Colin Jones and I went to Phoenix, Arizona April 9 to 13 to film with Wade Simmons and Andrew Shandro for the second shoot of our Shimano brake series project. The weather was great. Not too hot but very, very enjoyable especially if you live in the Pacific North West. Highlights of the trip:
- In and Out Burger
- Rubios burritos
- 4 Peaks brewery
- Getting legends Wade Simmons and Andrew Shandro to ride sweet sections of trail together over and over again and knowing they can’t say no!
- Working the scene with CJ who is creative and easy to travel and work with.
Both riders were kitted with the latest and greatest in long travel trail bikes from Rocky and Trek, which were perfect for ripping the trails in Phoenix. The singletrack in Phoenix is amazing – demanding a true test of endurance and skill, riding either up or down. From hard pack singletrack, to rock shelf features and loose gravel and sandy sections the trails are always changing.
I am looking forward to seeing the final edit. We used a bunch of different POV set ups to put you in the saddle and connect with the experience of Wade and Andrew flowing their bikes along the trail. For one shot we experimented with a POV (point of view) angle of Wade and Andrew climbing and hammering up the trail. This type of shot was pretty experimental because it can be very hard to frame the front rider in as he is above the camera and climbing shots tend to look slow while not doing justice to how challenging the climb actually is. The results were stunning. At one point it is like the camera is floating up the trail. CJ and I were stoked!