PBmedia's Latest News

Northstar Pro GRT #3 race

PBmedia — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:16:39 -0700

Last weekend was the third race of the Pro GRT series at Northstar in Lake Tahoe. I took the train up to Salinas Thursday afternoon. I called my friends when I got there and heard something about a jump we were going to. A few minutes later, Brian, Kelly, and Travis showed up with the truck loaded with bikes. I put my huge bike box and my bags in and we were off. When we go to the spot, I threw my bike together quickly and then we pedaled up a road. It was a step up at the bottom of a trail. We pushed up non-stop and sessioned it for about an hour. After I figured out the speed I needed to clear it, I was seeing how low I could get scrubbing it. On our way back to the truck, we had to stop at the randomness we saw coming up to the jump. There was a whole archery setup... targets up on hay stacks, with cheap bows and arrows in a box under an ez-up tent. We weren't going to just pass by all this. We each got a bow and some arrows and did probably 5 rounds. I learned that my technique is way off, as is my aim... The next day, Brian and I were to leave at 5pm. I stayed at their house for the day, while they were at work and tried my best not to "burn the house down." I did 50 pump track laps in the morning, worked on some things on my laptop, groomed the pump track and then got my stuff together to leave for Northstar! After a 'quick' stop at Panda and 'the store', we were off. We got to the cabin a bit before midnight and soon passed out. Saturday, we woke up early so we'd have time to get breakfast before the 40min drive to Northstar. We got there at about 8, when my practice started. I registered and got my ticket, then went up the gondola. The trail they used for the race was Gypsy. That's a trail I rarely rode at Northstar because I hated the rock piles on it that had drops to flat. I could never remember which ones were rollers and which ones had rock lips to nowhere. I'd heard about all the work the trail crew had done to ready it for the race before coming up there. After taking a cruiser run down the course to check it out, I was surprised. They really improved it. The course had a lot to it. It was rough, dry, loose, had fun jumps, lots of corners and was long. I rode it non-stop until noon, when I went down for lunch. I went back up at about 2pm to shoot and it was still basically noon light... I found some shaded spots to setup flashes. I was lucky there were some clouds in the sky that would shade the sun a few minutes at a time, so the foreground and background wouldn't be blow out. By 4, I had made my way down the course to take the lift back up. ...Of course when I got to the trailhead, it had been closed off. I was told pro practice was cut short an hour for maintenance..... I was looking forward to using the sun with my flashes and getting some better shots of the course, instead only shooting in the few shaded areas. I ended up taking a 'media run' down Livewire (Northstar's downhill jump trail) with my big backpack of camera stuff. I found Brian and we rode down the car. I was worn out and hot, as were Brian and Juan. We drove back to the cabin, then to the lake to cool off. We went to the beach and jumped off the small pier into freezing lake. Later that night I got to sorting photos. After spending two hours going through them, what I was trying to make work, would not work. I was pissed off at that point and gave up on shooting the next day. Instead, I'd actually ride my bike during practice and just worry about my race run. We left the cabin early again and stopped for breakfast. Brian got a bagel sandwich and I got espresso and a rueben sandwich. By the time he finished his sandwich, we were still waiting for mine. Half an hour later, mine was ready. I think their panini machine was broken... When we finally got up to the Gondola, we found ourselves in a long line. Though, somehow, we got there before the rest of our group. When we got up to the main area, I did one practice run. I felt really stiff and slow, so I took a few runs on other trails and started to warm up. My race run didn't go quite as well as I would have liked. I didn't completely screw up any sections or crash, but I was on the brakes a lot and was tired my whole run from the day before. I rode most of the day, then caught up with Brian when the race was over and did one last trail, down to the car. As we drove out, we realized it had been in the high 90s to 100s that day... The lake was out of the way, but I convinced Brian to stop by the river that the highway followed. After a quick jump into it, we got back on the road to get burgers at Islands in Roseville with Travis and his friend. We got back to his house before midnight and I went back to Santa Barbara the next day. Thanks to everyone for making the weekend fun! The first photo is from my 'good camera' out of the gallery and the rest, from my phone. You can check out the gallery here: Northstar Pro Grt photos by PBmedia The top 5 men in downhill were Greg Minnaar, Bryn Atkinson, Steve Peat, Cedric Gracia and Mitch Ropelato. In the women's class, Jill Kintner took first, followed by Kathy Pruitt, Leigh Donovan, Jackie Harmony and Rachel Bauer. You can see the full results here, which include 4x.

