The Ramble - As Told Through Images

My take on the Desert Ramble is now live over on my Exposure site.  Hop on over and check out what a bunch of dudes, on Fat bikes, with cameras in tow, were up to.

Picture of the Day

Picture of the day -- last year Bikepacking in Morocco. I love the reaction of the kids. B&W just works for this image. Bikes, no matter where you travel, have this way of bringing people together, putting smiles on everyone's face.  We had stopped at a little market to get some water and tea and these kids were so intrigued with both us and the bikes.  While I was on a Salsa Fargo, Richard was on a Salsa Mukluk, a bike guaranteed to draw attention no matter where you go.

Down Time

I am working my way back east and will be using this as some much needed down time. Tons of images to backup and edit, a couple of presentations to prepare, and an article to be submitted. After I get those taken care of I will post my lessons learned, new images, and some important thoughts on winter touring gear.

Thanks to all for following on this amazing Alaska tour.

Looking back -- the process begins

The fun now begins anew as I start looking back on this amazing trip, collecting my thoughts, editing images, and sharing. In that spirit, here is an early image from a rare sunny and relatively warm day at the beginning of my trip. My carrots and hard boiled eggs had frozen in a mere 3 days but my Reindeer sausage was still soft. Oh how that too would change soon enough....

Knik Glacier

I had a couple of 'must do things' on my list for this Alaska Fat Bike tour and riding out to the Knik Glacier was right up there at the top. Yesterday, Dan Bailey, his wife Amy, and myself braved the barren ice and a bit of early morning snow fall, to ride out, explore and photograph the glaciers.

The trail out is a collection of beach, frozen river, glacier moraine and overgrown bush, making it perfect for the go anywhere role of my Salsa Mukluk. I would say it took us a bit more than an hour of riding and falling to snake our way from the parking lot to the frozen lake that is the frozen Knik Glacier playground.

From what I understand, each year is different, depending on weather and how much ice breaks away from the glacier face. After riding around it was clear that some of these ice bergs have been here for quite a while. We spent our time riding, slipping, falling, laughing smiling and photographing this winter playground. Once again, one of the few things that I would have done differently on this trip is to have brought either 45Nrth Dillinger or Escalator tires as well as having drilled some machine screws into my 45Nrth boots.

The ice was definitely treacherous especially with virtually no snow cover to ride on. We all took major spills, with me having a spectacular backwards fall off my bike that I am still not quite sure how I managed . Dan, to his credit, managed the most number of ground falls that quite often involved getting air. Amy who took a hard early fall riding out to the glacier won the award for the worst or prettiest looking bruise. Even with all the pain involved, it was a spectacular ride and a highlight of my trip.

Below are a few pictures, with more over on Flickr.

Imagination

Some images don't need to tell the entire story, instead, it can be rewarding to leave the viewer to their own imagination. This image was captured in Denali National Park at the sled dog kennels. I deliberately shot it this way, purposefully leaving out some details.

In Front of the Lens

I have spent the better part of my life photographing people places and things, with more than 20 years as a professional. However, during all that time I rarely, if ever, get to be the subject. The first time, on my Bike Around America tour, I had the honor of working with my good friend Andrea, of Andrea Johnson Photography. She and I met up in Oregon and did a fun shoot about touring wineries by bike. No offense Dan, but she was prettier.

Now, almost two years later, I got to be a subject for Adventure Photographer Dan Bailey. Dan is a master teacher of photography and needed a subject for a Photoflex flash course he is teaching. We decided to grab the fat tire bikes, my Mukluk and his Fatback, two small backpacks of gear, and head out into the Chugach mountains at sunset for some shooting.

Dan had us ride for about 45 minutes or so, scouting locations and light, before deciding on the appropriate place to shoot. We found this lovely stretch of tree lined single track with the glow of sunset beaming down on us. It was a beautiful spot to be, independent of the actual shoot. With his super light and compact Photoflex gear, it only took Dan a couple of minutes to set up the soft box and light. My role during that time was to shoot some stills with the fabulous little Fuji X10, a camera that is on my must purchase list for UL travel photography. The B&W pictures below are from my little Sony NEX system.

I have to say, after being a model twice, I have great respect for models that do this full time. Dan was patient with me as I rode back and forth along this 50 foot stretch of trail. At the end of each run I would un-clip, flip my bike around and do it all over again. Dan worked steadily, adjusting lights, switching lenses and contorting himself Into some crazy positions on and in the snow. We joked and laughed and just had a fabulous time.

Myself, well I am a natural light photographer, rarely, if ever using flash, so for me this was a great education. Dan on the other hand really knows how to light up the action. Below are some of the pictures I took from a behind the scenes perspective. The bottom color images are from Dan and the actual shoot.

To see the images that Dan captured head on over to danbaileyphoto.com. More of my pictures from last night are up on my Flickr page.

For more on Dan check out his website, www.danbaileyphoto.com and by all means pick up his latest Ebook, Behind the Action (http://danbaileyphoto.com/blog/get-my-brand-new-ebook-behind-the-action/)

riding the Chugach State Park Trails

Beautiful single track, blue skies, stunning views and new friends.

The Journey

The journey is always worth the effort.