This summer, we get to work on an awesome project that combines both our love of bike travel and storytelling! Partnering with TravelOregon and the local communities, we’ll be riding, filming, photographing and telling the story of each of the Scenic Bikeways. It’s an amazing assignment that will put all our skills (both in bicycling and media creation) to the test! Since filming the OWSB a year ago, we’ve jumped headlong into video production, doing a handful of film projects with local organizations (Clever Cycles, Hop in The Saddle, Adventure Cycling) and honing our skills.

We just finished filming the McKenzie Pass Scenic Bikeway this weekend and we are currently editing the video. Looking at the footage, it’s amazing what a difference a year makes! We’ve improved technically and have added a few tools to our video toolkit to increase production value. While our video kit is fairly small compared to what others use, it is bigger than when we road the OWSB.

McKenzie is a fairly short Scenic Bikeway with only one real climb. Since we didn’t need any camping gear, I decided to pull out all the stops and bring a tripod, slider and a jib! The first challenge was simply to figure out how to carry all equipment! I contemplated using our Burley Travoy, but a week before we left, I decided instead to make bike scabbards for the tripod and monopod. Setting up a tripod once or twice a day isn’t a big deal, but those minutes spent setting-up quickly become hours when you do it 100 times. I fashioned some crude missile-silo-looking scabbards out of PVC pipe, steel pannier hooks and bungees. The idea was that I could just stop the bike, pull out a monopod and grab some quick B-roll, without dismounting. Not elegant, but very functional. To make sure they wouldn’t fall apart in the middle of McKenzie Pass (and to get into shape), I rode with the rig up and down Mt. Tabor in Portland.

Of course, you can prepare all you want, but you won’t know what the actual conditions are going to be at a shoot until you show up. Driving over Mt. Hood to get to Sisters, things were not looking promising. The “dry side” of Oregon was anything but dry. In fact, it was down right raining. We contemplated what we would do the next day if it was raining, but opted to not make any hasty decisions until the morning. It was a gambit. If we canceled the shoot, all the time spent in pre-production, arranging of talent, accommodations and shuttles would all go down the drain. Fortunately, the next morning, the sky looked a little less threatening. There were still clouds, but there were also patches of blue. After a quick breakfast, we decided to go for it. We shot some footage of the talent checking out of their cabin at the beautiful Five Pine lodge, loading their bikes and pushing off. Then we all saddled up and headed toward McKenzie Pass.

The McKenzie Pass Scenic Bikeway is unique in that there is a brief window of time when a portion of the route is open to cyclists and closed to cars. The dates are different every year, due to snow levels. This year, it opened early to cyclists and will be closed off to cars until June 16th (which means you still have time to get out there and ride it!). This is the best time to experience the Bikeway (and was also the best time for us to film it). The ride itself is fairly mellow. Although you are constantly gaining elevation, the inclines are never very steep (at least going from East to West). Some of the highlights include the eerie lava landscape near the summit and the very surreal Dee Wright Observatory.

Through most of the day, we benefited from intermittent sun breaks, and that is when I would pull out the cameras and start shooting. Our talent for the video, Kristen and Jake, were good sports about riding back and forth in front of the camera. (These sorts of assignments are a mixed blessing: Yes, we are riding our bikes in amazing country, but it’s still work.) As we rode, I was constantly scanning for the best viewpoint and mentally ticking off the shots we would need for continuity. I was trying my best to get everything in a single take (I would shoot video and Laura shot stills), because the weather continually threatened to get worse and I knew I wanted to get to the summit before it started raining. About 3 miles from the top, we encountered some cyclists coming down, who told us they got snow and sleet after Windy Point.