A Photo: My Downhill Bike

PBmedia — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:59:25 -0700

'A Photo' is a new series on PBmedia's News page where I'll be posting a photo and writing about what it took to get the shot, what the picture is of or about, and anything else related. I took this photo of my downhill bike last year when I lived in Los Olivos, before I had access to a studio. I took it in the street in front of my house, one night, with a stick holding it up (that I removed in Adobe Photoshop). I set up two flashes and then got the camera angle dialed. It looks pretty simple, but the road in front of and behind the bike was being lit up as well, so it was visible above the bottom side of the rims. To get a clean black background behind the whole bike, I had to get the camera as low as possible. I scraped enough dirt and gravel away to get the camera low enough. I took this with my 20D (before I got a 50D), so I couldn't just view the shot on the LCD as I took it. I had to lay down (in a probably pretty funny looking way) to get my head as low as the view finder, so I could see through it with an eye. After several attempts, I got the shot! What you see in the picture is a Santa Barbara Bullit dh ...not to be confused with a Santa Cruz Bicycle. Though, this bike did start out as 2006 Santa Cruz Bullit that I bought on eBay in 2007. After riding and racing it for two years and trying some different things, I realized I wanted more downhill race bike and less freeride bike. In March of 2009, it became a Santa Barbara Bullit dh. I had the frame and fork lowers powder-coated red and then put on decals that I made in Adobe Illustrator (which were die cut by a friend). This was a crucial step toward making it 'more downhill' because as everyone knows, "a good looking bike is a fast bike!" When I put it together, I bolted the (stock size) shock directly to the mount on the downtube, without the shock shuttle. I had to add a spacer to the shock, under the bottom out bumper to limit the stroke by a third of an inch so the tire wouldn't rub the seat tube. This dropped the bottom bracket height to 13.75 inches and slackened the head angle to 64 degrees, making it easier to ride at faster speeds and more aggressively. The Bullit dh has been amazing, riding and racing it throughout 2009 and halfway through 2010. A new (okay, used...) downhill frame is on it's way, so the Bullit dh is going into retirement. Just wait until you see the 'A Photo' on the new bike! Here's the gallery with the rest of the shots, I took that night of it: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p598468162

A Photo: My Downhill Bike

PBmedia — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:59:25 -0700

A Photo: My Downhill Bike

PBmedia — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:59:25 -0700

Shots With Soren Last Week

PBmedia — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:00:05 -0700

Last week, I shot with Soren Young one afternoon and one morning. Check out the shots we got in the gallery: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p908785898

Shots With The New Lens

PBmedia — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:54:42 -0700

Two posts back, I said was going to shoot some surfing after class with my new 70-200 f/2.8. I went to the beach and the conditions weren't so good. By the time I went to one spot, the only person was done surfing. I walked to the end of Ledbetter beach and the waves were pretty small (surprise), with just a few people surfing and the light fading... I didn't get anything worth mentioning. A few days later I was at the skatepark and had my camera with me. I shot some people riding the park. Here's some better shots with my new lens: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p272837734

Self Portraits

PBmedia — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:01:41 -0700

I recently saw this post by Laura Austin: http://radcollector.com/columns/lauraaustin/2010/05/07/how-to-origami-hat/ Somehow, I got the random idea to take self portraits with a common object in each for the viewer to find. After seeing that, I decided to go with it. When I eventually got a newspaper, I opened that page again to try making it. I ran into 'issues' halfway through the steps and got confused... But I eventually succeeded. Here's the gallery of self portraits: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p1006284164 Can you find the origami hat in each photo?

Seven by Five Photo Profile

PBmedia — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:49:25 -0700

A few weeks ago, Seven by Five, an online magazine / blog followed me on twitter. I followed back. David from Seven by Five asked if i'd write a Photo Profile about how I got into photography, what I shoot and my challenges as a photographer. It's done and up on the site. Check it out here: http://www.sevenbyfive.net/photos/photo-profile-patrick-branch/

