Saturday, September 1, 2012

WORS #8: Postlude

After finishing my race, I started the slow transition between racer and photographer. It's not easy to think about taking pictures, or anything really, when the blood is deprived of oxygen and glycogen. So I made it back to our tent, sat down for a while, ate some food, and started to feel human again. The Cat 1 race started, and I had my camera out shooting some of my friends as they screamed by.



 I also washed off the dust and dirt off of myself, and off of my bike.

By the time I was really ready and able to shoot, the Cat 1 race was over, and the Pro women had started. 

I got some great photos of the pro women coming down through "Roots Rocks" (the section of single track immediately above the hill from our tent) including a series of photos of the series winner going up and over her handlebars on the first lap.






My girlfriend wanted to take the ski-lift up to the top at least once, so we did this during the women's race, and then worked our way back down.  Morleigh had a great time (my parents came up in the lift a few minutes after us) and she hung out with them while I ran back and forth across the slopes ambushing riders on various climbs and descents.  I learned a valuable lesson the previous year at the second cyclcross race.  If you stand next to another photographer while you take pictures, your pictures will indistinguishable from one another.  So I avoided the crowded places, and sought to find places where no one else would go.





I got more beat up and scratched up running through the woods taking photos than I did racing.

We made it back down by the time the women finished, and my parents were ready to leave.  I escorted them to the parking lot, and brought our van back to the top near our tent so it would be easier to break down.  Morleigh was pretty tired at that point, so she stayed in the tent while I went to shoot the start of the men's race.


Sam Schultz (Subaru Trek) scans the course ahead as he waits for the starter's pistol.

I got some great shots of the men racing, again focusing on the places that others were not going.  The one regret I have was never making it back over to Fern Gully as I think there were some amazing shots waiting to be captured.  But even before the men were done racing, I reached a point where I felt like I had captured enough images, and put my camera away so I could pack up the tent. 

I had more than 600+ shots to sort through and edit already, so my week ahead was going to be a full one. 

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