Wasatch Bike Park jump session

The new Wasatch Bike Park (indoor mountain bike park) that just opened here in Salt Lake City just added an air bag (stunt couch). Last night was the first night open to the public, so I set up a couple strobes and watched the talent get down.

The Founder Justin Randle has done an exceptional job with a great warehouse space not far from downtown Salt Lake. The wasatchbikepark.com is located at 815 W 2400 S and is making improvements daily. First off the entry has ample room for hanging out with bike rentals from scott-sports.com and harobikes.com along with gear from foxhead.com. The main room is the pump park with a technical area off to the left.

 These guys were working the whoops section of the pump park.

The largest room is considered the cross country room. This area houses the "stunt couch" or air bag for now.

 Yep, you can practice anything you like here!

I plan to be working on my fantasy jumps all Winter long.

I chose to cast a shadow on the back wall while using at least 2 strobes, so the set up was quite simple. I had one strobe on a small stand lighting the ramp from behind riders right and also creating a rim light from below while casting the "phantom" shadow with my second strobe camera right (CR).

Slight movements by either my main light or me and I could alter the shadow distance dramatically for different effects.

Lots of different kids here working on new tricks to take to the dirt.

Eventually, some pro riders dropped in and the back flip attempts became more frequent for the regular folk..

 This young guy was pretty fearless and I'm sure is hitting this wooden wall bigger then I will.

It really looks easy when you see it in person, but I know better.

Even though I caught him in an awkward moment, he did land this upright. That's the cool thing about still capture is "it's not always what it seems".

A couple more "backy" attempts.

You may have noticed that my main light was visible here in the center, perhaps for a commercial edit I would have tried to hide it behind one of the riders on the left.

This guy took home the biggest air of the night. As you can see he out jumped my "shadow caster" too.

He's back at it, but with someone else's bike. He'll be landing them soon.......

Thanks again to the guys and girl who helped make the first night a great success.