When we got to Windy Point, the clouds were thick and we were buffeted by some really cold winds. We had taken a gamble in the morning and now that we were close to the top, we had to decide again what we were going to do. We had been lucky all day with a patch of blue sky that followed us up the climb, so we pushed on despite the warnings from the cyclists. Just as we were within spitting distance from Dee Wright, we had another sun break. We staged a few vignettes, and then it started raining (and even snowing a little bit). We quickly hustled into the observatory, set up a lunch sequence with the talent (getting all the shots as fast as possible because a cold wind was whipping through the windows), and then quickly inhaled a real lunch.

The descent down the west side was cold and wet, but about two-thirds of the way down the mountain, we got a few more sun breaks. We really wanted to do justice to the ride, despite the wet conditions. We were all slowly counting down the miles until the hot springs at the end. When we got to Belknap, we shot some arrival footage, a few quick details of the space, and the talent enjoying the hot pool – and then we sunk in and relaxed (and warmed up). After getting the hotspring footage and soaking for a few minutes, we took off for dinner at Takoda’s in the nearby community of Rainbow. We chatted with the friendly owner who also happened to be on Big Brother, listened to some local music, and enjoyed a hearty dinner.

The next day, we had to shoot some pickup footage in Sisters, and we had an amazing lunch at Open Door.

Jake and Kristin left that afternoon, but we were planning to stay in Bend for a few more days to do some mountain biking. Of course, two days after the talent left, the weather was absolutely stunning! We decided to ride back up to Dee Wright (and sadly forgo hitting the trails) to shoot more pickup shots of scenery and the lava landscape. (There are worst things to do for work than having to ride up a stunning mountain pass twice in a week.) We got some great beauty shots of the Cascades and also managed to capture a curious little chipmunk inspecting our bikes.

When we got back to Portland, I backed up and reviewed the footage, and then the real work began. Beautiful footage really doesn’t amount to much without a story, so we started writing the script (with the help of a few beers). The script writing is one of the toughest parts. Since each video is only 2 minutes long, each word has to be carefully selected to move the story along. After about a day and a half of script writing, Laura searched for music. We recorded her voice over, and I started assembling it all in Final Cut. For some, the editing process can be maddening, but I really enjoy it. There is something supremely satisfying when all the visual and aural media come together to make perfect little moments. I love photography, but more and more I am drawn to video. It is so challenging but fulfilling creatively!

Now, the video is in the hopper and is off for final approval. We’re hoping to release it soon to get people out to ride McKenzie Pass. It really is spectacular and we’re excited to be part of telling its story.

Here’s a sneak peek at one of the video projects we’ve been working on. Oregon is about to launch the nation’s first state-wide bike friendly business recognition program targeted specifically towards bike travelers. This is huge! With a new study that cites that bicycling contributes $400 MILLION dollars a year (a little more than a million dollars a day), Oregon is getting serious about making it even easier for people to come to the state and recreate by bike.

We’ve been tasked with interviewing businesses who are bike friendly (and have seen the economic rewards of welcoming cyclists) and creating a piece to inspire other businesses around the state. We’ve had a chance to sit down with business owners large and small, from a B&B in Salem to the VP of operations at Chris King to the head roaster at Stumptown. Although we’ve got a few solid interviews in the can, we really want to knock this video out of the park. It really is becoming a passion project. So if you’re a business in Oregon (specifically a lodging property, restaurant or retail) that is bike friendly, contact us for a possible interview!

Support the USBRS today!

Things have been a bit crazy at PLP headquarters. We are jumping headlong into a ton of different bicycle themed video projects (more on those later). One of the short pieces we just completed was a short web video for Clever Cycles to advertise their Dutchtub rental service. It was great to work with Clever Cycles and our friend Brock from The Sprocket Podcast who provided his voice talent and burgeoning acting skills. What we’re slowly learning about video (neither of us were trained in this field) is that it’s A LOT of work for just a few seconds, but you sort of have to accept that. We’ve essentially been giving ourselves a crash course in video production the last few months with Laura taking on the producer/interviewer/sound recordist role and with me as DP/camera operator/editor. Perhaps the most satisfying thing about this Clever Cycles spot (aside from the fact it was absolutely hilarious to film) was seeing the storyboards come to life.

