Green River.

A week-long trip to Green River, Utah. Camped on the ground. Giant spires, monolithic mesas, sunrises and sunsets every single night around rock that doesn’t care if you’re ready.

Maybe 150 people, all doing the style of downhill mountain bike where you hike to it — natural features and a bunch built into the stone, really steep, really crazy structures of rock. One spot was Blue Castle. Another was Battle Mountain. Two contests in the last days. Major pros there. A 60-foot drop my buddy Dom Megali sent — one of my best friends, an incredible human being.

For most of the film I flew the custom FPV 5-inch with the single-axis gimbal on the front. The gimbal is the whole point: most FPV rigs fly a locked horizon and you fly past the subject. With this one I can move with the rider as they travel downhill, gauge where they’re at, and fly backwards for lead shots. With a regular FPV rig, you can fly down a mountain — but you’re gonna keep going faster and faster. With this one, I can let the airframe pitch and brake through the line while the camera stays locked on the rider.

Mornings were the brief. Camp food, hangouts, dirt bikes and Surons around the camp, then early calls to get into the light. Bit of partying at night. Honest weather. The kind of place that hands you the shot if you show up for it.