Good Food, Great Company, A Little Hard Work

This is the perfect recipe for a folk festival in my mind and Shelter Valley does it like no other that I know of.

Showing up to work is like a family reunion with lots of great banter and playful conversation with friends from previous years as well as lots of stimulating conversations with new folks. And at some point everyone asks each other "so, how many years for you?".

Andrea and I have come to this festival for the past four years (this is the eleventh edition) and I've volunteered three times including this week. I feel like I know a little about what needs doing by now so I've gotten a few crews lined up to work and I think it's gone well. I know I make them work more than they want to but I know what all still needs to be done and I want to make sure we get to the end by Friday.

So my mornings are early (generally up with the sun) and after some tasty breakfast that starts with fresh farm eggs and becomes an omelette, I get the folks organized and away we go.

Sunrise over the remains of last night's campfire

At the other end of the day another fine meal awaits (and yes, there is a wonderful lunch in between). I think at this point there are around 50 volunteers to feed. The total will be closer to 300 during the event so it's no small task. And SVFF pulls it off beautifully. Here's tonights treat...

I'm In The Mood For Music

This extended week, from last weekend until the end of next weekend, is a break from photography and a shift to music. So far so good too!

The weekend behind was highlighted by the Greenbelt Harvest Festival which is the brainchild of Daniel Lanois. While only four years old it has a reputation for having some big names as well as local Hamilton area talent. And this year was no exception. I really enjoyed seeing and hearing Bruce Cockburn and Ron Sexsmith is another artist I really enjoy. The final act was Ray LaMontagne, a band I don't know much about but they were a treat. I'll have to look into their music a little more as they were really on top of it and performed brilliantly on stage.

We got to the Harvest Festival early... front row parking

<insert your caption here :) >

This week I'm at the Henkel family lavender farm, the site of the Shelter Valley Folk Festival. I've gotten one day of hard labour in (and my body feels it!) and three more days ahead of me as I volunteer to help get everything set up ahead of the festival which starts on Friday and runs until Sunday noon.

Headed out to SVFF. With a bike of course

It was a hot day with lots of sun and sweat so after we were done I headed down to the lake for a quick dip to wash of the day's grime. And then I drove up to the volunteer camping area on top of the hill.

Parked at the beach for a quick dip

This last shot is my view down over the festival site with the lake in the distance. And with that, I'll wrap up the blog entry as the campfire is about to get lit now that the sun is gone.

At home on the hill with SVFF as a view

Take A Minute And A Half...

I didn't use my GoPro very much while I was away but I did record one time-lapse video similar to the one I did at the Mariposa Folk Festival. This time I just pointed the camera out toward the sun as it was setting. Unfortunately the battery died before the sun completely set, so I'll have to try it again another time.

I used the same 10 seconds between frames so the 690 frames are just under 2 hours of elapsed time. With 1/10 of a second per frame on playback it flows reasonably well.

As for the music, I thought about adding in the sound of waves but then I noticed a Phil Volan song in my iTunes library that I though would fit nicely. Sit back and relax for the next minute and a half...

Windham - The Third Mountain

The days on this mountain were defined by the hot and dry conditions. This was very much like how it was two years earlier. There was one exception the first evening as a brief shower passed through, leaving this rainbow behind.

From a photography perspective, it meant I was in the woods as often as I could be, just for the shade. It did put in some good spots to shoot though. And while the crowds of spectators were enthusiastic, they were much smaller than at Mont Sainte-Anne.

It was a good event though, and I'm glad to hear that they are already committed to repeating the event for next year!

Anyhow, here are a few photos from the race...

Heckling is not a crime

Victory

Dust

Canucks

Then it was a relaxing trip back home. The last time I drove straight back, this time I added a couple of days and drove back roads the whole way. I enjoyed that very much and will likely make a point of doing that on all of the major trips. Time for me to THINK and rejuvenate.

Watkins Glen

It also led me to finding what I think is a big piece of petrified wood on a lakeside beach...

Rock or wood?

And of course, once I got home I headed out for a night at Buses of the Corn! :)

BoTC 2014

A Trip Report In Three Mountains

When I finally got around to writing up my Moab trip report it turned into 3 “books”. This report  is best broken down into the three mountains that feature prominently in the adventure. Which isn’t done yet by any means! I’ve only just arrived at mountain #3. Since I haven’t written much on my blog I thought it best to get a start while it’s all still fresh.

Mountain 1: Mont-Sainte-Anne

I knew MSA has been the venue for World Cup MTB events for 24 years in a row including this edition. I had the pleasure of learning a little more about what that really means on many levels as I started working on a side project that has me interviewing a number of people about the location, the history, the story. And I do mean pleasure… I love getting these sorts of insights.
More on that once it’s in the can, as they say.

