BBDave Photos from Battenkill

[BumbleBeeDave]

I was once again race photographer for Dieter this year at Battenkill. These are the best 20 out of about 100 "selects" from the men's pro UCI race on Sunday . . . I'm not sure how many I shot Sunday, bot shot over 2000 on Saturday. I will try to post some of those, too, when I get them all edited.

I was very happy with the way things went this year. Once again I had my own moto, working with a driver who I have known for some years, and we did well together. The weather was great and the course uber dusty, so great photos.

Velonews has these . . . so cross your fingers and you may see a few in the print edition. For reasons unclear to me, the online edition ran absolutely nothing of the race except a results list.

So here we go . . .

Timothy Rugg of Champion System comes to grief after tangling with Mathieu Roy of Competitive Cyclist on Co. Rt 74 during the second lap.

The pros did 2 laps of the 64 mile course, so 128 total. After Mountain and Becker Roads on the first lap, the peloton was torn apart. Almost 2/3 of the starters did not finish the race.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Eventual winner Francisco Mancebo of Competitive Cyclist drives the pack up Juniper Swamp hill on the second lap.

Mancebo was an animal and rode a very strategic race. He was driving the pack by this time, with still almost 50 miles left before the finish.

[BumbleBeeDave]

A chase group heads north on Co. Rt. 64 during the second lap, past spring green fields in a very light rain.

This is a beautiful valley . . . a long ,mild climb up to the head of the valley, then over the top onto a screaming descent down co. rt. 64 to State Rt. 22.

[BumbleBeeDave]

A breakaway on the second lap that looked like it had possibilities. Chad Beyer of Competitive Cyclist and Bruno Langlois of Garneau/Quebecor-Norton Rose get away just before the pack leaves the dirt on Ferguson Road.

I asked Skip (the moto driver) to jump ahead and then I lay down in the grass just off the end of Ferguson to get these guys coming around and hoped the rest would be in the background--and they were.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Mancebo, at far left, and others play cat and mouse on Co. Rt. 59 only a few miles from the finish. Who still has something left and who’s faking it?

Oh, man this was dicey trying to get around these guys after we shot this. They were darting all over the road trying to shake each other off. But for some inexplicable reason the moto ref gave us permission to pass. Skip is a great driver and we got by . . .

[BumbleBeeDave]

It’s Mancebo that has the most left as he crosses the line first to win “the toughest race in America.”

This year's race seemed very well organized, and photogs worked well at the finish. We all formed an echelon just like you see on TV and these guys flashed past us. I turned around and ran after Mancebo to see what kind of celebration shots I could get.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Mancebo is a happy man after he has a few minutes to recover.

This guy is 36 years old and rode a great, savvy race. He was real happy after the finish and it showed.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Jesse Anthony finished second at Battenkill for the second year in a row.



Jesse was not happy, though he tried to be classy--and succeeded.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Last year’s winner, Brett Tivers of Garneau/Quebecor-Norton Rose was just as dirty as everyone else at the finish.

Everybody looked more or less like this after they finished. Real "epic" stuff . . .

[BumbleBeeDave]

I didn’t get a name for this guy, but he was one of many racers who were picking dirt out of their eyes after the finish. Dry spring weather and freshly graded county roads made for dusty, dirty racing.

[BumbleBeeDave]

: The podium of the 2012 Men’s Pro UCI Tour of the Battenkill:
1. Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Competitive Cyclist in 4:55:54
2. Jesse Anthony (USA) Optum Pro Cycling-Kelly Benefit Strategies at 0:00:02
3. Jeremy Vennell (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling

[BumbleBeeDave]

The pack comes through the Eagleville covered bridge east of Cambridge on the first lap. Teams drive to get through this bottleneck first to gain good position.

I always try to get this shot on the first lap because that's when the pack will still be together and that'swhen teams are driving to get their guys through first. By the second lap it's better tactics to just go on ahead to Juniper Swamp and wait for them because that where the decisive move has a better chance of being made.

[maunahaole]

Great shots. Thanks for posting.

[firerescuefin]

Really good pics Dave....sounds/looks like you were in your element x 2

[BumbleBeeDave]

The first lap peloton passes one of the stately old homes of Washington County, NY, on the first lap heading up County Rt. 64.