New Stuff For 2010

PBmedia — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:04:04 -0700

A few days ago, I got a new lens! ...a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS. Yes, not the new II version... but it's a huge upgrade over my what I called a 'telephoto' (my Canon 50 f/1.8) since my only other lens is a Sigma 10-20. I almost went with the non IS (image stabilization) version, but after renting the IS so many times last year, i've found it really helpful in low light, so I can keep ISO's lower. I'm stoked to finally have this lens! Now, i'll only have to rent lenses I don't need all the time, like fisheyes or fast primes. A few days after I finished shooting for Golden State (about two months ago), my monitor was starting to go... This was such a convenient time for it to stop working as it should, considering I wanted the whole slideshow done in the next few days. It was a 21" Sony Trinitron CRT (big, heavy, old, non flat screen monitor). It was a great monitor back in the day. Professional designers and photographers used them because the colors gamuts are really wide and they calibrate well. It was $30 on craigslist. The only problem I had with it was that it was really soft. I'd have to zoom in to be able to read text sometimes on the web. The info pallet in photoshop and indesign, with measurement numbers was a bit of a guessing game. I'd been considering getting a HP LP-2475w after reading a thread on ridemonkey.com. I was finally able to get it and I needed a new monitor so I ordered one. After calibrating it, it looks really good. It's so nice to actually see my shots sharp and be able to read text. Months before I got a new monitor, I got a new backpack, a F-stop Satori. It's their biggest backpack. I had been borrowing a Tilopa (the next size down) from them until their newer Satori came out. I needed a bigger bag to carry all my stuff and ended up waiting for the new and improved Satori. The most important improvement for me was rounder top. It's less square, so it makes using the zipper that gives access to the laptop compartment, under the internal camera unit much easier while having umbrellas and tripods strapped to the sides. Without this backpack, I would have had a hard time carrying everything I needed to shoot Golden State on my trip up north. Even with an extra 20lb bag strapped to the back of it, it carried surprisingly well because of the internal frame. I really don't want to know the total weight of it with that extra bag... The Satoris come in cranberry / grey and black / grey. I went with the red because it matches my logo and I like red (I think that's more than a little obvious). I think it's the best looking backpack ever i've seen. I recommend their backpacks to photographers that have to ride boards or bikes to locations. Now, i'm off to get lunch somewhere and (yes, it's 5...) shoot some surfing below SBCC with my new lens before my next class!

Sea Otter Classic 2010

PBmedia — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:49:54 -0700

The Sea Otter Classic happened two weeks ago. It was probably the best yet. Instead of it being cold and wet (like 3 years ago) or cold and windy (like the last 2 years), it was warm and only a little windy. I took a train up to Salinas on Wednesday and Kelly Damschen (she had the wedding I shot last year) picked me up and gave me a ride to Laguna Seca where I would be camping for the next few days. As usual, I didn't race it. It's the only race I just go to shoot. I'm usually running around shooting and practicing to race, so it's a nice change of pace. Over the end of the week and the weekend, I shot pro downhill and slalom practice, then finals. Friday night, we went to see the Follow Me premier. It blew my mind. A lot of the zip line shots were really long and had awesome camera movements when changing direction. One of my friend's found me in a video, Coastal Crew Ep. 5 walking up the slalom course to shoot. Here's the full gallery: 10.04.18 - Sea Otter Classic

Roxy Chicken Jam 2010

PBmedia — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:00:39 -0700

Last Thursday, I left Santa Barbara with some friends, off to Mammoth. We stopped in Bishop that night. They weren't going all the way, so I took a bus the rest of the way to Mammoth, Friday morning. To get myself and all my stuff from lower Main St. to upper Main St., I took a taxi for $5. After dropping my stuff off at a friend's house, I headed up to main lodge to get my pass. At the media room, I randomly met a friend of a friend, photographer, Makena Hunt. After checking out the sponsor booths, I headed up to shoot halfpipe. I tried a different way of shooting and found it didn't work as well as I thought it would... but I got a few good shots. Both days, it was clear, warm and there wasn't much wind. Last year, the slopestyle on Sunday was canceled and postponed until monday because it was so windy. There was barely anyone on the mountain. Friday was quite warm. Of course, I forgot to bring sunscreen, but I had aloe vera gel in my bag back at my friend's house... I got some SPF 45 sunscreen from the mammoth store that I put on halfway through the day. I ended up with a sweet goggle burn by the afternoon though. Saturday, I shot all day; slopestyle finals in the morning and halfpipe finals in the afternoon. It was awesome watching the girls kill it. Jamie Anderson took first in slopestyle. Janna Weatherby got second and Jenny Jones, third. Kelly Clark won superpipe, with Rana Okada in second and Elena Height in third. After uploading my cards to my laptop, back at my friend's place, I was off to the village for the shows. The next morning, I went to a coffee shop and got those few shots up. I rode the next few days before going back to Santa Barbara. It was a successful weekend in mammoth. I got good shots, made new friends and did lots of south park laps! Here's the full gallery: 10.03.26-27 - Roxy Chicken Jam It will be locked for a few days for companies view photos for possible use. If you have any interest in commercial or editorial use of my photos from the event, please contact (email, because my phone is broken) me.

