in Tassie is tops, Moab was fun but too short (I need to go back) - and Rotorua Rawks!
From a watching POV, the DH at the NZ Worlds last year, the XC sprint finishes at this year’s 1st round, short-track XC at both the Nats and Mt Beauty. Basically any event where the theatre peaks right at the end! Oh, and deep in the Majura pine trees at the ?’98? Nationals. Some dude did his DH run with his knicks (well, it was ’98) down off his arse – cracked up the whole forest!
Where in the world would be the best place to host a MTB event that incorporated every riding discipline? (DH, XC, 4X, free ride, trials, enduro).
Well, you could do it at Stromlo next week – but I think I need to go and research Whistler first, just to compare.
We’re all aware of the global warming problem. What would you change to make the worlds population more environmentally friendly?
It’s all about bikes, but you’re not going to convince punters to ride ‘em ‘cause they’re green. You have to trick them. Make them do it for another reason. Hip pocket is a good starting point. London seems to have the right idea with their moves to make cars in the middle of the city a difficult thing to do, so there’s an increase in other transport options – including bikes. If everyone rode the general population would be fitter, hence more productive, etc. (Hang on, I just need to duck out and get some arm patches for my tweed jacket – where’s that recumbent?)
Should XC riders wear undies with their knicks?
Only on the outside.
What is the most embarrassing injury you have sustained while riding?
No really bad one on the bike – a couple of busted ribs, tweaked thumbs, fingers and a shoulder, some fairly festy road-rash – but one time in Indonesia I went to hurdle a rather pointy garden tap, and missed. I spent the next month living at an Indo. University doing some rather amusing bandage origami every morning.
What is your favorite movie?
Any one I can watch to the end without interruption! I studied film at one stage (media at Uni) and really like to immerse myself in them – I hate it when something interrupts the last 10 minutes. If I had to pick one or two, perhaps 2001: a space odyssey and/or The Right Stuff.
What’s your favorite section of Farkin and why?
Weight weenies corner aka the XC/road forum, ‘cause that’s what I do most.
How do you see the Aussie mountain bike scene changing in the future?
There’s going to be another boom. I reckon the park thing will open up to us in much the same way it did to skaters over the next few years, and I hope this translates into managed access to areas like National Parks. There are some beautiful places out there and a strip of dirt with bike riders on it ain’t a real big impact.
On the racing front, we’re on a wave – we should be shredding it to pieces. We really need to leverage our top DH talent into the media, particularly when they perform overseas. MTBA’s been doing a cracking job on the local front – but we need to get Sam on the back page when he wins in Austria as well as Australia.
Oh, and next year we’ll all be riding 29” double-tripleclamp’d unicycles with built in GPS homing systems.
You’re sitting at the bar; the hottest woman in the place sits next to you and winks at you. What do you say and do next?
“Can I get you an eyebath, because clearly you’re having problems seeing!”
What are you other hobbies apart from riding?
Kid wrangling. With full-time work, all the freelance stuff, a family and the odd bike ride there’s not a lot of time for anything else. Really, it’s all about the kids. The one thing I regret when I travel (be it to race, do commentary, stories or even just go riding) is not getting to hang out with my girls.
If you didn’t work in the media, what would your career choice be and why?
Toughie. I’ve honestly never considered that. One of the good things about the media is that you can translate around the place pretty easily. Say I got jack of bikes next week, I could go edit Guns and Buns Magazine.
You submit material for Australian Mountain Bike magazine. What prompts you to write about a topic?
I’m pretty lucky. A series of amb editors have been happy for me to wibble-on about pretty much anything I want for a few years now. Sometimes “Trail Trash” just falls from my fingers onto the keyboard, other times it’s like pulling teeth, but generally the idea comes from something that’s happened to me on the bike. On the few occasions the Ed’s been texting every 15 minutes past deadline I’m usually out riding, looking for inspiration. The readers of the mag are a diverse bunch, but they all have bike-time in common.
http://forums.farkin.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=64282
What advice could you give to people looking to get into the media industry?
