Explore Your State | South West England w/ Alex Moorehead

My name is Alex Moorehead Also @atmoorehead on Instagram & Twitter.

I live in a small village called Beer in South West England. It is located on the Jurassic Coast, a designated World Heritage site. This is the 'playground' on which I wanted to base the images on! 

The landscape around here is reasonably hilly and great for cycling. I try and ride 3-5 times a week, sometimes for short distances, often a bit further. though if you ride around here at night, watch out for wildlife. Back in the summer of 2014, I was cycling to work when a Badger jumped out in front of me resulting in a journey over the handlebars & to hospital with heavy concussion, broken wrist, hand & teeth. Though while I was in hospital, I was already planning rides when I was back in one piece. My passion for cycling only grew stronger!

I currently work in retail, though photography for me has been a passion since taking a course at college in 2005. I am hoping that I can take it a step further and make it a living in the next couple of years. 

I began following & photographing bikes & cyclists in 2008 after watching some local criteriums, the energy and atmosphere at these events got me hooked. Since then I've photographed events such as the Tour De France, Red Hook Crit, Parkour Ride & a UCI Hour Record in 2015.

As mentioned earlier, I wanted to base my images for State Bicycle Co. On the Jurassic Coastline, which provides a fantastic backdrop and a great place to ride a bike.

For the project, I used the beautiful State Contender bike in Matte Black. It enables me to experience pure cycling, no gears, no bells and whistles, just my legs pusing the pedals around & my hands on the handlebars. 

My personal fave photo from the project was taken at a place called Orcombe Point (Featured Below). For me, as well as being a pretty epic shot (I did ask a few people to move for the shot and told them why!) this image opitomises State's 'Explore your State' motto. This place was somewhere I hadnt visited in the past though only 20km away from home. So I rode over one August afternoon and had a great time exploring this area, it felt like being in another country.

Being a relativley hilly area, not a great amount of people ride fixed gear bikes, so it gained a lot of positive attention from passers by. Tackling the hills were a challenge at first, though it got easier the more riding I got into the legs.

I havent named the bike, I'm not usually one for naming things though on more than one occasion, she was called 'the beast' by people checking her out. A simple design, but beautiful to look at & great to ride. 

No upgrades planned for the bike yet, loving it as it is though wont rule anything out in future.