Roxy Chicken Jam photo preview

PBmedia — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 11:59:14 -0700

For the past 2 days, I've been shooting the Roxy Chicken Jam at mammoth. I put up a few shots up as a preview. I edited them on my laptop so the processing could be 'off'. When I get home later this week, I'll have a full post and get the full gallery up. 10.03.26-27 - Roxy Chicken Jam preview

A Weekend In SLO

PBmedia — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:38:07 -0700

Last Friday, I went up to San Luis Obispo for a weekend of shooting and riding. I had been planning on coming up to shoot a local race Saturday. It happened to be the same weekend that Brian (the guy who's wedding I shot in September) was coming down to ride there. I met up with Evan and Heather in the afternoon and soon, his dad driving us up the hill to go ride (thanks!!). We rode a trail that I hadn't ridden before. I was having so much fun on it. After we rode back to his house, his mom dropped me off at a coffee shop where I did schoolwork for a few hours. After the coffee shop closed, I soon met up with Brian and the others. We stayed at his friend, Chad's parent's house. In the morning, Brian and I went into town and went to a little locals race. I've shot that spot before and ended up with a bunch of poison oak, so I was trying to not have a repeat. Brian told me when I was in poison oak, each time, because apparently I still don't know what it looks like or realize i'm in it when it's too late.. :D. I saw a bunch of friends and got some cool shots of the race. After the race, we met up with the others and went on a ride. I guess the others had some mechanicals on their morning XC ride... We convinced them to shuttle with us and ride something a bit more fun. We had lots of fun, until the long ride down the train tracks, a few miles across town (of course it was much quicker than riding all the way down and taking the streets). When we got back to my friend's friend's parent's house I immediately took a technu shower, hoping I wouldn't get the rash of the plant from hell, knowing I had had the poison oak oils on me for half the day at least. It's now 5 days, later and luckily only a few small rashes have started appearing. The next morning, Brian dropped me off with another friend, Dan. I was at his house for most of the day until we rode with Alex. Dan had to leave for a few hours and left me at his place. I got bored and had to shoot something. I saw his bmx bike. Soon, I was across the street with it against a wall, setting a flash up. Later, that afternoon, we went up the hill with Alex to get some shots on a jump on a trail and ride. By the time we finished shooting, it was getting dark and they decided it was too dark to get down the trail in time. I was annoyed it happened, but happy with the shots I got at the same time. The next day, I went back up the hill with Alex to get a shot lower down the trail, in the morning. After we got it and walked back up (for so long), we rushed to the train station to catch my bus back to Santa Barbara. I was already late and ran in to get my ticket. Of course, my credit card didn't feel like working and I missed it so I had to take the next train home. Thanks to everyone for the fun times! Check out my shots of the weekend:

A Weekend In SLO

PBmedia — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:38:07 -0700

Long Overdue Portfolio Update

PBmedia — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:19:44 -0700

I just did a portfolio update after way too long. I added shots from the Golden State shoots, shots that ended up not being used and some others to the bike and lifestyle sections. The other section has some new landscapes and product shots. If any shots stick out as being awesome or crap, please let me know by commenting. I like to see different perspectives on my shots. You can click the portfolio link up top, or here to see it.

Interview - Pat & Golden State

PBmedia — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:30:20 -0700

This morning, an interview with questions about me and Golden State went up on Ridemonkey.com this morning. Check it out here: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229636

Golden State Is Out!

PBmedia — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:11:26 -0700

Golden State is finally done after 4 months of shooting for it. I got it up at the last minute before leaving for fontana Saturday morning. After waiting an hour, the rendering came out like crap. When I got back last night, I tried it again and got the rendering settings right. Check it out at http://goldenstateslideshow.us

my bike was stolen last night

PBmedia — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:26:44 -0700

Last night

Bellingham Video

PBmedia — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:39:59 -0700

Today,

Mammoth Olympic Qualifiers

PBmedia — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:07:03 -0700

I finally got my shots up from the Olympic Qualifiers at Mammoth I shot two weeks ago.

