Oregon MTB Photoshoot, Day Three

I haven't spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest, but the one thing I've heard about this area is all the rain it gets. Well, it's TRUE! We're here in Bend and were hoping for better weather based on what the weather reports told us, and we were foiled yet again!

This morning we met up with our friend Jaymo who knows Bend and the trails here like the back of his hand. He also knows some out-of-the-way secret trails that don't get ridden all that often. He recommended that we head out to this canyon east of town since it doesn't get the same rainfall as Bend gets in town. It was dry and not raining when we arrived at the trail head, but it was cold (about 40 degrees), windy, and the sky looked like rain was certainly on the way again.

We got all the bikes together and headed into the canyon which turned out to be as pretty as Jaymo promised it would be. Lots on gnarly, twisted pinon pines with great rock formations. Just as we found the first place to shoot, it started to drizzle a little bit. Pete quickly got his camera gear set up while Aaron Lutze filmed Porter and Blake a little bit on the bikes. Once Pete got his flashes set up, he banged out some shots of the guys and we moved on to the next spot.

By the time we stopped at the next shooting location, it was starting to rain a little harder and the wind was blowing a little more. It wasn't pouring down, but it was just enough to get the camera lenses all spotty and useless. Porter and Blake changed clothes and changed bikes and we managed to get a few more shots as well as a little more video before deciding that it wasn't worth continuing with camera lenses that were shooting images spotted up like leopards.

I have to apologize for the lack of colorful photos today...I have a really crappy wireless connection here doesn't seem to have enough juice for me to upload any images.