|
Holy Crap, Mountain Biking is FUN
|
|
|
|
|
This website is both a burden and a blessing. It's a burden because I occasionally feel obligated to keep it updated even though I generally don't. I'm not an especially social person, I enjoy life with a certain amount of privacy and anonymity, which is countered by this public expression that thankfully few read. It's a blessing in that, when I'm inspired to create or share something special, I have a ready forum to spread the word. Well today I got truly inspired.
I had an epiphany of sorts while riding down a mountain trail on an amazing piece of engineering called a Santa Cruz Bullit. I went up to Baldface with Heather to hang out with Paul Neuman, recently returned from Mexico (where he presently lives). As I am supposed to be shooting the Cherry Tops Challenge at the Lodge this coming weekend, I figured it would be best if I went up and scoped out the course ahead of time.
Jeff has kindly lent me this sweet machine which I have been riding on and off all summer. Mostly riding home from work up past Red Mtn at Creekside with a couple of other minor variations. Nothing fancy mind you but a good 1 1/2 hours in the saddle after work to get the heart pumping. Over this time, I've had a crack at a couple of steeper pitches here and there but, up until today, hadn't done a true downhill run with a car drop or pick up. I just couldn't get it together.
Cut to today. Up at the Lodge, decked out & geared up to ride. Truck staged at Shannon Pass junction for the ride back. Neuman and I, pushing up the trail to Cherrytops with packs and cameras to catch the action. 40 minutes later we're on top and the reality of my situation hit me. Now I have to ride. It's been a long time...
It was an ideal opportunity to work out a routine for shooting MTB, while riding for a change. We started out setting up a couple of shots along the trail and things started feeling familiar, the winter routine of 'guerilla photography' easily translating to summer. As the terrain steepened and the riding became more commiting, I found myself a bit distracted thinking about photography. I caught myself before I ate it, survival mode kicking in. "Give your head a shake & start thinking about the riding, dumbass..."
Shooting in snow is a lot more forgiving on the old bod if you bite it. Eating shit on dirt is a whole different animal, one that has significantly bigger teeth. I let the bike roll and started to feel the flow of the trail, letting the suspension absorb the hits. I found myself giggling away with a shit eating grin plastered across my face. Damn, that's Fun! It was at this point I decided that this is going to be my next career change. An epiphany as I said. It became crystal clear that THIS is what I want to do for a living. The potential is there and the opportunity awaits, it's just a matter of making it happen.
Anyway, it was awesome riding with Paul today. It was eye opening experience in a number of respects and definitely helped me formulate a plan of attack for next weekend. Mainly I think I'm going to shoot the downhill section on foot rather than on wheels as It is pretty full on dealing with a camera on a bike in that situation, even without throwing 60 or 70 compeditors into the mix. As I move down the trail it'll be much easier to hear riders approaching without my own bike rattling away, not to mention while wearing a full face helmet.
I'll be back up at Baldface on Friday to walk one of Alpines excavators up the mountain to start work on the new Cat Shop(!) and I'm looking forward to getting in a couple more rides, while I'm up there in the coming days.
|
 |
Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Sunday 20 July 06:20:53PM
|
 comments: 0
|
|
Baldface Blog - Sunday March 9th
|
|
|
|
|
A couple of days off and what am I doing? That's right, driving to Nelson to drop off the key to the radio tower. It's not all that bad, the roads are good, the sun is out and the skiing at Red sucks (comparatively). Guess I'm a bit spoiled. Well OK, a lot spoiled! Had a good chat with Henry while in Nelson about the plan he's devised. We're going to build a parallel radio link with some newish radios that he bought online (gotta love E-Bay).
Until then, do some laundry, buy some groceries, pay some bills and go to the dump. Carolyn and the girls are off to Vancouver Wednesday to visit my Mum, her brother Murray and her sister Val. I get to stay here and ski so I can pay for the muffler that fell off the car Saturday afternoon...