Starting The New Year Off Itchy

PBmedia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:49:16 -0700

Starting The New Year Off Itchy

PBmedia — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:49:16 -0700

Golden State teaser is up!

PBmedia — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:38:21 -0700

Behind On Photos

PBmedia — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:21:11 -0700

I'm just now getting the photos from the fontana race in november up.

Golden State

PBmedia — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:30:00 -0700

You may have heard about a project i've been working on over the last month. It's a slideshow on mountain biking in California; the riders and the riding, titled Golden State.

New Site Additions

PBmedia — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:12:22 -0700

I haven't posted in while because i've been adding some new things to the site and have been working on a project. You can now comment on my blog posts (by clicking the comment buttons) and easily share them via email, twitter, facebook, and other networks (by clicking the icons on the share buttons). I've also added categories and tags, below the posts. You can click them and view other posts of the same category or tag. The only thing incomplete is that each post is going to the right on individual post pages (linked to from the titles on the news page) in Internet Explorer 7 and 6. It's a non issue in Internet Explorer 8... but there are much better browsers out there like Firefox and Safari.

Moved To Santa Barbara

PBmedia — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:03:06 -0700

A few weeks ago, I moved from Los Olivos (in the Santa Ynez Valley) down to Goleta, which is right next to Santa Barbara. So far, i've been riding and doing a lot more. Two weeks ago, I went to the parkfield race, put on by the Cal Poly Wheelmen. I took a few photos and got a shot for a project in the works. I took second in slalom and seventh in downhill. I had a shitty downhill run. No crashes, but I screwed up several corners and sections and probably lost 5-8 seconds. My practice run before that was dialed... I got some photos up finally, that i've been behind on. I finally got the surf photos from the morning before Brian and Kelly got married. Here's the gallery: 09.09.06 - Surf Session Before The Wedding. Yesterday, I added photos to the California galleries: Unnatural California and Natural California. They've been blank since I got the site up in April, at Sea Otter. A month ago, I interviewed Brett Tippie after I was asked to by ridemonkey. Here's the final interview all typed up on ridemonkey: Brett Tippie's Life Story. Yesterday was the first rain of the Season (okay, there was a little the day before...). It's been dumping at mammoth. I can't wait to ride some powder. The first photo is Heavenly, early in the season, two years ago. Yesterday, I went to Ellwood while it was pooring to take some pictures. The second one is from last night. On the way back home, I rode through the area with the jumps. I was slipping sliding all over, doing two wheel drifts and ending up on my ass. By the time I got out to the street, it was raining pretty hard. I was soaked when I got home.

Shooting A Wedding

PBmedia — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:55:36 -0700

It was months ago, back in June, when I was asked if I could shoot a wedding. I had taken the train (what a surprise!) up to Monterey to help Brian and Kelly move stuff to storage and go to the first Northstar race of the year. I think it was in the car, driving up to the race that they asked if I could do it. Shooting a wedding is pretty different than shooting riders passing by. After giving it some thought, I said I'd do it! Of course, I knew I had to get some kind of experience, even though Kelly said I'd do fine. On the school snow/ski trip at the beginning of the year, one of the instructors told me his wife, a wedding photographer might be looking for second shooters. Remembering this, I contacted her and ended up being a third shooter for a wedding in Santa Barbara. I learned how a wedding happens and is shot. I can't imagine shooting a wedding myself without having first shot one alongside someone that shoots weddings. Forward to three weeks ago, I was in Palos Verdes to shoot their wedding. They picked me up on the way that Friday. I shot the party at Kelly's parent's house Saturday night. Sunday afternoon, we did portraits in a park by a library before going to the ceremony. After the ceremony, I shot the reception. The most stressful part for me was the portraits before the ceremony. We didn't have much time before the ceremony, so I had to get creative and get the right people together for the shots quickly. After the portraits, we were off to the park above the shore where the actual wedding part would happen. I couldn't have asked for better lighting. The sun was setting over the ocean, behind where they would be. Probably not surprising, the reception after that was the most fun to shoot. In some ways, shooting portraits and a wedding is easier than shooting sports. Of course, there can be just as many points made about weddings being harder. It was an awesome experience and challenge to myself. I'm really happy with my shots of my first wedding. Obviously, I want to shoot sports primarily, but it's likely that I'll be doing more weddings in the future. Photo Gallery Of Brian and Kelly's Wedding