Shot with a Siugnma 10-20 zoom at about 12-13mm, shutter speed about 1/40. I used two D300's with the Sigma on the one and a Nikkor 28-300mm VR zoom on the other for most stuff. I also has my old 200f2.0 ED/AI Nikkor with me with a TC0-201 2x teleconverter on it, so effectively a 600mm on my D300. I kept that in the box behind the seat on Skip's bike and yanked it out when I had the need.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Racers cross the Battenkill in Greenwich on the first lap.



Went up on the railroad overpass to shoot this--fell flat on my face twice running up there to get in position before the bikes got there. Still got a big lump on my right ankle!

[BumbleBeeDave]

Eventual winner Francisco Mancebo of Competitive Cyclist drives the pack up Juniper Swamp hill on the second lap.

And here they come up Juniper Swamp on the second lap--worth skipping the bridge for. That's Ben Jaques-Maynes right behind Mancebo, and Jessa Anthony right behind him.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Mancebo celebrates after his win.

[BumbleBeeDave]

The day’s first break on the first lap. Cody Campbell of Hagens Berman Elite Cycling and Max Jenkins of Competitive Cyclist take a flyer on Route 29.

We stayed alongside these guys for a while. They were pedaling as hard as they could and looking at each other with that "OK, what do we do NOW?" look . . .

[fourflys]

dude, awesome pics! If I ever get back to the east coast, this is a race I HAVE to see!

[BumbleBeeDave]

The steep, off-camber curve at the bottom of the Becker Road hill is treacherous no matter what the weather. With the dry spring—and almost fresh grading—on the first lap it turned into a spectacle of flying rocks, bikes, and bodies in a giant cloud of dust.

This was . . . amazing.

The peloton was still all together on the dirt Mountain Road, which skirts the shoulder of Willard Mountain. Then that turns onto Becker Road--another dirt section--so I asked Skip to go on ahead and figured we'd wait for them at the top of Meeting House hill.

But when we got on Becker I changed my mind. The Pro-Am race on Saturday did not take this route, and Becker looked like it had been freshly graded no earlier than the day before--some sections had hardly any car tracks on them. After you go over the summit on Becker there's a long, fast, sweeping turn to the right as you go down the hill, then it turns back the other way and sweeps to the left behind some trees--AND that turn is slightly off-camber. The road on the whole downhill was loosely packed dirt and large gauge rocks and Skip had to really slow down to get down safely. I asked him to pull off at the bottom of the hill because I figured most of hese pros had not ridden the course before and when they came down this hill fast and then hit the second turn some, uh, "interesting" things were likely to happen.

I was right . . . we waited for them for a couple of minutes and then they started coming around the turn and it was total freakin' confusion! Never seen anything like it!

Guys swearing, running off the road and flying past me. Some stayed on their bikes and got back on the road. Others went head over heels into the weeds. Huge clouds of dust like this, ejected water bottles all over the road. The one guy crashed right in the middle of the road, ran to the side to safety, then darted back out in the dust cloud to get his bike as the team cars raced by. I just kept shooting. And the peloton was completely blown apart--guys were still coming past 3-4 minutes later.

Nobody else got this . . . the other photo-motos were in such a hurry to get to Meeting House they all went right on by before the peloton got there. I feel bad for all the racers who had to ride through this, but absolutely amazing photos! Wooo-HOOOO!

[BumbleBeeDave]

Rémi Pelletier-Roy of Garneau/Quebecor-Norton Rose tries to retrieve his bike after crashing on the treacherous Becker Road curve. Pelletier-Roy ran out of the road after crtashing, but then darted back out to save his bike.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Simon Bennett of the Athletix Cycling Team loses it on the turn on Becker Road and heads for the bushes. After tumble into them, he got back up, retrieved his bike, and continued.

This is the guy who went right past me and into the weeds. Several other guys went within inches of me, threaded their way between the 2-3 foot gap in the weeds between a stopped team car and a tree--and stayed upright and kept on going! It was CRAZEEE!

[EDS]

The steep, off-camber curve at the bottom of the Becker Road hill is treacherous no matter what the weather. With the dry spring—and almost fresh grading—on the first lap it turned into a spectacle of flying rocks, bikes, and bodies in a giant cloud of dust.

This was . . . amazing.

The peloton was still all together on the dirt Mountain Road, which skirts the shoulder of Willard Mountain. Then that turns onto Becker Road--another dirt section--so I asked Skip to go on ahead and figured we'd wait for them at the top of Meeting House hill.

