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| Bike I ride: | Yeti 575, Rockshox Revelation & Mavic CrossMax ST. |
| About Me: | Photographer |
| Products Recommended: | none - View Products |
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The Enduro was (and still is) an AM ("All Mountain".. read: a slacker XC bike thats beefed up with more suspension travel to take the abuse of harder hitting trail riding) bike. This one, that my rider used for a couple of years, came of the peg with a triple clamp fork. Back when the industry was telling us that 32lb bikes were "all day rideable" because they made them that heavy. Of course AM bikes are a lot lighter now. And stiffer. And have more travel. And we like that don't we. yeah I gotta admit to this one.. sorry about that.. sometimes that happens, something to do with only one of my eyes working properly and having one leg shorter than the other, or maybe too much of the local St Bernard liquor, though trust me none of it is on purpose. These should have been corrected before uploading. Funny enough pic 8 is actually about its proper angle. I agree. Its no fun. I have short legs. Ha thats funny. Yes I am an atheist, but none of that matters here. The references are all about making something invitingly and entertainingly readable to an audience. After all if we go and stay in a monastery to do a story called the Holy Trail what am I to litter the feature with; references to home baking or car mechanics? Even atheists can be aware of religions even if we dont practice them. Hopefully it all added up to a jolly pace to the story! Well to put the record straight form the horses mouth, the rider in the pic is as technically masterful as any you'll encounter anywhere. He can ride this kind of thing with his seat up, without problems, there are those out there who can (and those of us who used to without a problem). And he can do it faster and more stylishly than me with my seat down. And yes that little exposed roll down was half way up a long gradual climb up the valley side. On the flipside, he does now ride with a (Specialized) dropper post (as do 99.9% of riders who have tried them for AM use) and he loves it and uses it and yes he would have dropped the post if he'd had a dropper on then, and yes with a remote it takes no effort to do so and return it back to pedaling height of course afterwards.... Righto, a small correction... since this piece was written it seems the bike rental in Salta has changed. The place that rents bikes in Salta is www.saltabike.com. If you're looking to rent a bike there. 
I shoot most of my "adventure" bike stuff on Leica M8 rangefinders as it means I can carry the camera and 4 lenses and still ride how I want. It adds a certain look to the outcome. Using a wide 15mm (20mm equivalent on the M8) gets a little vignetting that adds a natural depth to pics. it worked for Ansel Adams! I dont do any 'photoshop' work on my pics though. Anyway, glad you like the shots. Indeed, I was back there last weekend to shoot a Passeporte feature for a UK mag.. and it was rammed with riders, so much so they ran out of Tartiflette! Funny how quiet it does get only a week after the lifts close though eh! plenty of silent singletrack to hit then, all you have to do is ride up to it, as you well know! well, thanks for the props Andrew! I'm not sure we set out to be "artistic" with the route (sic), more to try to actually enjoy riding it without pushing ourselves beyond the last bastion of pleasure (been there done that in both the Cristalp and Transalp races in the past.. dont need that any more). We set out to try to cover the bulk of the PDS 80 Km route, that when the event is on covers that distance using lifts for uplift.Without lifts means we rode the ups, and covered at least the 80Km, even with our artistic interpretation applied, not that we were counting. I've posted a map on Pinkbike with our route kind of marked on it ( http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/6793172/ ), and yes we missed the Les Gets and Torgon extremeties, but what the hell, it was 2 big (8 hour days), a lot of uphill and a great sense of achievement. And yes you're right, Les Crosets is with an S (there is a Les Crozets but thats in the French Jura mountains).
And for you Morsinator, I have started Gopro'ing some of my more recent bike adventures, and you'll see a teaser for our recent Upper Mustang (Nepal) one here: http://vimeo.com/16040485 
Male , 88
Male , 88
Male , 88
Male , 88
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Chamonix, France 
May 13, 2011 at 12:51