PWDS

post — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:48:55 -0700

I got back home to Santa Barbara two weeks ago and still have PWDS -post whistler depression syndrome and probably will until I go back. I rode almost every day, shot most days and partied every night. I covered WomenzWorx, the Zero Ceiling Slideshow and the Saint Deep Summer Photo Challenge slideshow for Ridemonkey.com. Halfway through the week, David and I met up with Jeff Schmuck from Ridemonkey for the first of a series of nights going out 'Schmuck style' and then somehow making my way up the ski slope to my hotel way up on Blackcomb at 3am. I shot other events for myself, getting creative and in hopes of getting other shots from the week used. The slideshows inspired me to get creative and try different things. After I rode with some friends for two hours monday, I met David at his truck in the parking lot... It was time to leave whistler. I threw my bike in the bed and we were off, back to Bellingham. I had two days in Bellingham before I would take the train home out of Seattle. We did XC rides both days. It was probably my 4th ride on my finally built up trailbike. On the last day, we rode at Chuckanut where we rode to Cedar lake (left). I got home Friday and had a local race that weekend at the SG Dirt Club. I wanted to race slalom Saturday, but there was no way I could with the pile of photos to go through, video to capture, etc. I made it to the race Sunday morning with 2 hours of sleep, a cup of coffee and a 5 Hour Energy for the downhill race. My cat 2 class actually had 7 people. My 3 runs were all clean except for when my rear wheel swapped left before a corner on run 2. I was surprised when I heard I got first because I wasn't feeling really fast. Maybe a week at whistler did that? Maybe it was knowing the course so well? Probably both. Class started the next day. Unfortunately, I started feeling a cold coming on at 4am, before the race... so I didn't go to the first class. Currently, i'm in Spreckles, CA. I'm finally getting over the cold. I'm up here at Brian and Kelly's new house to get some photos of them, ride, work on the pump track and hang out. Next week, i'm shooting their wedding.

my crankworx articles

galleries

Bellingham

PBmedia — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:16:49 -0700

Two weeks ago, I took the 35 hour train ride from Santa Barbara to Seattle. David Waugh picked me up in Seattle and we went back to his house where I would be staying for a few weeks. The first week was so hot and humid. Many days, it would get up to 80 or 90 degrees with humidity as high as 90%. I wasn't used to having sweat drip from my head at the start of the push up the hill. We rode trails on Galbraith most days and some other trails around Bellingham. We took photos of each other on trails some days. I think I actually did more video than photos. I can't wait to get back and edit it. Yesterday, we crossed the border. The northern one... I'm in whistler for a week to shoot crankworx and ride. Today I shot slalom and tomorrow i'm shooting the Garbanzo DH. Check out the photos from Bellingham in the Bellingham Gallery.

U.S. National Championships

PBmedia — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:20:11 -0700

2 weeks ago, I flew to Denver wednesday and arrived at midnight. After getting off and searching for a while before getting to the pickup area, I met Zach Griffith. We loaded my bike and bags and went to his house for the night. In the morning, we were off to Sol Vista at Granby ranch for the mountain bike national championships. I covered the race for ridemonkey.com where can you read and see photos of the weekend: Days 1 & 2 and Days 3 & 4. Here's the full pro practice and race gallery: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p696722507

2 Afternoons Of BMX

post — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:48:59 -0700

I took some dirt jump photos with Zac and Kyle Wednesday. Thursday, I met up with Zach at a spot under a bridge. Here's the gallery: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p95312210

Photos With Steven

post — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:48:39 -0700

Last Sunday, Steven picked me up and we were off to the hills. We did some portraits with his bike and ramp and some riding shots. I also got bit or stung by ants. Ants stings/bites itch a lot. Here's the gallery: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p885489033

Northstar Race Series #1

post — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:33:27 -0700

Last Thursday, I took the train up to Salinas and helped Brian and Kelly move. Friday afternoon, we were off to Northstar in Lake Tahoe. On the way, we picked up their airstream that they were camping in. I rode mostly Karpiel and Livewire Saturday. First run down Karpiel, I cleaned the sketchy chute after the field on the lower part and the rest of the trail. I screwed up there like 5 times after and didn't feel like doing the race the next day because of my crap riding. Livewire was another story... I was actually riding it well.

