Old Dogs…Check.  New Tricks….well sort of.

And by sort of I mean sort of.  We camped in the same place, parked in the same spot, brought the same toys, the conditions were about the same, and yes the same dog (who is definitely old by the way).  And yet, we got the overlook to ourselves(not an easy feat) and I brought my old college roommate, shithands I call him, out for his first time in the dunes.   You might ask yourself where that particular sobriquet comes from.  As I think about it, its more of a gift really, then it is a nickname.  Comes from both raw talent and years of hard work and training.    So Shithands fires up the quad,  jumps on it, and fixes to go let everybody know his moniker is for real.

He lives up to his name and rolls it hard right in front of the trailer.  When I say hard I mean hard.

Ok here i go…watch me rip..I am super sweet

The pain train commeth…it looked so bad people are rushing over

I get up with some help from my friends

It was like getting body slammed, well it was a body slam and perhaps worse it was like pounding sound with the flat of your back, a dose that made him wish he was born a woman.  Aside from that hilarity the trip was par for the course….The middle of the week, some hard dune ripping, and within 36 hours the car was speeding home its passengers tired but smiling as usual.  A few photos.

Trip 2 is in the books and the season is off and running. Yet another dune ripping trip, and to mix things up for a change we threw in an old fashioned Glamis wedding.

In this the year of our lord 2010 Glamis…You never know what kind of strange business you will come across.

Numero dos del ano.  First trip was a few days prior to Halloween and sadly a bit too windy to acquire the proper media for a blog post (I changed my mind after looking at the shots again). Epically virgin dunes though which is always nice. Anyway, to the task at hand.

Trip two of the season held brutaly ripped up dunes, new contour HD helmet cam testing, a few super solid meals and a glamis wedding. Yes a wedding in the dunes! No more than a 100 yards from where we camped, which as any one who reads this blog knows is none other then Osbourne Overlook.  Weather could not of been nicer even if the dunes were ripped to pieces.  As I fancy myself a photographer I even proffered my services to shoot a few of the bride and groom.  In hindsight I question my judgement relative to approaching said wedding in moto pants, boots, no shirt and looking a bit crusty.   I can only hope that the photo services rendered in some way make up for the transgression.  Assuming it was one of course.  Never know what you will see in Glamis.

Other than that a few random shots, some of the wedding, KTM 505’s ran strong, camped next to a rail running on alcohol, an oil change or three and the Contour HD helmet cam testing.

Testing the contour HD. Jury still out. Slammed myself a few times on this one. Less time worrying about filming more time riding is advised.

So it begins.  The Glamis 2009/2010 Season is upon us…

As it turns out one of the unforeseen benefits of attempting to blog about one’s Glamis adventures  is you have an easily accessible digital archive of dates.  Specifically,  the dates for the two previous years in which you fell off the wagon and submitted to the insatiable drug like desires of yet another Glamis dune ripping season.  Thankfully, we spent no time consulting last seasons results or we might of called it all off.  Last season opener jumped off on Oct 9th and was too hot.  Consisted of a few short rides, an excess of bud lights,  and a retaliatory firework displays once the temperature dropped enough for sensible human beings to be outside.  In contrast this opener was not too hot and we started it in September rather than October.

It was cold actually.  Cold and REALLY REALLY windy.  Like hurricane style winds.  Which can be a pain in the butt for the dog, photography, and for being outside sans goggles.  Yet it creates beautifully virgin sand dunes.  We broke in the freshly prepped new toys. Got sand in the teeth and generally had a great time remembering the feeling all over again.  Not much in the way of photography this go around.  Sadly hurricane winds and sand have a tremendous way of keeping the expensive camera gear in the case.  Just a few photos this time.

6 Straight days of desert hell; a veritable cornucopia of weather, red bull guys going HUGE at Glamis, and 3 days of Coachella,  all to end the season. Fantastic way to go out…

Wednesday April 15th.

The rig gets stored all season at Dunes Edge and Coachella was coming so we had to make the season ending trip.  Got out Wednesday morning to the craziest wind I have ever seen at Glamis; it was blowing so hard you could not be outside without goggles, and the wind chill made it freezing.  Had to stagger the warrior when we setup camp so it would not blow over on us.  Despite the wind there is something about EMPTY and VIRIGN glamis dunes.  No tracks anywhere and nobody out there period.  Beau had just bought the new KTM 505 so the wind was not going to stop us.  Rode a bit on Wednesday the sand was incredible aside from some super soft spots here and there. We both went over the bars a few times. There were some crazy and dodgy formations form all the wind. Definetly had to be super careful. Rode hard and were hoping for better weather the next day.  Turns out we were not the only ones.

Red Bull Air Show.  I thought we missed the Red Bull show in SD with the planes by going to coachella…turns out we got our own show.

Apparently the Red Bull guys were out there to shoot a commercial and just waiting for the wind to die down so the chopper could get in there.  Went for a morning ride on Thursday and we were getting ready to pack up when we saw them.  Watched for a bit and took some pics and video.  Going to post the pics now and the HD footage after the 6 day desert hangover subsides…  The HD footage is sick as you get to see both the skills of the riders and the chopper pilot(he was pulling sick maneuvers).  It was a great situation to test the Mark II 5d video features.  Threw in a couple of shots of the rig at Coachella for good measure.

After the air show loaded up and raced out of glamis to get the rig ready;unload the toys in palm springs, get the rig detailed, and load the golf cart up(god bless a toy box) to get a good spot for coachella.  From one great show with rock stars to another…  Hell of a way to end an incredible Glamis season.

here is the link to their shots and story.

Red Bull Glamis Session from Dune Fast on Vimeo.

Back from another midweek crusade in the holy land. Not many places I would hammer out the three hours out and back for 24hrs of fun. Being a self professed fanatic, it turns out Glamis is one of them.