I missed this race last year, as I did most of the other major races in 2013. So it felt really good to be back. Personally significant, like I really am back closer to being myself in mind & spirit if not entirely in body. Being back in a media centre, spending time talking with top athletes face to face and trying to extract the untold stories. I like that. I think perhaps my accident last year has forced me to get past a few things so I’m expecting my interviews this year may be more interesting that in previous years. We’ll see. And I look to the folks who take the time to check them out to offer up the critiques. By far my favourite so far was with Patrice Drouin. I have my work cut out fitting it all together but it’s an amazing story and I now understand why he didn’t want to just do a sound-bite. I had to add a day to my MSA leg to get it. And in the end I have about an hour of video looking back on the start of international mountain biking, where Canada fits into it, and lots of “colour commentary”. Anyone remember when Honda had a team? I’d honestly forgotten about it until Patrice brought it up in the conversation. Or how very involved Michelin was at one time (they would custom cut the tread blocks at each race based on venue, conditions and rider). Talk about evolutionary and historic!

Patrice, with some friends who were the organizers of the Bromont races

Oh ya… the 24th edition was amazing to watch! Imagine a downhill race where 1st to 6th is separated by a second. After a long run down a steep mountain with a myriad of opportunities for a small mistake to make the difference. And a battle in the men’s XCO between Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter that came down to an attack that couldn’t be closed to decide an exciting race. The women’s race was locked in early for 1st and 2nd but the last podium spot was hard fought for. 

Woven into the threads of the weekend are a series of interviews of which some happened and some didn’t (yet). I’m working on getting the loose ends woven together for Thursday here on mountain #3.

Emily Batty & Catharine Pendrel

Absalon & Schurter

Mountain #2: Mount Mansfield

A great spot to camp

As I was headed from MSA to Mountain #3 in the Catskills all of the route options had me going along the NY side of Lake Champlain. That prompted me to reach out to a friend in Underhill Vermont to see if he and his wife were around for the Tuesday evening. And Guy made sure I knew I was welcome to drop by so that’s exactly what I did. The evening was filled with relaxed conversation, the night was quiet and peaceful, the morning was highlighted with picking fresh blueberries from his bushes for breakfast. I picked enough that I should be able to have a few with my breakfast granola and yogurt for the weekend.

Guy with his blueberry bushes

I like this particular spot to camp. In part it’s the company, they’re wonderful people and they’ve established a delightful homestead in the area they grew up in.  Then again I’ve been a big fan of the area ever since my long-time friend Darryl introduced me to it. I passed through the Notch once a long time ago (before I even knew Darryl) but later memories are much more imprinted. That’s a whole other blog entry that I may write some time. Or not.

The drive west through Quebec was a very Westy-filled trip with a total of 8 VW campers along the stretch of highway I traveled. And one hell of a storm… the rain was so hard that I pulled off at a rest stop to let it pass. It didn’t last long but visibility was non-existent.  Since I left Quebec,  I’ve only seen Guy’s hightop plus one tin-top just a few miles north of Mountain #3.

Mountain #3: Windham

Getting here felt like I climbed a few mountains! I set the GPS to avoid highways and it sure did. At one point I was climbing for close to 10 minutes in 2nd gear (Babe is a 5 speed standard and that gear will get me about 20 mph at 3200 rpm). I could see all the gauges telling me it was time to take a break before something broke so when we got to the top I pulled over to let the systems & temps get back to a better state. And anyone who’s driven Babe (like Andrea) knows that 2nd has a habit of popping out of gear so I had to hold it in with one hand and steer with the other. Well that happened. Again :)

It was a beautiful day for a drive though. It had rained overnight on mountain #2 and was just clearing up by the time I left Guy & Joan’s place. Lots of rolling countryside and gorgeous vistas. I should have stopped to take photos but didn’t feel I had the time. I intend to not do that on the trip home, too many misdeed opportunities so I will slow down a little and add the time to really appreciate where I am. But first there are some bike races to cover!

A selfie with the mountain and the moon reflecting in the window

Breakfast before getting down to work

I have lined up a handful of interviews with people I likely won’t get to see in person again before next year. People I want to get on video talking about Mont Sainte-Anne ahead of the 25th edition. There are so many stories that deserve being told… I’m trying to capture a few. A good selection of some key people who are around this weekend. This is a bit of a distraction from Windham though so I’m trying to limit that to one day. If I don’t get someone today (Thurs) I’ll consider the window closed.

I prefer to focus on this mountain. I’ve only been here once before and the result in the women’s XCO event was one of the most dramatic and gut-wrenching I’ve seen. The finish line photos show 3 team members trying to figure out what to do and deciding “it’s a bike race!”. It was painful and eventful and will be a race that won’t be forgotten.

Georgia Gould missed winning her first world cup because of a flat

Nor will the men’s XCO. Burry Stander won it. His last UCI World Cup victory before his life was cut short in a tragic training accident early in 2013. He’s no longer with us but in the cycling community he is definitely still very much here.

Burry Stander

Add caption

Those race photos are from my Facebook gallery from that year. We'll see what this year will bring!