Santa Cruz

post — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:09:24 -0700

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs105.snc1/4590_104387269858_701034858_2663883_1524731_n.jpg I've been up in Santa Cruz for the past few days, riding trails. I took the train up to Salinas. You can see my blue bag and that box with my bike. Brian and Kelly picked me up there in Salinas and gave me a ride to SC, so I bought them dinner! I've been staying at a friend's place downtown. We've been shutting a trail by bus and ending up in Felton where we take another back to SC. We did a little filming, but I want to get some photos. We both were not woken up by our alarms this morning to leave at 6am. Hopefully we do tomorrow and I come back with some good shots. My face doesn't look so messed up anymore. It was fun to look at someone, then turn my head to show the other side... haha. A few days after the picture in the last post, a lot of the scabs came off when I shaved because they were so thin. The only deeper part was higher up and is pretty much healed now.

The Ground Won

post — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:02:40 -0700

I did that in my driveway on my bmx bike. I also messed up my shooting/typing/braking finger. It's pretty swollen. Hopefully it's good for the race at woodward this weekend... My fullface helmet over my scabs will be cool... Angel Fire got screwed up for me. I found someone to go with and never got a call back about what time we would leave... even after calling a bunch of times. Maybe I can make the 12hr dh, whenever it happens.

Finals and then Angel Fire !!

post — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:48:06 -0700

I'm finishing the semester in the next few days and taking finals on Monday. I can turn in one on Monday, not instead of on Wednesday so I can travel to Angel Fire sooner. I'm still looking for a ride either from SB/LA or from ABQ if I fly or take a train. If anyone has some room for me, my bike and 2 bags, please let me know. I'll pay for some gas and some of the hotel (floor space is all I need).

Pro Gravity tour #1

post — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:54:29 -0700

I'm now back in Santa Barbara, at school... I ended up getting my seat/post at the hotel on Friday morning. It was only like $20 to send overnight with fedex, so my dad shipped it and I got it the next morning. I shot the rest of the weekend until my camera started to screw up on Saturday... the shutter would click like 10 times when I clicked the button once. Saturday morning, I ended up using my mobile phone to shoot pro practice until the battery died after 20 minutes. I got some decent shots that afternoon with my slr, just playing with it, and trying to get to work, which was almost half the time. By Sunday, I figured out a work around.... shoot once, turn off, turn on to chimp the last shot or shoot another. I raced Cat 2 and did okay. I got 7th with a time of 3:14. I was actually on the hot seat for like five minutes, until I saw times like 3:11, 3:03, 3:01... I swapped the hell out on a straight section before a right turn with roots and was slow in the twisty stuff in the middle of the course. I was faster in that in most of my practice runs. It had rained a lot the night before, which made the whole course different. I was kind of liking the wet course by my second practice run before the race, but I guess I needed a few more runs to figure it out. Overall, it was a really fun weekend and I met some awesome people. The Ridemonkey Thread: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218101 The gallery: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p559459493

Pro Gravity tour #1

PBmedia — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:47:24 -0700

I flew up to Seattle and Mark of Bones Over Metal picked me up. When I was waiting for him, I realized I left my seat in the stand at home... Luckily, it was only $20 to overnight, so my dad shipped it and it should be here today. I built up my bike and practiced my course. It's fast and hardpacked with some loamy/off camber/tight stuff toward the bottom. Then we ate mexican food and went back to the Super 8 where we are staying.

Kenda Cup West: Santa Ynez

post — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:41:37 -0700

Photos are up! I was waiting for the results to go up so I could keyword them better, with names... but they still aren't up. I was told sunday night, but it's now Tuesday and they have pages and pages of XC results up, but still no DH or DS results. Here's the gallery: http://gallery.pbmedia.us/p707011988.

Kenda Cup West: Santa Ynez

PBmedia — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:37:04 -0700

This past weekend I was at the Stump Grinder Dirt Club for the Kenda Cup race. I got first in downhill and third in slalom on Saturday. On Sunday, I shot Cat 1 and Pro DH practice and finals. Now, i'm back at school... trying to get things done before I leave for Pro Gravity Tour #1 at Port Angeles, WA. I'll get the photos up tonight when I get home!

Sea Otter Classic

PBmedia — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:15:58 -0700

Here's the Sea Otter photo thread on ridemonkey, http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217366. So far, there are photos from Pro DH practice this morning. Today, i'll add some from the premier last night and Pro slalom today.

Site Is Finally Up!!!

PBmedia — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:08:51 -0700

This is the first update. I finally finished the site and got it up at the media room at sea otter yesterday afternoon, with only a few small things left to be 100% complete.