Press intros are no walk in the park, sure we have our share of fun and get to see some really cool things but at the end of the day we are spent.

This last intro I flew out to check out Arctic Cat’s 2009 lineup, the intro took place in Rapid City, South Dakota and landed on the worst dates possible, “DEADLINE DAYS.” During this time I am booked, usually working double time with little to no sleep. I went two full days living off of nothing but Red Bull and fast food, staying up super late at the office did not help much either.

The day of my flight I was busy as you can see shooting with Elizabeth, keep an eye out on news stands for her she has really good taste in clothing. Nice Socks! Sorry I got side tracked.

Anyhow just incase any of you ever wanted to know what we do during an average press intro I thought I would brake it down for you and show you a little of what our itinerary looks like.

The day before my flight I usually charge all batteries, clean all equipment gather riding gear and pack. My flight departs at 8:00am on Wednesday I had one connection in Denver with a short layover and arrived in Rapid City around 3:00pm. From the airport now joined by a couple other editors from other publications we took the hotel shuttle and checked into our rooms. I unpack, shower and got dressed quickly because at 4:00pm we all gathered for a tech presentation at the hotels convention center. Arctic Cat treated us to appetizers and an open bar which was nice. Dinner followed at the hotels restaurant. Following dinner I took a hot lap around the town but had to call it early we had a full day ahead of us.

Thursday morning came quick we where on Mountain time so waking up to shower at 5:30am felt like 4:30am. after showering I gather my gear and get everything setup for the ride. 6:30 hit breakfast in the hotel our bus leaves for the ride area at 7:30am. the ride spot was about 45 minutes from the hotel, when we arrived Arctic Cat gave us a quick walk around and let us have at the new machines. I ran out and shot as much as I could while the light was still good. between the hours of 11-2 this time of year the sun really sucks and makes photos look flat. around 2-4 the light starts to get better but still sucks. From four until sunset is the best time to shoot.

Enough about the sun and good light. We never get to shoot in those conditions during press intros so why bother trying it is almost like OEM’s don’t care what our photos look like. Alright back to the itinerary, noon comes around and we stop shooting for lunch. Arctic Cat had a catered burger, beens and chips lunch ready for us, yummy! I took down some food and plenty of water and went back out not to shoot this time. I was waiting for the light to get better, this time it was to test out the units and ride. Arctic Cat had roughly about a four mile loop setup for the ride but we where free to ride anywhere in the designated riding area. I enjoyed the loop it had a good mix of terrain to get a good feel for the machine.

Around 2:00pm I got back at shooting by this time I had the entire ride area figured out and knew exactly where I wanted to shoot each unit. I was able to finish shooting fairly quickly and went back to riding the units I was having to much fun on the DVX300 the little thing is a kick in the pants.

At 4:00pm our bus departed back to the hotel where I showered cleaned up all my gear again and packed it up for my flight the following morning. We left the hotel at 5:30pm so we could check out Mt. Rushmore. Around 8:00 we arrived at dinner and some more site seeing this time it was at Crazy Horse which is a new monument being built that dwarfs Mt. Rushmore. We arrived back at the hotel around 11:00pm I made sure all my gear was packed and went to bed.

The following morning got up at around the same time as the previous day grabbed all my gear checked out of my room had breakfast then headed to the airport to head home. That is basically what goes on at press intros nothing super exciting a lot of work mixed in with some horse play and some drinking.