Last month, Lindsay Currier of Shine Riders put on a women's downhill/freeride event at Northstar in Lake Tahoe. The event consisted of a pro and an amateur class. The ladies were judged on how well they rode certain sections or features on the mountain. I went along with them all day and shot photos of the event. Despite a smaller than expected turnout, the event went really well. Look for my shots from it in upcoming issues of Dirt Rag and Cycle California.

Wednesday, I went to the Deep Summer Photo Challenge. If you haven't heard about it, it's a competition between teams consisting of a photographer and riders plus an editor and/or assistant. They have three days to shoot in the Whistler bike park and edit a slideshow before they are played at the Fairmont hotel in front a huge crowd and judges.

It really must have sucked to be a judge. I seriously can't narrow one down to being my favorite. I liked certain things about each one: the banana peels slipping shot and the primary plus remote camera manualing shots in Tim's slideshow, the straight down arial angle of a big boulder with a rider coming down singletrack to the left of it in Margus's, the way the Glitch Mob song fit the editing in either John or Justin's slideshow (I forget who's it was), the close up splash/spray shots in Robin's, etc. On the creative side of things, Dan and Tim's slideshows had some really funny themes that make me laugh each time I see them. Events like this and the Deep Winter Challenge (which this event came out of) are really pushing the progression of sports photography, technically and creatively.

You can watch most of the slideshow's here: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Deep-Summer-Contest-Top-3-Slideshows-2011.h... . Check out their sites as well.

Here's a few shots from Pro Downhill Finals on Sunday. I have more shots of it on ridemonkey in an update by David Peacock - http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241620 .

While I was in Whistler after Crankworx, I met Ryan De La Rue at The Bike and Bean the day before I was leaving. He was up to go shoot some photos and I wasn't leaving until 1pm. I figured we could squeeze in a morning shoot before I headed out. We went up to Renegade the next morning and shot a section near the end that I was looking at a few days before and one a bit above it. Renegade is one of my favorite trails at Whistler. It's tight and fast. I rode it two years ago when it was was new and loamy.

By the time we finished, it was 12:30. When I got back to my place, I had half an hour to disassemble the bike I was riding and pack it along the rest of my things. I made it to the bus probably 3 minutes before it left and came home with a few more good shots!

gallery: Ryan De La Rue on Renegade at Whistler

I went to Fontana for the first Winter Series race this past weekend. This is their 20th year putting on races in Fontana. I went to race rather than shoot since I've shot there so many times and wanted to place well. The course was far from technical, but was pretty fun because it flowed. After practicing the course non stop, I ended up shooting the end of practice for 45 minutes on Saturday.

I raced my stumpjumper (4" travel xc bike) since my downhill bike isn't ready. I felt really fast and heard I looked fast in my race, but my time didn't agree. I placed 14th in Expert 19-26 with a time of 2:22. Despite being apparently slow... my little bike felt just right on the course.

Check out my gallery from practice here: Southridge Winter Series race #1

I've been in Whistler for the past week for Crankworx. The trip started last, last Sunday when I got on a train to Seattle right after 'nearly' building up two bikes. Yes, you can actually get to Whistler without a car or flying. About 37 hours later, I arrived in Seattle where a lady asked me if I was "one of those x-games people". From there, I took an Amtrak bus to Vancouver, British Columbia. The Canada/USA border is simple driving through in a car. In a bus, not so much. We had to take our carry-ons and checked bags into a building where we were asked the usual questions: "how long are you staying ?", "have you had any trouble with the law ?", etc. and then some ridiculous questions such as "do you any have money ?" which I replyed with "like five bucks". He then asked what my credit card limit was and then why I had so much stuff. He also asked if I was going to Crankworx. I said yes and he said, "...wasn't that like a week ago?"

After all that, we got back on the bus and soon arrived in Vancouver where I stayed in a hotel for the night. It was 2am, so the only place open for food was Mcdonalds or 7-11... I went to 7-11 thinking i'd come back with some snacks and a few beers. I left the store with beef jerky, an ice cream bar and a banana. Apparently you can only get beer or liquor at liquor stores in Canada.

The next morning, I took a bus from Vancouver to Whistler. Since my reservations were all through amtrak and the first bus was an amtrak bus, I thought the second one would be too. After waiting in front of the station for a while wondering where the bus was, I asked someone where it was. The bus to whistler is actually a greyhound bus, which boarded behind the train station. It was interesting getting my two bike boxes and all my bags through the station and to the bus in less than five minutes. It took several trips 40 feet at a time. Once I got to the bus, I was told it was full. After all that, I thought i'd have to wait for another... Fortunately, they had a second backup bus. A few others and I had the second bus to ourselves.

By Tuesday afternoon, I was in Whistler. Since the downhill bike was missing a few parts, I put the hardtail together and took some runs in the bike park. A-line and Crank It Up were a bit rough on street tires and a 75mm fork, with all the brake bumps Crankworx brings, though fun. Ninja Cougar is the best trail on the mountain for a hardtail. It's a tight, twisty, smooth, almost pump track like trail.

Through out the week, I caught up with lots of friends while shooting the races (& slopestyle competition) and riding the mountain as much as I could. Friday morning, I was off to the dirtbike shop 'in town' to get some fork oil and brake fluid. My left fork seal on the DHR was leaking all over so I had to replace it before it got on my brake pads. Little did I know... it would be quite the journey. I rode north probably 3km, following the map on my phone. I ended up at an animal shelter which looked nothing like a dirtbike shop. After riding in circles around the Sea To Sky highway for an hour, asking several people, someone told me where it was. It was actually in Function Junction, which was 10km away, the opposite direction. I rode along the highway for a while until I got to Function Junction. The shop was really there, so I got what I needed, and picked up some stuff at the hardware store, then got a sandwich. Then the bus came... while I was eating my sandwich. I tried to catch it, but I couldn't... I didn't want to ride back since it was so hot and mostly uphill, so I tried hitchhiking at the intersection. I had no luck. Do I really look that sketchy? 30 minutes later, another bus came and I was finally on my way back to whistler. By the time I got the bike together and got down to the village, the lift closed just as I was going to up for one run. The next day, I got to ride the new bike for the first time. I was surprised how quickly I got used to it and how fast I was going the first day on it.

Whistler has had Souther California conditions the last 2 months. I heard it did rain one day before I came up. It's dry, dusty and loose. Just how I like it! I would love for it to cool down though. This morning, I did three runs and was dripping sweat on my phone... and had to lay down in the shade for a bit. I'm up here for another week, so some cool, foggy weather would make for some nicer riding and photos (since so much of what I usually shoot in California are the sunny and dusty shots).

Riding photos to come soon!

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