Arrived at the Lodge Sunday afternoon, back and ready to go. No sooner had I pulled in, I was gearing up to go back out to the tower with Henry. He had pre-programmed the radios, had the new cable on the reel and was keen to get 'er done. Upon arrival at the tower the first order of business was to replace the Southtower link. Up the mast with the new radio I went with fresh cable trailing behind. Nearing the top, the weight of 300+ feet of cat5 cable dangling off my ass definitely slowed me down some but, after a few rests, I topped out, secured the line and set to work. Once the new radio was installed and working I descended to the old radio, removed it and started down. On the way, I was to secure the new wire to the ladder with zap straps. No big deal except I managed to drop one of my gloves at some point so I spent the next half hour alternating my one glove from left to right as my hands got cold. Luckily, I could see where the glove had landed and Henry was able to retrieve it for me once I hit the hard deck. One radio down, two to go...
Next up was to create a new link to town with a second radio part way up the tower pointed at Fraps' house, further up the hill in Nelson. I only had to climb half way up the tower to get line of sight this time and, soon enough, I was on my way back to the bottom. Last call was to mount a second dish pointing at the Lodge, just above the existing one to complete the second parallel link, just as darkness fell. A quick sled ride back to dinner brought the day to a close. Mission accomplished (for real this time).
|
|
Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Monday 10 March 03:35:49AM
|
comments: 0
|
|
Baldface Blog - Wednesday March 5th
|
|
|
|
|
Woke up a bit stiff but after a good hot shower and appropriate medication I felt moblie enough to go out on the mountain again. While the conditions were good yesterday, today they were absoloutely perfect. Bright sunshine with nary a cloud in the sky and still cold snow! Sweeet! Stability had improved overnight and after a couple of warmup runs we got right into it. Cherry Bowl, Blairs Scare and right down the middle of Great Escape all classics and all for the first time this season (for me anyway). Tons of good shots in the can and it's time to switch cats again. Over to Buffs group I jump, totally stoked as they are heading for Confirmation, my favorite run and another I haven't ridden this year. Wicked.
As I've started a new paragraph, I think you know where this is going... sideways. At the drop, instructions are given to the group, "Stay on top of the ridge, do not drop off either side, bad bad things lurk down there. OK?" "OK", all reply. All it takes is one guy to deviate from the designated route and the rest tend to follow like lemmings to a cliff. Suffice it to say that the guides do their best to lead by providing provide clear and succinct instruction and a safe track to follow. Unfortunately, some people can't seem to follow a track or tell the difference between a ridge and a cliff. As soon as we realized what had happened Buff gathered everyone back safely on the ridge and after a long talk we continued down the run. We were all a bit rattled from our near miss, I was feeling worked from the days exertions and the mornings meds had, by this time, worn off. I was starting to ski tentatively and began bailing more than I normally do, culminating in a good crash sliding face first down the hill fo twenty or so feet. Time to call it a day I think. I get down to the regroup and over the radio comes news that the internet is down again. I go to call back but where my hand held should be is only an empty pocket...
On the way back to the top, buff says he'll go back later to look for it. I get one more run down Ghost Bowl then back to the Lodge. Jeff has been out shooting with Matt Scholl and calls Buff looking to go do a free run somewhere. Buff sends him to Confirmation with a side mission. I describe to Jeff where I think the radio is and amazingly they find it under two feet of snow!
The day ends with the usual slideshow, everone is stoked on the pictures again. During dinner I rip out to the tower on a sled to see if there is a quick fix for the internet, no such luck with the southridge radio completely dark. Back to the Lodge to sell some pictures, sales are good and I go to bed sore but happy.
|
|
Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 07 March 09:30:25AM
|
comments: 0
|
|
Baldface Blog - Tuesday March 4th
|
|
|
|
|
Out with the crew to shoot in the sunshine. With yesterdays new snow the reset button has finally been fully pushed. Joel and Buff are the guides for this trip and their focus has, once again, swung from finding fresh lines between the tracks to dealing with stability issues reopening terrain. I rode the morning with Buffs group, moving around the area, workig our way into then terrain. It was one of those magical mornings when it all comes together - sun and powder with cold temps to preserve the snow. As the day warmed, the clouds in the valley rose and began to hang around the ridgetops, but there were still plenty of big blue patches of mixed in. Skiing down to Triple creek a small snaggy branch reached out and tried to take out my left eye. Luckily it glanced off my sunglasses and punched me in the cheek instead, drawing blood. "It's only a fleshwound..."
