I was talking to Matt, Bobby and Garret about the hill I wanted to shoot the picture on. It was the hill that I take to get into the Flint Hills. They knew this hill and let me know it is the first big Dirty Kanza hill and even these members of the insane cycling posse knew of its power. I didn’t feel so bad because this is the hill that sometimes slows me down to 5mph and I feel on top of the world (and close to a coronary) If I can keep a 10mph pace up that hill. That usually doesn’t happen. Even better. Dirty Kanza hill here we come.

Bobby seemed pretty excited so I didn’t remind him that this shoot wasn’t for a “real” magazine and that only 41 people would read it. I wanted to keep him enthused.

We had some great conversation on the way to the hill. Another plus for biking. If we were jogging I would have been out of breath and the conversation would have been limited to about four minutes. A bike ride is perfect for making friends and telling stories. We discussed biking, shaving, God, mud, marriage, careers and other things on this short ride.

We turned off the pavement and hit gravel. The road was packed down enough to where we could ride fine, but the mud started flinging up and onto everything. It was funny, at first. This is what got me into trouble as a kid. In the moment of doing something stupid, it feels fun and reckless and I don’t think of the consequences. It is an Adventure Monkey kind of high. I knew I was getting a bit muddy but I didn’t realize just how muddy. The thing was, we were shooting the cover shot for Kansas Bicycling and this was the perfect Kansas Winter day just like I described HERE.

We got to the Dirty Kanza hill and rode to the top. I felt the burn. I set my bike against a fence post, got my camera gear out of my trunk bag and instantly realized it was freezing outside. I was wet, muddy and cold. I rigged up my flash to use outside, picked the spot to sink it into the muddy ground and told Bobby to ride up the hill. This could be the steepest hill in this area. I was using my little Nikon strobe at full power and therefore could only get one good shot per hill climb for Bobby. This was definitely a low budget, high talent production. We had no assistants to help us out. In fact, I was so muddy, that my muddy gloves coated my nice camera with mud and it was difficult to even check out my images on the LCD of the camera. The image was obscured and I hoped my knowledge would get me a good shot. Good thing I was using a weather sealed Nikon camera. I will talk serious details about how I shot this later.

Flash clamped to the fence was too far away so I jammed the clamp into the mud on the side of the road with the flash head sticking out.

Just starting and still in good spirits

Checking the flash output while striking a pose

Getting ready for the first climb

Can't really have too many pictures of Bobby right?

Climb one of twelve - this one didn't make the cut

Hey Bobby can you hold the flash in your cold dead fingers so I can shoot the Fargo?

Pure Fargotastic

After counting the pictures, I made Bobby ride up that hill 12 times to get the shot. I would have made him do it more, but I was freezing and he started to cry. Just kidding Bobby rode that hill like a champion. Unlike the team that shoots the covers of Bicycling Magazine somewhere warm, we still had to ride back home in the cold mud. I had on my nice warm gear including shoe covers, while Bobby didn’t. I think I heard him say something like, “My feet have never been this cold in my life.” I laughed. More on the inside than I showed him I hope. I got home and looked at my bike. Yuck, it will probably never be the same.

It was worth it. The final image is sick. You’ll have to wait to see it. I have something cooking… tell you about it tomorrow.

Back at High Gear

The Fargo in the rack at High Gear

To shave or not to shave? I call this piece "mud coating on hairy leg"

What was I thinking?

I hope I didn't screw up the bike...

I bet Lance doesn't have to clean his bike(s)

I call this piece, "mud splattered backside"

Thanks for reading.

Feed Your Monkey!

-Eric

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