Get a solid grounding in the basics. It’s like a trade. Once you know how to lay bricks you can build a dunny or the Taj Mahal. Beyond that, work hard to keep a passion about what you’re involved with. As soon as you lose that passion it becomes obvious, because the people scrutinizing your work will be passionate and will let you know all about it.
There you have it. Jim has and will be part of our MTB community for a while and he has a great passion for our sport. Thanks Jim!
With great pleasure, everybody meet ...Jim!
http://forums.farkin.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=64281
Who are you? (Name, age, job etc)
Name: Jim Trail
Age: 44 (gak! How did that happen!?)
Job: Real - ABC operations, Unreal – freelance bike fun…er, work.
Why did you become a member of Farkin?
Back in the olden days a wee lad, let’s call him Nathan, won the World Cup. I interviewed him for Triple J and scheduled it for a Saturday morning. It didn’t go to air. People flamed-on so I eschewed lurkdom to hose things down.
You have a voice that many members would recognize. Where have we heard and seen you?
Let’s see, I’m currently and seasonally…
SBS Cycling Central mtb reporter
Australian Mountain Bike Magazine news editor and general faf-writer
2007 MTBA venue commentator
Oh, and I spent 13 years on Triple J.
Was working at Triple J what people would see as glamour? (Did you meet rock stars everyday and sit around on the lounge drinking whiskey and smoking cigars?)
Only when I was working in the Sydney office (having primarily been based in Canberra). There was more than a bit rock’n’rol – and it sure was fun. Well, maybe the five hour midnight to dawn shifts dragged a bit (like the night I had to play all the really long tracks due to an earlier overindulgence in chili pizza that forced my attention to another room via the back-door!)…
There were lots of outstanding free concerts, from Big Days Out to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins in a tiny venue (though I really should have used those free Nirvana tickets that night in ’97 – “They’ll be back,” I said. How wrong could I be!)
There were lots of challenging Outside Broadcasts, ranging from presenting on the banks of the Murray River in Renmark for Unearthed, to producing another where the our sound tech was set upon by a punter mid-band. (Funny, thinking a technical issue may pop up I’d told the young band that whatever happened they had to keep playing. Despite a full fist fight taking place right in front of them they didn’t miss a note!).
Bouncing down the Cairns DH course three months before it was finished in ’96 was hilarious! We were there for Unearthed and I was not going to leave without putting this Jacobs bloke on the radio, so I strapped a mic to my jersey, stuck the tape recorder in a bum-bag and followed him down the hill (my first time on a dually and probably the only time I’ve ridden the full length of a DH course –an unfinished one at that). Jacobs was riding along talking on the phone – I was crashing my brains out and taping every moment. Half way down we huddled under a bridge in the misty rain and did an interview with a tiny microphone on a twig – probably looking more like a couple of helmeted trolls arguing over a bug!
Then there were all the cool Xtreme Games and other events I got to go to and report on - before finally getting to a stage where I used to come to work thinking, “What nutter has done something crazy somewhere in the world this week - and how do I get their phone number for an interview?” I reckon I had the Perfect Job for a year or two.
And the Olympics.
Definitely a career highlight. As Triple J Olympic Executive Producer I got to play with the whole station for two weeks. I totally rejigged how we broadcast to fit in the biggest party of the year (and some sport - only the good bits, no waffly sportoid guff). I spent the preceding six months interviewing Olympians, then got a super rare accreditation that got me into everything! That, and I was one of only five people allowed in the Cauldron on the Olympic MTB course, doing commentary for the greater ABC. Good times, good times!
You get to see some awesome MTB events both through riding and working with SBS. Where are the highlights for you?
From a riding point of view, Wildside in Tassie is tops, Moab was fun but too short (I need to go back) - and Rotorua Rawks!
From a watching POV, the DH at the NZ Worlds last year, the XC sprint finishes at this year’s 1st round, short-track XC at both the Nats and Mt Beauty. Basically any event where the theatre peaks right at the end! Oh, and deep in the Majura pine trees at the ?’98? Nationals. Some dude did his DH run with his knicks (well, it was ’98) down off his arse – cracked up the whole forest!
