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

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:

• Locals DH race
• Alex and Dan
• Dan's bmx bike

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

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

• WomenzWorx
• Saint Deep Summer Photo Challenge Slideshow
• Zero Ceiling Slideshow

galleries

• 09.07.22-19 - Bellingham
• 09.08 - Pacific Northwest - natural
• 09.08 - Pacific Northwest - unnatural

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.

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.

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).

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

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.