Yeah, luck counts too. Oh, wait Liam, can you put your head down again and wait for a single drip of sweat to run off your nose? Please?

…with editing all the shots from Sea Otter. Sort of. Anyway, I like this one: post-race of Sabine Spitz’s shoes. When you’re on the road for weeks at a time, no matter how much you try to bring a mobile office, you fall behind in some critical biz stuff. But at the same time, you can catch up pretty quick, and even get some riding in. The MTBing is incredible right now, trails are super dry (for this time of year), and I’m waiting for my road bike to get back from Cali. Pencilled in doing the Coyote Hill MTB race at the end of May, maybe even on the SS.

I’ve been away from home 25 of the past 32 days, holy crap. That kinda sneaks up on you. But I’m home now, grass is green, flowers in the back yard, springy all around. Some nice vaca time out in NorCal, went up to Kehoe beach north of Inverness and it was killer. I did a shoot there back in january and swore I’d bring the chicas up there. Well worth the drive. Now sifting through the images from the weeks before the break…and this was one of them. More to come

This isn’t literal, just meant to be figurative for the present circumstances: I’m on vacation for real. This was, however, part of the shoot in Truckee last week. And before you ask, yes, Rosie is wearing something under the water, modest maiden that she is. Got sick of the NorCal rain and hit out for a nice 3-hr tour on Sat in a deluge. It wasn’t that bad until the last 10 mins returning down Tunnel, then I got cold and was soaked to the bone. Still, better than nothing. Funny, though, it’s warmer AND sunnier back in Hanover. Does that make sense?

When I was messengering in Seattle right out of college I used to think that messengering was a two-sided story. When it was fun it was the funnest job ever and when it sucked it was a total suck job. More and more I think my chosen profession is the same way. And after a crazy busy 10 days out in Cali I have to say almost all of the balance has leaned towards the fun side of things. Even with my rental car getting a window smashed in, even with dislocating my pinky finger yesterday (so the tip was turned up at a 45 degree angle), I have to say this job is great, at the moment. Just one more day of pushing through, finishing an article I’ve been hacking away at, and then things will be complete with the chicas coming to join me out here. BTW, I think I have eaten about 2 dozen navel oranges this week. They’re so good I can’t help myself. The inside of my rental car smelled like a citrus grove.

From the mud of Monetery to the skiing of the Sierras, what a change. Shot up at Northstap Resort outside Truckee yesterday and it was incredible. Snowing, pretty hard at times, at the top of the mountain. But this wasn’t junky spring snow, it was powder, and plenty of it. Skiied the trees, that is some kind of fun. The shoot went very well, had four great models who were totally into it. I could get used to doing more ski shooting if it’s all like that. Being on skis for thie first time this “winter” was interesting but after a few runs I sort of got the groove back. Down to Berkeley later today, still a bunch of stuff yet to do before I can kick into vacation mode with the chicas.

Man, Sea Otter is pretty tiring. Four days, all day, of shooting MTBing can wear a fella down. But you get those couple nice shots and in hindsght it seems worth it. Rained on the last day and that wasn’t so great, but considering how bad the weather had been leading into the event it’s hard to complain. One of my favorites from the weekend. Ended up wit the oddest water spot on my CCD sensor after I thought I’d cleaned it, now I have to PS it off something like 300 images.

No, not really. More like Sea Otter with a healthy dose of mud. Out in Cali shooting Sea Donkey and man is it sodden. Water is leaking out of everything and it’s crazy. True to form, though, the weather forecasts have been totally wrong and it was sunny yesterday. Looks like I may head up to the Sierras right after this to shoot some skiing as they have extreme amount of fluff. A. Craig raced his CX bike in the MTB race yesterday, old skool.