But when we got on Becker I changed my mind. The Pro-Am race on Saturday did not take this route, and Becker looked like it had been freshly graded no earlier than the day before--some sections had hardly any car tracks on them. After you go over the summit on Becker there's a long, fast, sweeping turn to the right as you go down the hill, then it turns back the other way and sweeps to the left behind some trees--AND that turn is slightly off-camber. The road on the whole downhill was loosely packed dirt and large gauge rocks and Skip had to really slow down to get down safely. I asked him to pull off at the bottom of the hill because I figured most of hese pros had not ridden the course before and when they came down this hill fast and then hit the second turn some, uh, "interesting" things were likely to happen.

I was right . . . we waited for them for a couple of minutes and then they started coming around the turn and it was total freakin' confusion! Never seen anything like it!

Guys swearing, running off the road and flying past me. Some stayed on their bikes and got back on the road. Others went head over heels into the weeds. Huge clouds of dust like this, ejected water bottles all over the road. The one guy crashed right in the middle of the road, ran to the side to safety, then darted back out in the dust cloud to get his bike as the team cars raced by. I just kept shooting. And the peloton was completely blown apart--guys were still coming past 3-4 minutes later.

Nobody else got this . . . the other photo-motos were in such a hurry to get to Meeting House they all went right on by before the peloton got there. I feel bad for all the racers who had to ride through this, but absolutely amazing photos! Wooo-HOOOO!

One of my teammates who did the pro race on Sunday said Becker was nuts. This teammate is an excellent cross rider, having ridden nationals this past season. Nevertheless he said he almost came to grief on the descent - luckily keeping himself upright despite running off the road.

[fourflys]

This is the guy who went right past me and into the weeds. Several other guys went within inches of me, threaded their way between the 2-3 foot gap in the weeds between a stopped team car and a tree--and stayed upright and kept on going! It was CRAZEEE!


that is such an awesome shot... you just just hear the guy's inner thoughts saying "Oh Sheet,this is gonna hurt!" I can only imagine what came outta his mouth... :D

[BumbleBeeDave]

One of my teammates who did the pro race on Sunday said Becker was nuts. This teammate is an excellent cross rider, having ridden nationals this past season. Nevertheless he said he almost came to grief on the descent - luckily keeping himself upright despite running off the road.

. . . brushed my shoulder as he went past! :eek: I'm tellin' you it was NUTZ! I'm surprised none of these guys got run over by the team cars.

[David Kirk]

BBD - you are gifted. Thanks for sharing your art.

dave

[bobswire]

Great shots, thanks for sharing.

[wc1934]

The first lap peloton passes one of the stately old homes of Washington County, NY, on the first lap heading up County Rt. 64.

Shot with a Siugnma 10-20 zoom at about 12-13mm, shutter speed about 1/40. I used two D300's with the Sigma on the one and a Nikkor 28-300mm VR zoom on the other for most stuff. I also has my old 200f2.0 ED/AI Nikkor with me with a TC0-201 2x teleconverter on it, so effectively a 600mm on my D300. I kept that in the box behind the seat on Skip's bike and yanked it out when I had the need.

Rivals Graham Watson - What a picture!!!!
Blow that up and sell as a poster!

[FlashUNC]

Awesome stuff.

[bigboyblue]

Wish I had been there to see it!

Thanks for sharing!

[azrider]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. The idea to lay in the grass to get the shot of Chad with approaching peloton in background is an awesome pic. Chapeau.

What the hell is that Mercedes team car doing in there ??

[BumbleBeeDave]

What the hell is that Mercedes team car doing in there ??

. . . refugee! ;)

BBD

[azrider]

. . . refugee! ;)

BBD

ha.....thanks again for sharing. fingers crossed for some to make it to print!

[tele]

Thanks BBD, great shots, love all the emotion in the riders faces.
Well done:beer:

[Cat3roadracer]

Dave,

I'm not sure what your full time gig is, but this should be your full time gig. Magnificent shots. Hope to see you before the local cross series.

[onsight512]

Spectacular shots! Thanks for sharing them!

[jr59]

Really good stuff Dave!

[gavingould]

nice work BBD...
almost made the trip out there myself this year to shoot, but a lot of other stuff came up.

[RacerJRP]

Fantastic work BBD! I think this race is a must-do for next season.

[rwsaunders]

Good work Dave.

[rounder]

Great pictures BBD!

[Louis]

Dave, congratulations on getting some really cool pictures.

[Matt-H]

Once again, your Battenkill photos don't disappoint. Amazing!

[charliedid]

Nice work Dave

[krhea]

Dave, great stuff!!!!! You really captured the race in all it's glory.


