I used to be an avid runner despite having some knee problems.  While my knee problems were escalating, my wife, Debbie had just set a Personal Record in her second marathon, the Portland Marathon, where she qualified for the Boston Marathon.  Debbie spent her childhood in the Boston area, so qualifying for the Boston Marathon had been a lifelong goal for her.  Shortly after Debbie’s qualifying time, I decided to jump back into the running fray.  She wanted some company in a short 6 mile run.  I complied.  It did not go well.  I quickly came to realize that my wonderful wife was now a wonderfully fast wife.  I could barely keep up.  During the last 100 yards of our torture session, I stepped in a pothole, subluxating my knee.  An onlooker would have assumed I had been shot by a sniper!  I limped to the finish with my ego and knee mortally wounded.

Deschutes National Forest Jersey

This was the launching of my biking career!  With my knee no longer tolerant of running, I began Mountain Biking for fun and fitness rather than running, largely because my knee would tolerate it.  Thus far this past winter and early spring, I have Mountain biked more than in the rest of my life combined, and I’m having a blast, and my wife isn’t embarrassing me!   I don’t mean to claim that I’m an impressive Mountain Biker.  I’m not, but  re-discovering all of the wonderful Mountain Biking trails in the Bend, Oregon area, has been very uplifting for me.

So you are probably wondering why there is a Deschutes National Forest biking jersey pictured above…. Well, I was recently approached about the usage of one of my images on this jersey, and I thought, “How cool would it be to have one of my photographs on a Biking Jersey?”  The instantaneous answer was, “Very Cool!”    When I learned that the biking jersey would feature my beloved Deschutes National Forest, and that it would benefit the National Forest Foundation(a great group of people who I’ve done some work with before), I was all in!  I think the design of the jersey is phenomenal!  These jerseys are currently only available online at this link   Deschutes National Forest Biking Jersey.  I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these jerseys!  The image on the jersey is of one of the Deschutes National Forest’s true treasures, the Metolius River.  As is the case with all of my fine art prints, I captured this image with my 4×5 film camera.  To view more of my fine art prints, please visit my gallery page here, Oregon Fine Art Photographs.

By the way, my Wife did end up running this years Boston Marathon where she kicked butt and set another personal best! Thankfully I’ve got Mountain Biking!

Thanks for Reading,

Mike Putnam