Where in the world would be the best place to host a MTB event that incorporated every riding discipline? (DH, XC, 4X, free ride, trials, enduro).
Well, you could do it at Stromlo next week – but I think I need to go and research Whistler first, just to compare.
We’re all aware of the global warming problem. What would you change to make the worlds population more environmentally friendly?
It’s all about bikes, but you’re not going to convince punters to ride ‘em ‘cause they’re green. You have to trick them. Make them do it for another reason. Hip pocket is a good starting point. London seems to have the right idea with their moves to make cars in the middle of the city a difficult thing to do, so there’s an increase in other transport options – including bikes. If everyone rode the general population would be fitter, hence more productive, etc. (Hang on, I just need to duck out and get some arm patches for my tweed jacket – where’s that recumbent?)
Should XC riders wear undies with their knicks?
Only on the outside.
What is the most embarrassing injury you have sustained while riding?
No really bad one on the bike – a couple of busted ribs, tweaked thumbs, fingers and a shoulder, some fairly festy road-rash – but one time in Indonesia I went to hurdle a rather pointy garden tap, and missed. I spent the next month living at an Indo. University doing some rather amusing bandage origami every morning.
What is your favorite movie?
Any one I can watch to the end without interruption! I studied film at one stage (media at Uni) and really like to immerse myself in them – I hate it when something interrupts the last 10 minutes. If I had to pick one or two, perhaps 2001: a space odyssey and/or The Right Stuff.
What’s your favorite section of Farkin and why?
Weight weenies corner aka the XC/road forum, ‘cause that’s what I do most.
How do you see the Aussie mountain bike scene changing in the future?
There’s going to be another boom. I reckon the park thing will open up to us in much the same way it did to skaters over the next few years, and I hope this translates into managed access to areas like National Parks. There are some beautiful places out there and a strip of dirt with bike riders on it ain’t a real big impact.
On the racing front, we’re on a wave – we should be shredding it to pieces. We really need to leverage our top DH talent into the media, particularly when they perform overseas. MTBA’s been doing a cracking job on the local front – but we need to get Sam on the back page when he wins in Austria as well as Australia.
Oh, and next year we’ll all be riding 29” double-tripleclamp’d unicycles with built in GPS homing systems.
You’re sitting at the bar; the hottest woman in the place sits next to you and winks at you. What do you say and do next?
“Can I get you an eyebath, because clearly you’re having problems seeing!”
What are you other hobbies apart from riding?
Kid wrangling. With full-time work, all the freelance stuff, a family and the odd bike ride there’s not a lot of time for anything else. Really, it’s all about the kids. The one thing I regret when I travel (be it to race, do commentary, stories or even just go riding) is not getting to hang out with my girls.
If you didn’t work in the media, what would your career choice be and why?
Toughie. I’ve honestly never considered that. One of the good things about the media is that you can translate around the place pretty easily. Say I got jack of bikes next week, I could go edit Guns and Buns Magazine.
You submit material for Australian Mountain Bike magazine. What prompts you to write about a topic?
I’m pretty lucky. A series of amb editors have been happy for me to wibble-on about pretty much anything I want for a few years now. Sometimes “Trail Trash” just falls from my fingers onto the keyboard, other times it’s like pulling teeth, but generally the idea comes from something that’s happened to me on the bike. On the few occasions the Ed’s been texting every 15 minutes past deadline I’m usually out riding, looking for inspiration. The readers of the mag are a diverse bunch, but they all have bike-time in common.
http://forums.farkin.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=64282
What advice could you give to people looking to get into the media industry?
Get a solid grounding in the basics. It’s like a trade. Once you know how to lay bricks you can build a dunny or the Taj Mahal. Beyond that, work hard to keep a passion about what you’re involved with. As soon as you lose that passion it becomes obvious, because the people scrutinizing your work will be passionate and will let you know all about it.
There you have it. Jim has and will be part of our MTB community for a while and he has a great passion for our sport. Thanks Jim!