I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted it to look like (flat, 2D, tongue-in-cheek) and the visual setup for the punchline with Dean from Clever Cycles wearing a chef’s hat. To see it all come together was extremely gratifying (to make it flow in the edit was extremely time consuming ).

In typical Portland fashion it threatened to rain all day. We almost canceled the shoot, but it would have been too hard to reschedule everyone again so we just went for it. The weather held out as we shot all the b-roll of setting up the Dutchtub and getting it ready for Brock to step in. OF COURSE, a few minutes before we were about to start shooting Brock’s speaking parts on camera it starts raining! Once Brock was in the tub he was the warmest person on set while we were all in our rain jackets trying to complete the shoot. I had some scripted lines for the opening that we tried out and then just started to ad lib, feeding Brock lines. The one that made the edit (“Nine months out of the year, the weather in Portland, Oregon sucks..”) was actually the last line we tried and came out of the frustration of the rain that was soaking the camera equipment. Thankfully, it worked.

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Filming the closing sequence with Dean in the chef’s hat was hilarious. If you look really closely at the video, you can see Dean accidentally drop the shrimp in the tub. The ensuing laughter didn’t make the final edit, but I left in the falling shrimp as a little Easter egg for the eagle eyed. If this project has taught us anything in video production is it’s good to have a plan, but it’s also good to be able to break the plan if it feels right…and also, to bring an umbrella to cover the camera when it rains.

Technical: For the camera nerds out there, here’s what we used for the shoot. GH2, 20mm 1.7, 45mm 1.8, Genus Variable ND filter, Benro S4 Tripod, Zoom H1, Sennheiser MKE-400 and a Burley Travoy to carry all the gear to the site. When you buy the gear from the affiliate links it helps us keep doing these projects.

(Keep our adventures going and the site growing! If you’ve enjoyed our stories, videos and photos over the years, consider buying our ebook Panniers and Peanut Butter, or our new Brompton Touring Book, or some of the fun bike-themed t-shirts we’re designing, or buying your gear through our Amazon store.)

Laura has been making headbadges for few years. She made them while we were traveling, literally carrying a bag of hammers while on tour. She’s made them on picnic benches in national parks, inside motels and on the dining room tables of homestay guests. When she first started, she never thought that it would allow her a glimpse into people’s lives. Here’s her insight on the unexpected bond that happens when she makes a headbadge.

To learn more about her headbadge work, check out her site or send her an email.

(Keep our adventures going and the site growing! If you’ve enjoyed our stories, videos and photos over the years, consider buying our ebook Panniers and Peanut Butter, or our new Brompton Touring Book, or some of the fun bike-themed t-shirts we’re designing, or buying your gear through our Amazon store.)

Although it was wet and threatened rain all day, a healthy number of dapper looking folks came out and fun was had by all. I packed light and actually shot the entire video with one lens and a monopod for support! It was a great exercise in simplicity and seeing instead of relying on too much equipment.

The great irony of our current lives is that for all the advocacy of bike travel and tourism we’re doing, we’ve had very little chance to do any travel or touring ourselves. Sigh. It’s gotten to the point where we actually have to schedule in some bike adventure time. We are hoping to do some bike camping this weekend if the weather holds up (fingers crossed). Enjoy the video and if you’re interested in hiring us for some video work, send us an email!

Spring is (slowly) coming to Portland. With more sun means more bikes. I’ve been shooting some B-roll of bike footage for a few upcoming video projects. It’s always hard to just sit on footage, so I cut a few clips together to some music. No narrative. Just two videos from footage caught riding around the city capturing the fun of riding bikes.

