Oregon MTB Photoshoot, Day Six

Today we made the short drive out to St Helen's skatepark; one of Phil Sundbaum's favorite parks to ride when he comes to Portland. It's a small concrete park right off the main highway with a lot of cool features the guys could do some tricks off of.

When we arrived, there were a couple of kids riding around. The guys got their bikes ready to ride while Pete and Aaron got their camera stuff dialed in. By the time everyone started riding, a couple more kids showed up on bikes...one was on a Haro BMX bike. Pretty soon, more kids rode up...on Haro bikes. The word must have gotten out because pretty soon, we had quite the audience watching us with many of the kids on Haro BMX bikes.

Phil, Porter, Wilson, and Haro BMXer Ben Hucke put on quite a show for everyone with their big airs off of the hips of the bowls. Phil got the party started by throwing down some nice tables...Porter answered by tailwhipping the same hip. Wilson was going big with tire grabs and tucked no-handers off of the opposite hip. All of the kids were pretty impressed by it all...you shoold have heard all the "whoas!" and "sicks!" that came out of their mouths every time the Haro guys would throw down a trick.

By the time Pete changed camera angles, our little audience had grown quite a bit. I'd say there were 20 kids there watching the action go down. While Pete was getting his flashes set up for a new angle, the guys chatted with all the kids and handed out stickers. Stickers are always a big hit and this was no exception!



After Pete and Aaron decided they got all the shots and footage they needed, it was time to wrap up the shoot. A couple of the kids asked Phil and Porter to sign their bikes, shirts, and hats, which set off a wave of autograph requests. I dug out some MTB catalogs from the trailer so the guys could sign those for the kids as well. Even Wilson, Pete, Aaron, and I were asked to sign the catalogs. I'm pretty sure every kid left the skatepark with a signed Haro MTB catalog and/or a signed bike or shirt. I heard a couple of kids say, "This is going up on my wall!"

Before we left, Ben Hucke decided to have a little race to give away his Rockstar hoody...not a race on bikes, but a race on foot. He lined up all the kids and made them race down the street to a certain point and race back. The winner would get the hoody. I attached some video...it was classic.

Once the race was done, we packed up all the bikes, said goodbye to the kids, and drove a couple blocks down the street to visit one of our dealers called The Bike Shop. It was really great to meet owners Paul and Cheri Lynn; they have done a great job supporting the Haro brand despite being a relatively small store. They had several Flightlines, Heartlands, and Haro BMX bikes on their floor. Cheri Lynn talked about one of the reasons they are there is to support the kids in their community. How cool is that? And it was easy to see that the kids support them...when I asked all the kids on Haro BMX bikes at the park where they got their bikes, every one of them said "The Bike Shop".

Tomorrow morning, we're shooting some dirt jumping at a local spot called the Grotto not far from our hotel. After we're done shooting there, we'll head back over to the Scappoose Trail to get a few more cross-country trail shots in the done pile.

Be sure to follow our shoot on Twitter! Our username is HaroBikesMTB.

Below is a collection of short video clips of the guys riding at St Helen's. Enjoy!