Winter creepin

Winter has begun to show its face in the eastern Sierras.  In the past month we have had several dustings of snow in the higher elevations, daytime temperatures have gotten noticeably lower and the daylight hours have gotten shorter.  Soon, the trails around Tahoe will be snowed in and unridable. Quincy and I have been working hard lately to get enough footage collected from the Tyrolean before we have to wait for the spring thaw.

Getting the gear together. 

We were greeted with about 2-3 inches of snow at the top of Mt. Rose to start our day of filming.  Our goal was to refilm specific sections of the trail to juxtapose our footage from the previous week. With the snow up top and the rain in lower elevations the trailed turned out to be perfect.  We spent the day getting the finishing touches, fighting the cold and unpredictable light conditions.  As the sun dipped below the mountains to the west we were just finishing up.  Stoked on how this first video is going to turn out, setting the tone for the rest of the videos.  Having fun and shredding with your friends is the name of the game.  

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Sneaking in a ride before the storm #mtb #reno #nevada #sierraklunker September 25, 2013 at 05:54PM

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/etEnO5LSKv/

Smoke, Fires, Filming and Biking

The smoke in Reno is ridiculous right now.  I made my way up to Tahoe to see if I could get above the haze in the valley. However, driving up Mt. Rose yesterday I could see that the smoke was not getting any better as I got closer to Tahoe. Unfortunately, west is inundated with a plume of orange smoke. The mist has taken over everything.  The mountains surrounding the city have disappeared along with anything farther than a half mile. Just the faint green glow of the Silver Legacy making its way through the smoke. Outdoor events have been cancelled and air quality warnings have been issued.  There is no escaping the smell of burnt pine.  It's in every house, car and store in the area.  Living in the high desert we are no strangers to smoke and fire, but in the last seven years of living here I've never seen it this bad for this long with no end in sight.

Anyways, on to the real reason for this post. I'm getting really good at making shitty GoPro videos!

I've been into photography ever since I can remember, but for some reason filming has always escaped me. Turns out making videos is pretty difficult. It's been a slow evolution for me. When I first got my GoPro I would attach it to either myself or my bike, turn it on then go home wand watch the footage. It has been a slow evolution: getting different angles, setting up shots, editing them together.  Most of the time I just want to ride, so setting up shots falls by the wayside.

Since the sierras are going up in flames, I decided to spend some time getting some footage on the Tyrolean downhill in Incline Village.  I've ridden this trail a million and it is one of my favorites close to home.  Fast, flowy single track with plenty of jumps and technical descents mixed in makes for a really fun trail. Still messing around with editing and getting a feel for putting together a cohesive story about the trail.  Trying to put together a real video soon.  Keep shredding