#1 Bicycle Tourism is Good for Business
Dovetailing neatly with the theme of this year’s National Bike Summit is one of the most obvious benefits of bicycle tourism – it’s good for business. Cyclists, like other forms of travelers, require lodging. But, in addition, because bicycling is a physical activity, cycle tourists require food and drink. Lots of it. There are many studies that have shown that bicyclists also tend to spend more nights in an area compared to non-cycling visitors. This is a very appealing detail to destination marketing organizations and convention and visitor’s bureau. It translates to “heads in beds” for a longer duration. Check out some preliminary numbers on bicycle tourism spending in Oregon.

#2 Bicycle Tourism Bridges the Urban-Rural Divide
Bicycling has typically been discussed from an urban perspective as relieving congestion and increasing mobility. There is no problem with these arguments, except that they only resonate with people who live in cities. There is a vast America that does not live in cities, who are still represented by congressmen and senators who vote on policies that affect all of bicycling. One could argue that they may even have a tendency to vote against cycling, not because they may have anything against bicycling but because it hasn’t been made relevant to them or their constituents. Bicycle tourism can bridge that gap. We’ve sat in on bicycle tourism meetings in Central and Eastern Oregon where, amazingly, business owners from these small communities were heavily invested in attracting cyclists – precisely because cycling had been made relevant to them.

#3 Bicycle Tourism Revitalizes Communities
The humble bicycle has the ability to bring communities back to life. This is no exaggeration. We traveled to New Zealand and rode the Central Otago Rail Trail and were completely amazed at the power of a 100-mile gravel trail in the middle of nowhere. What was once a dying area of New Zealand has found a new identity through the rail trail. We have also witnessed US equivalents, along Adventure Cycling Routes and rail-trails and mountain bike destinations. Many of these communities are rural and have experienced a collapse of an industry (timber, mining, farming) and are looking for a way to reinvent themselves. Bicycle tourism is a good fit for areas with country roads and basic hospitality services.

#4 Bicycle Tourism Makes Bicycling Relevant to More Than Just Bicyclists
Bicycle tourism is multi-disciplinary by nature. It means involving not just bicycle advocates, but a wide variety of businesses that are invested in creating the identity of a region (destination marketing organizations, chambers of commerce, business improvement districts). This creates a powerful, broad coalition. One of the lessons we learned in Meyer’s presentation at the National Bike Summit is how important it is to find supportive voices who are NOT cyclists. Bicycle tourism can help find and unite these voices. When a farmer in New Zealand, who used to be skeptical about bicycling, now calls it the most important development in his region “since the gold rush.,” this is powerful testimony! Bicycle tourism allows people to benefit even though they may not be cyclists themselves, and, with the successes, comes a greater empathy and support for bicycling.

#5 Bicycle Tourism Makes Bicycle Advocacy Easier
Ultimately, bicycle tourism is bicycle advocacy. It is coalition-building, with new partners. It is about harnessing the economic engine of bicycling and adding yet another powerful tool to the bike advocacy toolbox. The Central Otago Rail Trail was such an outstanding tourism success that the New Zealand government wanted to replicate it across the country and devoted $50 million to new trail development. Announced under a conservative government, the decision came as a complete surprise to bicycle advocates around the country, who likened it to “winning the lottery.” Interestingly, many of the cycling assets that were developed for tourism could and were being used by locals, making it a win-win.

The National Bike Summit was an interesting experience for us, since it was our first time attending and we didn’t quite know what to expect. We more or less tried to bend every willing ear we encountered to talk to about bicycle tourism. We couldn’t help but feel a bit like Cassandra from Greek mythology when we found ourselves constantly explaining our case. But, we also had some great conversations with colleagues from Virginia, Oregon, Iowa, Missouri, Indianapolis and even Arkansas. By the end of the summit, our throats were hoarse from talking, but it was worth it to get some minds thinking about the next evolutionary step of “bikes mean business.”

