I really enjoy shooting ‘cross but part of what normally makes it so fun is the grim weather: guys all bundled up, spittle on their faces, mud on the kit/bikes. But we’ve been “cursed” with good weather for the majority of the ‘06 CX season, making it much trickier to get good CX shots. Some of us have even resorted to post-production trickery (as in this shot), but it’s not our fault, right? I’m going out to PDX this weekend and will do some ridiculous race on Sunday, bet there’ll be mud there.

The brain trust at HUP threatened it for a while and now they’re here: the white racing skinsuits. Not for the faint of heart, the Whities made their debut on Zac D last weekend in the PNW and yesterday at Sterling a bunch of HUPsters were sporting them as well, including PVB (shown here). Love them, hate them, fear them, but admit they’re just stupidly Euro. That’s the point. Me, I’m saving mine for Nats. Hup, hup.

Raced/shot the 5th race of the Verge NE Series today down in Sterling, Mass. The fields were surprisingly huge, but since the weather was so nice I guess that explains it. Compared to last year, when it was snowing for the race, this year seemed pretty tame. Finished in the exact same spot as I did a year ago, how odd is that? Though I feel pretty good about it since I had to pit and change a front wheel on the first lap which dropped me into pretty much last place. So I passed almost 50 guys, seriously. Could have used another 15 minutes to catch some more. The shooting was, eh, not so great. A fun course, but not much in the way of pictures. I sure hope it snows soon.

A shot like this is gravy on a day out on the mountain, makes it all worth it. But I am so sore this morning, I need to get a beast of burden/sherpa/portable gondola or something because carting a studio’s worth of lighting/camera gear 2,000 feet up is no good. Especially if you end up using it for only one shot. Heading out to T-bridge for the T-day trimmings. It’s nice enough to ride out there and we can fire up the new sauna and launch into the pond. Maybe even thrash ourselves with birch twigs. Sounds fun.

So when D. Smutok said we should squeeze in some more MTB shoots before it snowed I figured it was a solid plan. We were supposed to shoot at his jumps up in VT but they were way too wet so I thought we could go to a place that would definitely not be wet, like a massive hunk of granite. Hit Cardigan Mountain in Canaan, NH. For some reason I decided to hump up my strobes, making the kit on my back tip near the 100 lb. mark. I didn’t need them that badly, though on the bright side I got my leg power workout for the next month. It was a beauty day and we’re for sure going back there come spring for a long, long day of shooting.

Another from Friday’s dirt jump session in Burlington, Smutok going pretty big. Raced Putney CX yesterday, a race I’ve always seemed to go pretty well at. It was old school all the way, four dismounts per 7-minute lap, which considering the modern day courses is way out on the edge. Turns out lack of mounting/dismounting has dulled those skills. I was all lined up for a first row start then realized my front tire was going flat, so I beat it up to the pits and grabbed my spare front wheel. By the time I got back to the start I was at the back, again! Couldn’t really get going the first 1/4 lap, even though I know this course, even more than others, requires a super fast start. But once I got hip checked on the muddy downhill my adrenaline got pumping and the engine started up. I passed a 1/2 dozen guys the second half of the first lap and got to within 10 seconds of a main chase group of 10 guys. It was so close, I was right there. But I had burned too much the first couple laps and couldn’t grab the wheels. I just dangled about 15-25 seconds off the back of that group, catching guys as they blew out the back, but finally cracked with two-to-go and trailed in, totally wrecked. Lay on the ground, prompting Steve-O to ask, ‘You okay?’ I guess.

Finally hooked up with D. Smutok for a shoot that had been postponed a million times. It wasn’t as long as I’d have liked but it was an awesome day, he’d built this insane little jump area, and I was happy to get such a good couple hours of shooting. Every time I shoot dirt jumping I learn something and have a bunch of fun, so maybe I’ll do more. Check out my man Zak G’s new project, if you’re into CX it’s worth a look. Weather for Putney is looking horrible, it took long enough.

From ‘05 Worlds, it’s starting to feel like the REAL CX season up in here. Snow in the forecast, heavy overcast wet days, and Putney coming up. Just one of the classics in New England, racing though corn fields, a leg-breaking run up, and the general old timey feel of pre-UCI CX. I first did this race back in ‘92, the only bike race I have ever won, but it was in a different location and had like a dozen starters in the B race. Things sure have changed. Might get a peak at the sun here in the next couple days, do some shooting up in Burlington.

Raced NoHo yesterday and it was, uh, marginal. Generally if I have a good race and the shooting sucks, or vice versa, a day at the races is pretty swell. But I went 0-for on Sunday. Raced in a stupidly massive Masters field, starting in the 2nd to last row of a 100+ rider group, and it was slow and not so great from then on. Course was good but going fast was right out of the question. And the shooting was sub-optimal too, just not a site conducive to stellar shots. So this is all you get, nice one of up-and-comer Mel C from NH.

Once the leafs hit the ground this is what passes for color here in northern New England. Not much besides gray. Still kinda cool, though. Racing NoHo this weekend then staying at megA and JD’s down there and riding in Pittsfield on Monday. Rode the Reign in the woods today and, man, was it cold, wet, and slippery. There were even puddles with skims of ice on top, seems sort of early for that. But I saw a Barred Owl out in the woods, paused long enough to see it turn its head all the way around, don’t see that every day.