KRhea

[Johny]

Great shots Dave! I always enjoy your photos, including those of us riding together. :)

[54ny77]

those photos and the stories are friggin' AWESOME!!!!!!!:hello:

thanks 4 sharing.

[thinpin]

Great shots. Goes to show course knowledge and being in the right place counts as much as anything else together to get those shots.

[happycampyer]

Truly spectacular, Dave. Every year your photos of the race get better and better.

[Bruce K]

Great job again this year Dave.

BTW - I mentioned how cool your photos of Jesse Anthony were to him last night. He plans to go look at them.

BK

[Joel]

Outstanding! Thanks for adding the commentary too. Shots on post 21 and 23 are simply amazing.

[nbrewste]

Simon Bennett of the Athletix Cycling Team loses it on the turn on Becker Road and heads for the bushes. After tumble into them, he got back up, retrieved his bike, and continued.

This is the guy who went right past me and into the weeds. Several other guys went within inches of me, threaded their way between the 2-3 foot gap in the weeds between a stopped team car and a tree--and stayed upright and kept on going! It was CRAZEEE!

Awesome, awesome photos. Can feel the adrenaline just sitting here...

[William]

Awesome job Dave!! Your shots are always excellent. I will be adding some hairy dirt decents on the Rhode Island Ramble route this year so you can get some epic shots of our Paceline mates bombing and rolling into the brush.;)






William

[MattTuck]

That is awesome Dave. Really enjoyed that. I would love to be a photographer for that race, seems like really awesome scenery/setting... some really nice vantages and interesting topography.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Awesome job Dave!! Your shots are always excellent. I will be adding some hairy dirt decents on the Rhode Island Ramble route this year so you can get some epic shots of our Paceline mates bombing and rolling into the brush.;)

William

. . but I jilted the RIRR this year to go to France.

BBD

[William]

. . but I jilted the RIRR this year to go to France.

BBD


Aww, that sucks!! Well, we'll do the descents anyway in your honor.;)

We'll miss you at the Ramble but we'll toast you with beer and Cheetos served with fireplace tongs. Have a wonderful trip buddy.:)




William

[BumbleBeeDave]

Rivals Graham Watson - What a picture!!!!
Blow that up and sell as a poster!

Only "rivals?!?!" . . . Man, oh, man, so much for YOUR free poster! :p

BBD

[tiretrax]

Only "rivals?!?!" . . . Man, oh, man, so much for YOUR free poster! :p

BBD

I was thinking better than Watson. You really captured some great emotions. The dusty shots are fantastic - some of the best I have ever seen of a bike race. Great anticipation and set up. You, sir, are gifted!

[the bottle ride]

BBD- seriously great shots. You certainly took some extra ordinary race shots- these rank amongst some of the best (Gruber, Kramon etc).

I wish I was 1/10 the photo taker that you are.

[the bottle ride]

I was thinking better than Watson. You really captured some great emotions. The dusty shots are fantastic - some of the best I have ever seen of a bike race. Great anticipation and set up. You, sir, are gifted!

Watson was once great- and I feel like much of his appeal is because of language. He is not as good as Sirotti or some of the belgian masters who have been around for ages.

BBD pictures are really-really good. I went through them and I kept thinking of how great this story was that I was watching through the images.

Kudos brother. Hope to see more.

[buldogge]

Great stuff Dave...love the Becker stuff and the post-race shots!

Nice work.

-Mark in St. Louis

[William]

Oversized Battankill coffee table book please!:cool:




William

[overmyhead]

Great shots Dave. Hope to see you again at William's this summer.

[retrofit]

lovin' it! excellent action shots.

[wfournier]

Awesome pictures, I've shot a lot of other sports but something about the dynamic of shooting cycling seems so foreign to me.

[wc1934]

Only "rivals?!?!" . . . Man, oh, man, so much for YOUR free poster! :p

BBD

hahaha - tried to amend the post but could not find the edit button (as I type with my fingers crossed)
again - kudos for some great pics!

[jghall]

Great shots Dave. You have a gifted eye.

Agree with the others, how about a Paceline/Battenkill coffee table book.

[azrider]

The steep, off-camber curve at the bottom of the Becker Road hill is treacherous no matter what the weather. With the dry spring—and almost fresh grading—on the first lap it turned into a spectacle of flying rocks, bikes, and bodies in a giant cloud of dust.

This was . . . amazing.

