ATB Junkies Review & interview

Having seen the ATBjunkies around the comps in their Yellow Hi-vis-es for a couple years now, we thought it was about time we gave their latest offering a bit of a review. They released their second DVD, covering pretty much all the mountainboarding events 2007 had to offer, back in January. When you get the DVD and open up the box a big pile of stickers falls out, which is a good start. The disc itself is computer burnt as opposed to a pressed one so there is chance it won't play in unchipped PS2's and some older DVD players. Nonetheless, once in the player and fired up the menu screen gives plenty of options or events to choose from. You have everything from all the highlights from each round of the ATBA-UK National Championships to an MBS Big Air Jam at The Big Fat Day Out. There is also a nice little video featuring team Trampa jibbing about at Ivyleaf MBC and Tom Kirkman's infamous back garden in the extras.

All the sections and videos are immaculately captured on broadcast quality kit, and you can really tell the difference from the smaller cameras which mountainboard videos are normally shot on. Each section is made up of a good mix of boarding and lifestyle shots, which is good as it breaks the action up nicely. There are a couple little niggles with the footage though. First off the freestyle footage suffers the not uncommon problem of riders not quite always being in shot, and it is also cut together a bit too rapidly to really enjoy some of the tricks, but as the sections go on this problem pretty much disappears. The boarder cross footage features highlights of the racing from each event, which is no bad thing, although it's slightly disappointing that none of the sections feature a full race. However, the footage is some of the best I have seen as it really manages to capture the speed and excitement of 4 man boarder cross.

There is one last thing I would like to mention and this is a personal thing, but I do like to hear a few boardy-type sounds to add a bit of feeling- like the growl of tyres on the track and the chink of trucks on rails. The generic instumental music is fine but we'd like some background sounds, crowd noise or some snippets of the live commentary as these only feature on the extras. While on the subject of commentary the DVD starts off with a really good introduction that sets the scene really well and it would have been nice if this had carried on through out the whole DVD as sometimes all the action can start to blur into one. These are only small things and don't really detract from what is essentially a really good DVD, which for the princely sum of a tenner gives you half an hour of excellent ATBA-UK action, plus another four sections - before you count all the other bits and pieces found in the extras. It is extremely good value.

My favourite sections are: The Haredown section. Even though no actual racing went on, ATBjunkies have caught the mood of the slippery jibbery fun perfectly with true mountainboarder spirit of "we're here and we are gonna have fun no matter how much it rains". And if you were there you will remember how much it rained! The 3 Blondes charity event at Bugs Boarding is another favourite section because you could just tell everyone was having a load of fun, all in the name charity MATE!

If you like your comps, missed out on some of last years events, or if you just want to get a good feel of what the summer season in UK Mountainbaording is like then it is well worth checking this DVD out.

If you are a mountainboard addict and need supplies, this is a good fix from your ATBjunkie. Support your dealers, they need your money to get you better stuff next time... ;)