Forgot to give big ups to Adam C for winning NORBA Nats. Spectator turnout was incredibly lame which was a pity as AC turned in an awesome performance on a crazy sketchy course. It’s been a week of heavy desk time, plus some really crappy rides, and a totally weak TT on Wed night. But now…..it’s a two-week vaca. Packing up the chicas and heading to the boot. No cell, no laptop, just plenty of coffee, wine, etc. So don’t look for any updates until August.

What a choice. I opted for the former with the latter a distinct possibility. Lining up for the singlespeed race Saturday morning I knew I was a bit short on fitness but not riding so badly. However, from the time the whistle blew I had nothing.I was off the back straight away and just struggled on a slow, sloggy course. The technical descent was tricky with all the mud and roots, which I dig under most conditions, but I was so tapped I couldn’t even ride that stuff well. I pulled after a little over a lap, as it wasn’t going to get any better and didn’t feel like guttering myself for another two hours. Singlespeeding is awesome when you have good legs but just misery when the legs don’t show up. The shooting was fine, nothing too tricky.

For some reason I decided to sign up for the Mt Snow singlespeed race, coming up bright and early Saturday morning. Couple things: my blinglespeed is hurting right now, needs new brakes which I should have by Saturday but I might not be able to ride before race time (smart). Second, it’s been raining a bunch which will definitely make for some, uh, interesting course conditions. In general I like riding in gross conditions but climbing wet greasy technical stuff on the one-gear isn’t that much fun. And finally, I found out this morning that we’re doing four laps. That’s the same number as the pro men. WTF? I’m guessing 2.5 hrs which I bet will be about .75 hrs too many. Shot the studio down in Boston yesterday: good models, good clothing, good crew, good times. A. Craig from Mt Ste Anne, straight out off the Canonet.

Shot on Friday at Mount Cardigan. Yes, that’s twice in the same week I shot in the Granite State. That’s some kind of record for me. Almost backed out of the shoot when I met up with the rider, Mr. Ben Moody, and it was all cloudy. But we soldiered on and the clouds parted, it was great. Still, the heavy lighting stuff continues to be a bummer, can’t someone make a light battery pack?

Turns out is was a good decision to take the leap on Monday and go down to shoot Smutok even though the weather was sub-optimal. Client dug the shots and we’ll be seeing a nice big ad out of it soon. Getting the legs spinning again has been brutal, it’s just been so choppy - week on, week off since forever - and sustained riding has always been key for me. So when in doubt….enter a race. Just because it fits with the work schedule I’ll be rolling the blinglespeed at the Mt Snow NORBA Champs next Saturday. Come out and jeer, I’ll turn out the all-white kit and hope for some mud.

I can’t even remember the last time I shot in New Hampshire, even though it’s where I live. Must be 6 months. When I left this AM it was tipping it down and rained on and off all day…except when we were shooting. We got a little 4-hour respite in which we stomped through the woods and grabbed some shots. Pretty decent stuff I think.

One of the fun things about big shoots is carrying around one of my small film bodies (in this case a Canonet) and capturing what I see not related to the actual shoot. Got this in Watsonville, CA a few weeks ago. I’d forgotten what film I had in the body but that suspense is part of what I still like about shooting non-digi.

Tuesday was beautiful up here, sunny and warm. So of course I spent the day shooting in a studio. But it was good, got to hook up with Newell again and that’s always fun. The clothing is also killer which makes it easier to get the good shots. Riding, what’s that?

The advent of design-your-own stuff online is dangerous when put in then wrong hands, say, mine. It had been a couple years since my last pair of Old Skools and I was itching for some new colors other than the standard blue/white/black, turns out Vans allows you to customize your Old Skools. How cool is that? The HUP contingent agrees that Belgie blue stitching would round out the package but customization has its limits. Doing an all-day studio session today, which is a novel thing. Renting a great studio space and shooting two Olympians, so if it doesn’t turn out great we know whose fault it is. I ate it on my last day of shooting/riding in Tahoe. It was a pretty fast and hard wreck but I landed on sand so had very minimal road rash. But I did go down hard and over the past couple days the bruises have come out and my lower torso now looks like a black-n-blue patchwork. At least the camera wasn’t bruised.

Oh geez, another day at the “office” doing stuff like this. Just back from shooting a media launch out at Tahoe, the bikes were so nice and the treatment excellent. Actually rode a lot. Got used to the elevation after a couple days, the super dusty conditions too, and had a great time. But, now, I am officially tired of traveling. Got home without incident.