The peloton was still all together on the dirt Mountain Road, which skirts the shoulder of Willard Mountain. Then that turns onto Becker Road--another dirt section--so I asked Skip to go on ahead and figured we'd wait for them at the top of Meeting House hill.

But when we got on Becker I changed my mind. The Pro-Am race on Saturday did not take this route, and Becker looked like it had been freshly graded no earlier than the day before--some sections had hardly any car tracks on them. After you go over the summit on Becker there's a long, fast, sweeping turn to the right as you go down the hill, then it turns back the other way and sweeps to the left behind some trees--AND that turn is slightly off-camber. The road on the whole downhill was loosely packed dirt and large gauge rocks and Skip had to really slow down to get down safely. I asked him to pull off at the bottom of the hill because I figured most of hese pros had not ridden the course before and when they came down this hill fast and then hit the second turn some, uh, "interesting" things were likely to happen.

I was right . . . we waited for them for a couple of minutes and then they started coming around the turn and it was total freakin' confusion! Never seen anything like it!

Guys swearing, running off the road and flying past me. Some stayed on their bikes and got back on the road. Others went head over heels into the weeds. Huge clouds of dust like this, ejected water bottles all over the road. The one guy crashed right in the middle of the road, ran to the side to safety, then darted back out in the dust cloud to get his bike as the team cars raced by. I just kept shooting. And the peloton was completely blown apart--guys were still coming past 3-4 minutes later.

Nobody else got this . . . the other photo-motos were in such a hurry to get to Meeting House they all went right on by before the peloton got there. I feel bad for all the racers who had to ride through this, but absolutely amazing photos! Wooo-HOOOO!

As seen on page 98 of VN.

Nice job dude :cool:

[NextTime]

Better than what we usually see in the mags. Really appreciate you sharing the photographs.

[Kevan]

Nice shootin'. Excellent eye, man.

[Bob Loblaw]

That is way cool! Thanks for sharing!

BL

[dyerwolf]

Kudos to you BBD. Very well done. Thanks for sharing.

[Spinner]

... you have the touch. Thanks for sharing Dave.

[Steevo]

Great shots Dave!! Excellent work in combining your passion and knowledge of cycling with your artistic talents in photography. Keep up the great work. The viewer really gets a taste for the event. I feel like I have dust in my teeth.

[mwaldhopkins]

Great shots. Must have been fun!

[merlinmurph]

A breakaway on the second lap that looked like it had possibilities. Chad Beyer of Competitive Cyclist and Bruno Langlois of Garneau/Quebecor-Norton Rose get away just before the pack leaves the dirt on Ferguson Road.

I asked Skip (the moto driver) to jump ahead and then I lay down in the grass just off the end of Ferguson to get these guys coming around and hoped the rest would be in the background--and they were.

Man, love this shot - great job at anticipating.
Cycling lends itself so well to photography, especially when someone knows what they're doing. I'm jealous. ;)
Murph

[maxn]

wow, what great shots! I can't wait to see what you do with Alpe Shuez, Galibier etc!! I assume you'll be lugging a couple bodies and a pack full of lenses up both, right? :)

[azrider]

As seen on page 98 of VN.

Nice job dude :cool:

Yo BBD......so is that your shot on page 98 in VN print mag ?

[tannhauser]

Great shots.

What kind of moto were you on/do you have a fave/do you mostly sit and shoot or stand while moving/have you ever gone down while shooting/dropped a cam/do you have to clean your glass often...I could go on forever. Not using a full-face helmet I assume.

Feel free to answer or ignore any of the above.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . and the only one published that I know of. I sent them a selection for print. For some reason VN's web site ran nothing abut this year's Battenkill except a list of results. Not even a short story. That surprised me, since I did several different web galleries for them each of the past few years. They may have just had their budget already allocated elsewhere.

As for the motos . . . the guy I worked with for the past four years has a BMW GS-1200--enduro style bike that's great on dirt. Amazing what he can do with that bike. This year I worked with Skip and we were on his Suzuki, though he also has a Bimmer.

I always sit down and that's the safe way. I saw one of the video guys standing up and that's an idiotic thing to do anyway, but particularly on this course. I bought my own open face helmet this year that worked much better than the ones I've borrowed in the past. I've never dropped anything and both Evan and Skip have boxes aboard that we can stash extra stuff in like drinks, m,y 600mm lens, etc.

This year I did most of my static scenery shots on Saturday during the pro-am races after scouting the course by car three weeks earlier to get my locations. There's so many race groups coming by that we jsut worked our way around the course stopping and waiting for the next group to go by.

