Cedar Breaks single track.

With a long over due desire and a recent change in weekend plans, we finally made it to the Brianhead/ Cedar Breaks area to ride the pedal bikes. We chose to camp up by Navajo Lake to stay close to trails and as a great in between spot nestled in the peaking aspens. Here's what we found.

 One of the uncrowded overlooks at Cedar Breaks and a glimpse to the distant Blowhard trail by the small dot atop the distant peak (Blowhard mountain).

 Yes, it is still Milkyway season and the wind finally let up enough to shoot a few exposures looking straight south towards Navajo Lake.

 The landscape around the lake was reminiscent of Bend Oregon and the Mckenzie River sections with lava.

Lichen covered lava was only on the east end of the lake and made for a cool start to our loop up to the Virgin Rim trail.

 Insert postcard title here "               ". wish you were here! Looking south towards Zion National park.

Hard to tell just how windy it was, but that was as close to the edge as I felt confident with.

Although we did not ride the Blowhard trail together, I chose to hike up from the parking to get one shot of Amy descending the last fun narrow canyon section before the drive back.

Since we only rode the Blowhard trail on our last day, we thought a hot lap in Cedar City on the Boulder dash and Lava flow trails would be appropriate. Look at my wife slaying this section of Boulder Dash.

Both the drive there and back provided amazing displays of Gods craftsmanship in the sky.

The Emerald island of singletrack

Although I was on several assignments recently in Steamboat Springs (old hometown) I always spend some cardio-time on the amazing trails on Emerald mountain (AKA Howelsen, Quarry mtn, Emerald). This will go down as one of the greenest Summers in quite a while and the foliage is at an all-time high too.

The flowers were out early and the grasses were taller then I can ever recall in 28 years in Steamboat. I was also fortunate enough to work with yeticycles.com ambassador and professional snowboarder Justin Reiter and local ski racer/teacher Emily Colin.

A classic view of Steamboat from the bluffs on emerald.

The extremely tall grass on the lower Lupine trail almost slows down Emily in the switchback section. In addition to her biking skills, Emily also founded a really cool non-profit in 2010 pedalforchange.org. If you love to bike and give back to those in need, definitely check this out.

Oh, did I mention the ferns were tall too. This is the new trail (morning gloria) named after local entrepreneur  Gloria Gossard who donated the land allowing sections to be taken care of responsibly by making good sustainable trails for hikers, bikers and horseman.

Emily heads down a fern section of Morning Gloria as I feel like I'm in an Amazon jungle filming a documentary.

Back at the stables near the rodeo grounds a couple Colorado craft beers wait for some attention after an amazing couple of hours deep in the emerald jungles of Howelsen Hill!

Draper cycle parks new jump and pump park opening!

Very excited to have experienced the new jump park at drapercyclepark.org last weekend. There were some local pros and a ton of great riders along with a cool raffle. The shenanigans lasted all day, but here are just a few of the highlights from the scene in Draper.

Lots of "duel" shredding and even the ribbon cutting tape is hanging on for a victory lap.

Loca lSpecialized pro rider Mitch Ropelato whipping his way under a Drone attack on the double black line.

Two GT riders Joey Foresta and 2008 Olympic silver medalist Mike Day working it out on another hit from the opening day celebration.

Style and amplitude was plentiful on the first hit as the two guys show that wheel size doesn't matter, it's just dirt. There were Groms galore, and plenty of girls ripping the lines all day too, I just wanted to keep this one short.

Anniversary in Sayulita

Sayulita has been on my mind ever since our last visit 6 years ago for our honeymoon. At that time SUP wasn't even on the acronym map and street tacos were only at a couple locations. Long time away from the surf and simple pleasures of this rapidly growing little hot spot of Nayarit Mexico. This once sleeper village all grown up!

 It was a blessing to see this much green in March where everything is usually dried up and dusty from the Winter season.

We opted for a little extra culture this trip and stopped in at the local market in La Cruz for some amazing food and local artist vendors.

For most visitors it's about the beach, but without the surf utensils it's just another sandy swimming spot. standupsayulita.com is the place for SUP in Sayulita and has the best gear for both rental and retail in the area. They also support numerous pros and help promote the sport to every age group.

We quickly learned that sunset sessions were the least crowded and most consistent for waves. And if you want to paddle with some local pros like shelbytaylorsup.com and Javier with his son evenings are best.

One of the quiter sections of beach just minutes from the main attraction has a steeper entry into the ocean, but less crowds.

This rocky beach plays host to some decent sunrise material and is a 3 minute walk from playa centro.

But my all time favorite is over by playa-escondida.com where I have done a bit of work with over the years. Muy fantastico!

For many, the attraction in Sayulita is the food. Just in the last 6 years the place has exploded with great and very affordable, creative and fresh options from juices, tacos (galore) and local fish, vegetables and meats. Sayulita turns on at night.

Another surprise for us was the mountain bike options here. The guys at wildmex.com have brand new marinbikes.com front suspension hardtail 27.5 with dropper seat posts, helmets and guided tours. This was our guide Javier "dropping in". He races the Enduro circuits in Colorado in the summer time and is looking for some sponsors.

Our ride was a drop off shuttle that began down there to the left in the town of Higuera Blanca and brought us up to the summit of Monkey mountain with this pano of the whole gulf of Nuevo Vallarta. The decent out of here was all single track with natural and farmed structures all the way to the next beach. The finish was on smooth two track in shaded jungle back to Sayulita for a 3 hour tour.

We did not have mtb clothes or shoes but my wife sure rocked the buyc2.com tights like nobodies business.

Our accommodations were at Casa dulce suenos with an abundance of gatos that were all feral just last year. Our gracious owners took the liberty of getting the stray cats fixed and keep them fed so they are now all residents of the property. Thanks to the responsible people who now offer these services in Sayulita.

As mentioned earlier sunset was the time for the best waves and least crowds and the main time that the locals play on the water. For the locals SUP was the majority water craft by far and in just a few years, they have it dialed.

This evening proved to be the pinnacle of sunset sessions all week and the light show lasted forever.

Another local pro finishing his 2 hour distance training perfectly.

The water was spectacular.

You almost couldn't see this with the naked eye, but my sensor could. With a 6400 iso setting and a hand held 1/2 second exposure it really came alive.

Night riding Salt Lake City Utah

We recently came into a little warming trend after some cooler Fall weather so I brought out the night light (helmet mount) and discovered a scenic little section of the BST above Salt Lake. These were my finds.

There are numerous spots like this to view the valley, but this one had all the elements I was looking for this evening, single track, sexy curves, mountainess views and city lights! I was hoping to get a little further across the trail but that was it for a 30 second exposure.

Without another rider I was hoping to create a shadow of myself with the glow of my head lamp somewhere in front of me. The sexy curve was real nice too. Funny thing happened while I was making these, the editor of CyclingUtah magazine was up there on a night ride himself and asked what I was doing? He asked if I could send him over a sample or two and perhaps he would run it in their POD (photo of the day). Never know who you'll meet on the trail.

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.