This is probably one of my favorite events to spectate let alone shoot.  The last few years or should I say the first 3 years of me watching / shooting this event, I have been more of a spectator than a photographer.  You could also say I got a bit lazy and just wanted to enjoy the weekend.  This year I wanted to focus more on the photography and try to enjoy it as much, and I’m glad I went that direction.  I think I enjoyed it more watching the race unfold through my finder rather than watching and capturing snap shots casually with whatever camera I happen to have available.

Snappy facts:

Last year was the inaugural year for the womens race.

Battle for 4th place on the women’s race. I missed the top 3 finishers by half a block.

If anyone has never seen a pro bike race, I suggest you try to find one close to you.  They might be on bikes, but the speed and the ferocity these cyclists have during a race is insane.  And being an avid cyclist in the past and a fan in general gets my blood pumping and makes me want to saddle up again.  The action is very fast and very much furious…(yes, I went there)

Centering the race course was the Arts Fest which brings about vendors and artisans than sell their fine pieces of furniture, jewelry and art.  Some food truck vendors were out and about also.  We went to peruse around on Saturday, but the weather didn’t play nice and I wasn’t able to really get a good chance to capture the vibe and atmosphere.

Catching some air!

Aside for the men’s pro race, there was an amateur men’s race early on the day, and the aforementioned women’s race, which I only caught briefly.  A kids race room place between the women’s and the men’s, with a staggered age group start.  This was also a lot of fun as you see kids in various ages just going up that hill with the same ferocity as the pros. I would not be surprised if we see some of these kids riding this course for a pro team and citing back the experience they had from this very event.

I did not get to grab much of the other races earlier in the day as we typically host a loose party during the day since we live right there.  I did disappear to enjoy the men’s race.

Bacon!

I’d like to also say hello to a fellow photographer, Ryan, who I got to talk to in between laps.  His wife is a local wedding photographer (http://www.taylorcotillaphotography.com) and he acts as her 2nd shooter.  Looking forward to seeing your shots, dude.

Now for the photos… I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed shooting them. I did shoot some videos too and I will stitch them up and upload it for your viewing pleasure. (I will post this up as a separate thread)

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All photo’s shot with a Nikon D700 with a Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8 VRII

Catching some air!

Bacon!