Then on Sunday I shoot a few static shots on the first lap, but once the second lap starts we just stay with the leaders to tell the story ofr the race, then zoom ahead during the last 4-5 miles to make sure we can be at the finish line.

BBD

[EDS]

. . . and the only one published that I know of. I sent them a selection for print. For some reason VN's web site ran nothing abut this year's Battenkill except a list of results. Not even a short story. That surprised me, since I did several different web galleries for them each of the past few years. They may have just had their budget already allocated elsewhere.

As for the motos . . . the guy I worked with for the past four years has a BMW GS-1200--enduro style bike that's great on dirt. Amazing what he can do with that bike. This year I worked with Smip and we were on his Suzuki, though he also has a Bimmer.

I always sit down and that's the safe way. I saw one of the video guys standing up and that's an idiotic thing to do anyway, but particularly on this course. I bought my own open face helmet this year that worked much better than the ones I've borrowed in the past. I've never dropped anything and both Evan and Skip have boxes aboard that we can stash extra stuff in like drinks, m,y 600mm lens, etc.

This year I did most of my static scenery shots on Saturday during the pro-am races after scouting the course by car three weeks earlier to get my locations. There's so many race groups coming by that we jsut worked our way around the course stopping and waiting for the next group to go by.

Then on Sunday I shoot a few static shots on the first lap, but once the second lap starts we just stay with the leaders to tell the story ofr the race, then zoom ahead during the last 4-5 miles to make sure we can be at the finish line.

BBD

Dave are you going to put the pro-am photos on your site?

[BumbleBeeDave]

These are from the Saturday Pro-am races. It's just taken me a while to sort through everything and get them edited and toned. Several are from the field where parking/camping was of people still camped and others warming up. The long-haired guy was waiting for the start. Check out his neck on the left. The silhouette shot is the cat. 1/2 field heading out on Rt. 313. The early morning light is just wonderful to shoot in but it's a mad scramble to get some shots from the field before the first racers head out. I was pretty happy with what i got, though. I laid down on the grass to get the guy on the trainer with a 400mm.

[tannhauser]

. . . and the only one published that I know of. I sent them a selection for print. For some reason VN's web site ran nothing abut this year's Battenkill except a list of results. Not even a short story. That surprised me, since I did several different web galleries for them each of the past few years. They may have just had their budget already allocated elsewhere.

As for the motos . . . the guy I worked with for the past four years has a BMW GS-1200--enduro style bike that's great on dirt. Amazing what he can do with that bike. This year I worked with Smip and we were on his Suzuki, though he also has a Bimmer.

I always sit down and that's the safe way. I saw one of the video guys standing up and that's an idiotic thing to do anyway, but particularly on this course. I bought my own open face helmet this year that worked much better than the ones I've borrowed in the past. I've never dropped anything and both Evan and Skip have boxes aboard that we can stash extra stuff in like drinks, m,y 600mm lens, etc.

This year I did most of my static scenery shots on Saturday during the pro-am races after scouting the course by car three weeks earlier to get my locations. There's so many race groups coming by that we jsut worked our way around the course stopping and waiting for the next group to go by.

Then on Sunday I shoot a few static shots on the first lap, but once the second lap starts we just stay with the leaders to tell the story ofr the race, then zoom ahead during the last 4-5 miles to make sure we can be at the finish line.

BBD

Thx, have always wanted a GS.

[BumbleBeeDave]

The obligatory shot from the Eagleville covered bridge, passing blooming forsythias on Rt. 313, and cresting a hill on Juniper Swamp.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . where this farm offers a number of possibilities. These folks were watching from their front porch. Also here's a shot of racers fighting their way over the crest of the hill on Juniper Swamp. Note the Serotta in the lead on the bottom photo.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . offered some good shots with a 600mm.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . on Meeting House Road. Lots of the amateur guys were really hurting by this part of the course.

[BumbleBeeDave]

I scouted out both of these in advance. It really helps to live close enough to the course to do that.

[BumbleBeeDave]

This pack of riders are on Rt. 59 and the kids wanted to get into the race on the Juniper Swamp hill until Dad yanked him back!

[nighthawk]

Geesh, BBD. You are killin' it. Those pics are really great!

[BumbleBeeDave]

Lots of dirty riders. The woman with the beer finished second in her Cat 2 (I think) race and women in the background was the winner.

BBD

[learningtoride]

...

[tannhauser]

The most recent set is even better than the earlier ones, with a clear sense of location and steepness. And character.