Osbourne Overlook

Camped at Osbourne and got the dunes just how we like em.  Untouched and empty.  As is all too typical of camping at Osbourne Overlook, met some interesting folks.  Personified in this case by Charles Chandler a photog/paraglider. Paragliding is some seriously sick business.  Based on watching take off and landing and how quick and easy they are to setup, I think I need to re-evaluate my glamis in between riding down time.  The paragliders name was Charles Chandler and his website is

http://www.charleschandlerphotography.com

He took a few pics from the air which I am hoping to get my hands on.  I will add them to this post if and when I do.  Most photos are from the new Canon 5d Mark II.  A new Mark II I might add, that was immediately equipped with one of these.  Shot some video with it as well and once I figure out how to edit that video without my computer blowing up, I will post that as well.  Its pretty sweet as its his whole take off.  Specifically my buddy with beer in hand almost getting a hair cut.   Nothing, and I mean nothing, is quite as nice as the sand during the week.

You have to click HD and go to Vimeo to watch it in HD

TEsting new Canon 5d Mark II in Glamis from Dune Fast on Vimeo.

Guess what you are about to buy????

If self preservation of your electronic gadgetry is an instinct you possess, I would argue its an invisible shield by zagg.

Invisible Shield screen protectors are made by a company called Zagg.  Its essentially just a clear plastic shield you put over your electronic gadgets and devices.  Its a great idea to do no matter what as they are really cheap to begin with(12 bucks or so).  For Glamis however, I would argue that they are mandatory.  The sand gets everywhere and all it takes is to drag a single grain across the screen of your brand new digi cam or phone and you will be stir fried that you didn’t get on of these.  There are a number of companies out there that make these things and I have found  Zagg to be the best.  I currently rock them on the GPS, both big and small cameras video and still, iphones, ipad.

invisible shield screen protector

WHY?

they are cheap

they have them for a crazy amount of devices

they are easy to install

they dont come off unless  you want them to

They are great for GPS, cameras, your iphone, or anything else you are going to subject to the sand.

Its originally designed for the military…not the boy scouts or your weekend softball team but the military k.  I am such a sucker for that type of BS marketing.

Go to zagg.com and search for your device.  I would order them for all of em.

The sand is so much nicer during the week.  Fortuitous times indeed when work does not get in the way.This time it didn’t…

The more you ride a bike in Glamis the more you seek out the untouched sand.  By the time Fri. gets going the sand is pretty ripped up by the cars so we have been seeking out the midweek sessions.

Decided to take the dog this time and he did pretty well.  Even rode in the loud a@# car which was interesting being he is terrified of loud noises.  Anyway, wasn’t  particularly camera happy this trip.  More about ripping and riding.  Just got a new Canon G10(thanks GF).  Been playing around with it as a point and shoot throw in the camel back camera.  The color reproduction is amazing and am thus far pleased with its performance.

Canon g-10

As is often the case with Osbourne Overlook the snow birds and Rv’ers roll by and have a look at the dunes.  Couple of 40+ year old dudes were camped next to us riding 10 year old two stroke Banshee’s.  Ended up putting on a show for the snow birds and everyone else that was watching.  At one point a group of quad riders stopped at the dune in front of the overlook.  15 deep at least.  7 of em sat there gawking at the 12 ft reentry airs off the lip these guys were doing …glamis is so rad.  The old guys with quads commensurate to their age schooling people.  Should of taken more pics as these in no way do justice.

Playing around with the camera wanted to test the video.  Nothing serious here(in terms of the jump) but quality is not to bad a for a point and shoot.

video test

Directions to Osbourne Overlook.

Or,

to the Hugh T. Osbourne Lookout Park if you wanna get serious with it.

Why do I want to camp at Osbourne Overlook?

Glad you asked, let me tell you.

• aside from maybe the cement flats its one of the easiest places to get to and set up quick
• it has incredible views
• its right in the middle of the big dunes
• there is plenty of action going on when are chilling out between sessions
• its a short drive to the beach store assuming you need to get supplies
• cell service always works well
• its easy to see from anywhere in the dunes(helps if you are not familiar with the territory)
  

Here are a few pics to get your fired up first

View Larger Map
Downsides

Only downside and or upside depending on how you roll is that Osbourne is clearly marked as a dune observation point on all kinds of maps.  As such you get your fair share of snow birds, packs of harley riders
(sadly almost every time we go some guy gets adventurous and lays his down trying to go through the sand that covers the pavement), and overall tourists that are always driving up to get a few pics and to ask you how much horsepower that particular V8 puts out..is that thing fast…boy look at the at engine…in my day we used to come here with jeeps….can I have a ride? etc etc.  This, and being that is so small, it can really fill up quickly.  Great spot to hit for midweek missions when time is short and you simply want to get down to business time.

Load the rig up and go hit it!

Never really taken the big camera to the drags as its always dutsy and I would rather have a beer and watch.

Decided to take the camera this time and snap a few.  I was having problems with the focus with all the sand in addition to being in the wrong place to catch a roll over that happened.  Anyway, here are a few good ones from the weekend.  Sorry to see that guy roll but I hear he is ok physically anyway.  Got some good shots of him before he rolled regardless I think.

God Bless the internet and user generated content.  I was taking pictures and this guy was shooting video.  Nice edit on this.  Make sure you go to you watch in HQ.

So I finally decided to join Vimeo and try it out.

The quality of  some of the video on that site is crazy good.  I didn’t film this hence the crappy shaky quality but a good clip none the less.  I think its high time to start shooting more video again despite the video editing pain in the A## that HD presents.  Makes my computer want to blow up.  Anyway, here it is Funco Gen 3 getting involved in some two wheel motion.