I switched groups in the afternoon and eventually headed for Krustofskis. True to its name, there was a distinct crust under the new snow which had yet to break down under the new snow, which made for fast turns. I dropped in behind Joel, jetting down to set up to shoot the group which was hot on our heels. Ripping through the trees, my tails washed out on the crust exposed by Joels tracks and I found myself in a flat spin, flying backwards into a treewell. I stopped abruptly. F**K that hurt. Fingers and toes work as do my legs. Once the initial shock wore off I determined that my back was uninjured and my breathing was not impaired (ribs) either. The pain was brutal though and as I got to my feet and gathered myself up a couple of the guests stopped to see if I was OK. I told them to wait a sec while I skied down to take their pictures! Thankfully it didn't hurt to ski and I felt not too bad as long as I kept moving. I felt like I'd been tackled by a 300lb lineman of crushed into the boards by big ass winger, bent but unbroken. Bloody lucky...
I figured my day was over but, as we were not close to the Lodge, I had to stay with the group until we were. Back up Krustofskis we went and upon arrival at the top I decided, what the hell, I might as well ski. I don't get many pictures riding dow in the cat. I took it easy, got some more shots and made it back to the cat in one piece. It looks like I'll live.
|
|
Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 07 March 09:28:38AM
|
comments: 0
|
|
Baldface Blog - Monday March 3rd
|
|
|
|
|
Back to the tower for me today. It snowed 15cm overnight and is still pounding as the day gets going. The visibility is marginal due to the storm and, while I'm sure it would be great riding, I'm determined to forgo shooting in order to get the network back up. To that end I spend a few hours getting my act together - organizing tools, climbing gear and practicing making plug ends for the cable. I've never had much luck making network cables in the past but Henry has hooked me up with his whizzy cable tester and plug end tool. After a couple of failed attempts I figure out what I'm doing wrong and succeed in creating a working cable. Now to duplicate this feat 300' up a tower in a snowstorm...
Off I go in good old Eyeball as I didn't relish the thought of getting stuck half way out there on a sled with my laptop lashed to the rail and no one to help me, and this was to be another solo mission. Slow and steady wins the race, not to mention considerably more comfortable and warm. An hour later I'm on site and gearing up for the ascent. Last time out to the tower I had noticed a large surplus of coiled cable at the bottom of the Southridge run in the com shack and I figured it would serve a more useful purpose at the top of the tower than down here. I spooled it out and found an extra twenty feet. As I climbed the tower I worked this loop up through the zap straps securing it to the ladder until I arrived at the radio, 300' off the deck. One more small task to perform before tackling the plug, changing a burnt out bulb on the big flashing navigational light on the tower top. Luckily, there was a spare in the com shack which I'd brought up with me. After a few minutes dealing with the frozen fixture the bulb was in and I descended back down to the radio. I took my time prepping the connection as it involved lining up eight small wires in a specific order then jamming them into a tiny plastic plug, all in a howling snowstorm. Thankfully, the mornings practice paid off and I got a working connection first try. Shortly thereafter I was back on terra firma confirming that everything worked, mission accomplished.
Back at the Lodge, no sooner had I stepped through the door, people started hounding me to get the Lodge wireless back online. Yeah, whatever... Mind if I get changed and have a bowl of soup first? I did finally get it working around dinner time, using my personal wireless router that I'd brought up for my room but by this time I was pretty well done playing the Cable Guy. Tomorrow, I ski... For now, I sleep...
|
|
Posted by:
UnRed Dave
on
Friday 07 March 09:27:21AM
|
comments: 0
|
 Deepness (Tue Feb 12 2008, 03:34PM) (Baldface Stuff Dept.) |
All trademarks are ? their respective owners, all other content is ? Dave Thomas / Redline Graphics. e107 is ? e107.org 2002/2003 and is released under the GNU GPL license. fiblack3d theme by jalist ported from original theme by xtreme, 6ig.com, released with permission. |
Counter
Today: 12 (unique:4)
Ever: 10497668 (unique:10458423)
Record: 25949 (unique:25906)
|
