Winter. With few events, races, contests, and riding for that matter, mountain biking falls into a brief period of stagnation. With that, I had amassed a hunger to work on a new edit and particularly one with some new athletes. I contacted Jill Kintner and we began planning!
I needed the edit to qualify for a local contest put on by a Northwest based advocacy organization, the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. The only requirement was to be filmed on
legal, Washington state trails. Jill came up with the excellent suggestion of Mt. Galbraith located on the outskirts of Bellingham. At the last minute I made the drive up and met with her and her close friend and fellow rider Katie Holden. We then continued on and at the trails met up with local Galbraith riders Jessica Serdowich and Tyler Earnheart. At the end of the day everyone was stoked and we came up with a great edit for everyone.
As for walking up, true there is little on the hill that one cannot pedal up. These riders were, I assume, sessioning sections of SST and the shots of them pushing, were them getting back up to ride it again. SST is, as locals know, a directional trail. Nobody rides up it. (Ok, I recognize that there might be some who ride up, but that's asking for trouble, and messing with the flow of someone who's already put in the work to get up there.) These riders probably rode to the trailhead as many of us do.
Of Monsters & Men - Dirty Paws