North Dakota Here I Come: Mountain Biking the Maah Daah Hey Trail with Western Spirit!

I launch my five-day mountain bike and camping tour with Western Spirit in North Dakota on Monday. I'm here in Bismarck, North Dakota's capital, thanks to a gal named Gnat. Yes, gnat, like the fly.  I will ask her why she chose that name while our group of 8 guests and three guides pedals our fat tires along the Maah Daah Hey trail. If you are headed to North Dakota, here's the office of tourism contact!

It was Gnat's hot pink hair that I noticed in the expo area of the Sea Otter Classic, a bike festival held in Monterey (an hour south of me in Santa Cruz) in April. With that stand-out hair, I assumed it was the same cyclist I had met briefly at a women's mountain bike skills clinic, the Dirt Series, in Santa Cruz, a year ago. I went to say hi.

Gnat learns about bicycle fit during the 2009 Dirt Series, a mountain bike clinic for women.

Turned out neither of us planned to return to the two-day mountain bike skills camp in 2010 though it had been excellent. Instead, Gnat told me about a bike tour she had signed up for in North Dakota.  Mountain biking in North Dakota had never crossed my mind.  I was intrigued. When she said the tour outfitter, Western Spirit, was the host of the trip, it sounded like a good match for me.

I had gone on a Colorado mountain bike tour (Colorado Singletrack) with Western Spirit several years ago and it had been a great experience - and an incredible challenge to mountain bike at high altitude. Here's the story I wrote about that trip for Singletrack Magazine.

My tour starts Monday with a drive from Bismarck to the town of  Medora and ends Friday. I am stoked to mountain bike by day and camp by night - though a bit nervous that I am renting a bike and camping gear here rather than schlep mine on the airplane.

Here are the details of our itinerary. Thankfully, other than a hefty load of water on my back, all my gear will be packed in a truck. Will be fun. Stay tuned!

I used my laptop's built-in camera to snap this photo while I was stretching in Denver Airport. I arrived in Bismarck this afternoon.

10 Tips on Radio Production from NPR's Kitchen Sister Davia Nelson

"An enemy is someone whose story you don't know," said Davia Nelson, paraphrasing one of her favorite quotes. Nelson is a master of stories: as an independent radio producer, she has teamed with Nikki Silva for 25 years and together they form the Kitchen Sisters, an award-winning production team for National Public Radio (NPR). 

They are the creators of more than 200 stories for public broadcast about the lives, histories, art and rituals of people who have shaped our diverse cultural heritage. They have received numerous awards including the duPont-Columbia Award, two Peabody Awards, three Audies and many others.

In my continued quest to broaden my multimedia skills as a journalist, I recently attended a three-hour workshop taught by Davia Nelson. During the class, Davia, a thoughtful and soft-spoken woman, shared valuable advice with me and a dozen classmates on storytelling, interviewing techniques and radio recording equipment. Here are my favorite tips.

Tips for Radio
1. Do not ever pause or stop the recording. You may forget to turn it back on. You can always edit later.

2. Be selective about where you conduct the interview. Top priority: a quiet spot. For example, if you are in someone's kitchen, turn off the refrigerator. (In order to remember to plug it back in, Davia leaves her car keys in the fridge).

3. Be at peace with your equipment. Create a checklist of items that you will always take with you. This includes having fresh, fully charged batteries and ample computer storage space for your recordings. Be sure to check all of the connections for each piece of equipment prior to the interview.

4. Carry a "sound bag" that contains all your equipment and fits your body. Select a bag that you can wear that distributes the weight across your body. Davia regrets not doing this sooner and her back has protested against the years she carried a heavy bag on one shoulder.

5. Cell phones can interfere with recording devices. Make sure to leave your cell phone far away from the recording equipment. 

6. Always start the recording by stating your name, program name, the date and who is being interviewed. This will help you organize and archive your material and provides an easy introduction. 

7. Travel with release forms for the subjects to sign to obtain legal rights to their material.

8. Prep ahead of time. Write your interview questions before the interview!

9. Make your first interview question an ice breaker. Davia always starts an interview with the same question: "What did you have for breakfast?" It's appropriate for her the subject of the Kitchen Sisters show, but more importantly, it's easy for the subject to answer and puts them at ease. 

10. It's all about the audio - so ask your subject to sing a favorite song or lullaby, Davia suggests.

Questions and Answers

 I asked Davia, "How do you direct an interviewee when the interview wanders off track?" Here are a few techniques she uses to subtly guide her subject.

1. Use physical body language - turn away or stop making eye contact - subtly!

2. Create a scene change: for instance, drop something, on the ground to cause minor disruption

3. Be patient!

Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva team up as The Kitchen Sisters. 

 
Some Surprises

1. Davia's interviews can sometimes take four hours and result in 50-page transcripts.

2. An average project goes through 80 versions to test every configuration before going on the radio.

Online Radio Resources
1. http://transom.org

Transom: A Showcase and Workshop for New Public Radio

2. http://thirdcoastaudio.org 

A celebration of the best feature and documentary work heard worldwide on the radio and the Internet.

LOVE OF RADIO 
With many years' experience as a print journalist and continuing my growth now as a multimedia journalist, I was curious about what compelled Davia to channel her storytelling passion into the medium of radio. I also asked Nathan Dalton, the Kitchen Sisters Productions' Project Manager, the same question. Here's what they said:


NATHAN DALTON:

"It's the most visual form of media, you get to use your imagination to go different places.  I love the power of voice... Radio makes you listen harder."

DAVIA NELSON:

" I was 10 or 11 years old when I fell in love with radio. I had a small transistor radio and I

loved music and listening to the rhyming hep cat DJs... It wasn't til I was in my 20's that I heard radio stories... Radio engages people. I's powerful. It pulls people in."