The Deliverance - One week in the Oregon backwoods - Part 1
Sometimes, while on the road, the only way to gauge what a place is like, is to check out the people at the local grocery stores and gas stations. If that is true, then Dallas Oregon, which is the closest town to Black Rock Oregon, with a grocery store and gas station, is one strange place.
Our crew consisting of Knolly team riders - Curtis Robinson and Alan Crisp, team manager - Chris Glew, filmer - Ambrose Weingart, and myself - the photographer, stopped off in Dallas to pick up groceries for camping.
View part 1 of 4 inside,I was in charge of watching the truck and bikes while the rest went to get the groceries. In the space of twenty minutes while waiting for the guys, I saw: a shifty looking skinny dude with a leather hat and a smoke in his mouth cruise by on a clunky bicycle. An excessively hippy-garbed old bearded fat man plunk himself out of an equally excessive hippy-garbed van, and a grizzly looking, serious dude get in his truck that had different colour body panels, and tear out of the parking lot like he was being chased by someone.
At this point, all the stories of redneck debauchery and madness that Ambrose, who had been here before, had been feeding us all the way down from Vancouver were sounding true.
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This concludes part 1 of 4, so stayed tuned tomorrow for part 2. Check out BRMBA to learn more about their amazing riding area.
Our crew consisting of Knolly team riders - Curtis Robinson and Alan Crisp, team manager - Chris Glew, filmer - Ambrose Weingart, and myself - the photographer, stopped off in Dallas to pick up groceries for camping.
View part 1 of 4 inside,I was in charge of watching the truck and bikes while the rest went to get the groceries. In the space of twenty minutes while waiting for the guys, I saw: a shifty looking skinny dude with a leather hat and a smoke in his mouth cruise by on a clunky bicycle. An excessively hippy-garbed old bearded fat man plunk himself out of an equally excessive hippy-garbed van, and a grizzly looking, serious dude get in his truck that had different colour body panels, and tear out of the parking lot like he was being chased by someone.
At this point, all the stories of redneck debauchery and madness that Ambrose, who had been here before, had been feeding us all the way down from Vancouver were sounding true.
We arrived at Black Rock late at night, in the rain. We quickly set up camp and I went to sleep to disturbing scenes from the movie Deliverance dancing around my head.
Waking up to this was a pleasant surprise. We were situated at the base of the famed trails of Black Rock Oregon and Brown Mountain which they're on.
Brown Mountain is a lone mountain of lush old-growth greenery in the midst of an ocean of Oregon clear cuts. It's still there because of one Spotted Owl, and the group that protects it. And the local trail builders who miraculously managed to gain access to the zone to build some of the freshest high speed downhill trails anywhere.
The staging area where we were camped had a warm up zone, a map of the trails, and even a garbage can.
Our goal for this trip was to document the two new Knolly team riders as they rip it up on the first
official team trip of the season. After some initial warm up laps in the still wet from the night before
conditions, it was time to make last minute tire changes and start filming.
official team trip of the season. After some initial warm up laps in the still wet from the night before
conditions, it was time to make last minute tire changes and start filming.
Though it was sunny and warm, the soil and some of the ladder bridges were still very slick. This ladder behind Ambrose claimed the first crash of the trip.
The second crash of the day was this little corner. Curtis Robinson was working it pretty good, until this shot. The berm just got too wet and he couldn't bring it back around. This is pretty much exactly how he landed.
Two takes on the same hit.
The light was going down fast and the conditions weren't getting any dryer. This was the last corner we worked for the day.
By the fifth time Curtis hit this corner, it looked like this.
Splish splash, it's bloody mucky.
After a wet and mucky first day of filming and shooting Curtis, we headed back to our campsite. Normally, you're not allowed to camp where we were, but thankfully the head of the BRMBA (Black Rock Mountain Bike Association) was there to OK our spot, and even chop some firewood for us. This here's his little shuttle bunny.
This concludes part 1 of 4, so stayed tuned tomorrow for part 2. Check out BRMBA to learn more about their amazing riding area.
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Sick pics by the way!