Yes, I do still shoot bike racing, just not nearly as much as I used to (mostly a conscious decision.) But when I do I try to make it cuont. Certainly shooting Adam C winning NORBA mountain bike nationals at Mt Snow was worth it. AC was going so fast on the downhills, just visibly much faster than any other rider. The challenge turned out to be the course change, which eliminated the first section of technical riding in the woods. That section was where I liked shooting because it was so close to the base area. When you’re carrying over 100 lbs of camera/lighting stuff by yourself climbing halfway up a ski mountain is zero fun and that’s exactly what I was forced to do this year. But I did find the right spot and set up the full lighting system. Another photographer, who shoots a ton of racing, came by and asked if my set-up wasn’t “overkill.” I conceded that it was but that I’d not found a way to make images look like I wanted otherwise. He snickered. I still think it’s worth it but it may explain why I shoot racing sparingly.

Last summer was all about getting on planes and flying all over creation, this summer has been more about getting in the car. Seriously, I’ve had countless 2+ drives all over New England the past 8 weeks which I guess is better than flying (no airports.) This shot is from the West 4th St Playground in NYC, part of that project I’ve been gestating. Oh, raced the Mt Snow NORBA champs on Friday. I flatted while riding in 4th place, right behind 2nd and 3rd. I know, KNOW, I had it in me to finish 2nd, it was that kind of day. Finished after fixing the flat, but 12th ain’t the podium. Guess I need to get on the tubeless tip. I’m going to the circus today, seriously.

Went to Mallorca, Spain last week for a shoot and found out first hand why all the pro teams go there for winter training: it is crazy ideal for road riding. Perfect roads, perfect weather, great food. And it’s not even that bad a trip from the East Coast. So I’m back for a bit, with some day trips here and there, including one this week down to Gotham - first time a couple years - and I’m going to try to squeeze in a personal project I’ve been lining up for a couple years. It’s all about waiting, waiting, waiting and then finally getting it done when the opportunity presents itself.

So I told Sparky to watch out for a potentially nasty waterbar on the trail. “Lift up your front end and slow down a bit or you’ll take a trip over the bars.” Turns out he didn’t know what a waterbar was and wasn’t about to ask. The X-ray reveals the result. I’m getting a bad rep, it’s the second time in less than a year that I’ve taken a friend mountain biking (same trail) and they’ve ended up in the ER with a broken bone. Work has been steady on with way too much driving time (28 hrs of driving in the past 8 days), but next Tuesday I get on the plane for the sweet trip. Shooting for 6 days in Mallorca. Good group of people and, well, it’s Mallorca.

Olympic XC skier Andy Newell has a following of young ladies, esp. H-Bomb, so this one’s for you all. One of the disadvantages of living where I do is a lack of access to assistants. So when I go out and shoot someone like Andy, just a couple hours of shooting for no specific reason, I generally do it solo and yesterday it would have been nice to have some helping hands. It was super windy and the only way I could shoot with lights was to stand on the light stand so it didn’t blow away. But using more than one light was out of the question as it would have been blown over in an instant and it was really high sun so using no lights wasn’t an option. And this is what you end up with. MegA loves her some Newell, too.

Summer is here, sort of, and that always results in the great juggling act of coordinating work/travel so I don’t go crazy from too much or to the poor house from not enough. But it’s been great to be home, do some local work, re-charge the batteries, and even ride the bike. Even managed the Coyote Hill Classic MTB this past weekend. It’s a great race, just fun twisty New England singletrack. Didn’t go as well as it might have for me, but I knew I was taking a chance racing the singlespeed in with the geared guys. Still, just flat out fun to ride trails like that, racing or not.

If you’re going to win stage races this is pretty much how you need to look: crazy skinny with serious tan lines from logging big miles. When I was in Georgia I saw Sivtsov warming up for the TTT, had no idea who he was, but he looked like he meant business. As it turned out, he did. One of the hazards of spending so much time on the road without a break is that the equipment can get kinda beat up. I ended up sending both 67s back to get fixed as neither worked at the end of the road trip. Also, both digi bodies need some help, dusty and sticky. Sixteen plane flights in 6 weeks takes a toll on all sorts of things.

I hadn’t really planned on coming to Georgia for the Tour de. I was here in ‘04 and it was fine but in general shooting stage races is not my idea of a good time. The opposite, in fact. But with the right situation a couple days at a stage race are okay and that’s what I have. But it’s not done yet, fly down to Fla to shoot a tri bright and early on Sunday. And then, and then. Home. Here’s TeamType1 in the strange team time trial today.

Sager after taking a whupping at Sea Donkey. Trying some different things and part of it included shooting post-race images on white seamless. Well, let me tell you something - seamless and 25 mph winds are not a great combination. The seamless actually got pulled off the wall it was gaffed to, torn into tiny bits and blown into the atmosphere. Great. So you improvise and find the shadowed side of a 10by10. Not too bad if not ideal. Even raced the sport singlespeed on Saturday morning, my 2nd MTB ride since last November, and it wasn’t half bad. Geared light, 32×20 on the 29er, and while it kept me from going super fast it left me with some gas in the tank on the final climb. Finished just above mid-pack and had a good time rolling with the Thule guys. And now the travels continue, off to GA tomorrow to shoot a couple stages of the Tour de then Sunday a tri in Fla. The end is sort of in sight but the toll has not been light.

It was sort of funny to shoot this guy on Monday and 6 days later see him drilling it at the front of Paris-Roubaix. Getting to shoot Van Summeran and Sentjens was great, both really relaxed and funny guys. Just getting back on East Coast time and, shocker, it’s time to get on a plane again. The timing of the China trip was less than ideal coming as it did right at the beginning of the busy season. But I suppose there was never going to be a perfect time. Sea Otter will be pretty relaxed this year and the funny part is that E-dub signed me up to race the singlespeed race. Seemed like a good idea at the time. But now that I think of it I realize I haven’t ridden a mountain bike since the first weekend of November (!) and haven’t ridden the blinglespeed since some time in early October. The trails are still under snow. At least I’ll be fresh.