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I’ve really taken a liking to shooting race photography and I got to spend another day shooting the next race in the California Enduro Series. This past weekend was the Mammoth Bar event which was great because it was only a 30 minute drive from home and was on trails that I ride almost once a week. I was a bit torn between this event and the Strait Acres Invitational, but with everything going on, I was unable to make the 8 hour drive down to LA a few short days before we moved from Folsom (more on that in another post). Instead the 30 minute drive to mammoth bar was more than ideal!
The night before the event, I went and took a lap myself on half of the course, getting my own ride itch out and thinking about my plan for how I was going to shoot it. This was the first race in the series where riders had to pedal between all the stages themselves. And that meant I had to as well. And I don’t have an e-bike. Yet… So with the combination of the heat and the steep climbs on the roads, I wanted to make sure that I could be as efficient as possible getting from stage to stage.
The first stage of the day was Eastside which was also the furthest climb away from the event center. I had only ridden this trail once before the event, so I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going to head to shoot. I decided to pedal over to the bottom of the stage and hike my way up trying to find a spot to shoot. To my surprise, it was only a few minute hike to a rock garden in the middle of the trail. This is where I initially camped out to shoot the beginner and sport racers coming through. Once Aaron of Bixxel.Media arrived to shoot the experts and pros, I decided to head on down the trail and make my way to stage 3 to capture more of the riders!
Stage 2 was confluence trail, which would put me further away from the end of the race, so I decided to skip it and stick to Culvert and Rocky, stages 3 and 4. The pedal up from the bottom of the course is always somewhat brutal, but carrying camera gear always adds an extra level of difficulty. But once I made it to my shooting location on stage 3, I was greeted by Andy and a group of friends cheering on the riders. They were an awesome support system to witness and even share a beer with at 10 am. Which you know what they say, “You can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.” I only had one beer and it was quite delicious while shooting out in the heat.
I stuck to a berm on this section for a while as more of the sport category riders were coming through so that I could get good shots of all of them. Later though, I moved down to a well known section on trail, the drop into a flat right hand turn. This is where I got some of my favorite shots from the day. Lots of action with the racers sending the drop. Thankfully there weren’t any crashes on this section, but one of the riders did come dangerously close to the front of my camera.
I jumped out of this section a bit early so that I could still catch some riders down on stage 4, rocky. This trail is essentially a washed up creek bed that the moto riders attempt to ride up. The large rocks throughout provide ample opportunity to slice open a tire, bust a wheel, or get knocked off the bike. It was pretty cool to watch the good riders float over all of these rocks so effortlessly like they were hovering just a few inches above the ground. Aaron and Sydney were shooting down at the bottom so I moved my way up the trail and tried to capture a bit different angle of the riders moving quickly through the rubble of rocks.
After all the riders came through, down to the bottom we all went to take a dip in the American River, have an ice cold beer, and catch the results of all the racers. It’s always a great time getting to catch up with friends from previous races and make new friends as well! Next stop on CES is Northstar which I unfortunately won’t be able to shoot day 1, but I hope to be there for day 2 to catch the final stages! Stoked and can’t wait to see everyone out there.
Cheers!
https://gallery.bradynations.com/mammothbarenduro/