(Keep our adventures going and the site growing! If you’ve enjoyed our stories, videos and photos over the years, consider buying our ebook Panniers and Peanut Butter, or our new Brompton Touring Book, or some of the fun bike-themed t-shirts we’re designing, or buying your gear through our Amazon store.)

Our first National Bike Summit is a wrap and, while we’re still digesting everything that we learned, we’re exceedingly glad that we attended. Beyond just our interest in what the League meant by this year’s theme of “Bikes Mean Business,” the Bike Summit provided us with the invaluable opportunity to connect with folks from around the US and Canada, and engage in many powerful conversations about the link between cycling and tourism.

The more we told our story to fellow attendees, the more we came to understand that cycling (and cycling infrastructure) is mostly still thought of as just a quality-of-life benefit for residents. It is a huge benefit for residents, and it can also be a powerful tourism asset. The more we discussed this concept with folks, we started to better see and understand our professional role in the bike tourism movement (hint: we’re really good at connecting the dots, helping people think about cycling in a new way, and marketing). This is exciting, and we’re really looking forward to following up on the conversations that were started over the last few days.

In the meantime, we wanted to share our (other) favorite parts of the Bike Summit. For us, what emerged throughout the event were two big themes: connecting cycling to a larger picture and telling the success stories. We wholeheartedly agree with both ideas and were excited to hear someone else state their importance. Speakers talked about the need for bike advocates to frame the issue of cycling in terms of its benefit to businesses or its connection to a thriving multi-modal transit system, instead of simply focusing on bike lanes as good for cyclists. We also heard about the need for advocates to step back from the wonky details and statistics, and start telling powerful stories (particularly what we like to call “conversion stories”) about how cycling is leading to positive changes.

Speakers also talked about how cycling is part of a much larger trend that is currently playing out in cities across the US. And there was a huge recognition of the fact that young people are choosing to drive less and are looking for walk-able/bike-able neighborhoods. In both cases, these are ideas we wondered if we would ever hear – that bike advocacy has actually been achieving great things and is now part of a powerful groundswell movement, and that people in positions of power are actually aware of and paying attention to the millennial generation – and it was gratifying to know that there is forward movement.

We also attended part of the Women’s Forum the day before the full summit, and were both extremely pleased by the way the discussion about “women on bikes” has matured beyond just cycle chic. The opening conversation between Georgina Terry and Natalie Ramsland was easily my favorite part of the entire conference, because it felt like a rare opportunity to sit in on a relaxed, information-sharing chat between these two amazing women, and I felt like I learned more about what-women-need-to-focus-on in that conversation than I might have in any other format.

Beyond the keynotes, breakout sessions, and networking, the Bike Summit meant a unique opportunity to simply socialize with people we hope to work with (or work more with) over the next few years. Everything from a bike tourism happy hour (organized by the incredible Ellee Thalheimer) to dinners out with folks from around the US to an absolutely crazy last-night dance party (yes, it’s pretty funny to see bike advocates take over a dance floor). And, in the end, it was this social time that was really what drew us in the first place, because this is when the real work gets done. When you can sit down with someone over coffee or a meal and hammer out ideas, or when you show up at a crazy dance party and demonstrate that you can look just as goofy as everyone else, this is when you become a part of the tribe.

The Bike Summit was exhausting in many ways, but we are surprisingly energized as we leave DC, and we’re looking forward to the (no doubt) enormous leaps forward in bike tourism over the next few years.

To be perfectly honest, we have no idea what to expect. We’ve never attended the Summit before, and we’re really not policy sort of people, but we’re looking forward to seeing who all attends this wonky event. We had hoped that the League would build more bike tourism into this year’s program, but we’re hopeful that we can chat with other attendees about what we’ve learned on the road.

So, today we’re on a plane to DC (why do we not have high-speed rail yet?), to be a part of this important conversation. If you’ll be at the Summit, come find us and say hi. We’ll report back in a couple days and, until then, watch our Facebook and Twitter streams for our impressions throughout the Summit.