Swim, Bike and Run......yea a Triathlon

Up at 5:30 am heading to Landisville PA. I was asked to photograph the "Tri for Kids Sake Triathlon" this past Sunday http://www.hempfieldtri.com/ I have never photographed a Tri before and thought this would be a great learning experience for me, and hopefully a step toward doing more such events. It was difficult to say the least for a single photographer. Since this Tri would be run in a Time Trial format there woudl actually be three events running at the same time......how to photograph everyone in each event? Actually it's just not possible. I decided just to shoot pieces of each event and move with the racers as they switch events hopefully getting racers in at least two of the three events.

The day was georgous, but difficult for photography. The Sun was shinning just so bright that shadows were a big distraction to over come, but I am not goin to complain as I was finally able to wear shorts and a tee sirt. I decided to use a flash for fill the entire day.
The event was very well run and organized. Funny thing I noticed during the race was I have never seen so many people in physical pain and smiling and grinning from ear to ear the entire time. There were a lot of spectators cheering athletes, want to be athletes and those just there to try someting new...just cheering everyone on. I do notice that I find myself wishing I was in the race instead of photographing, but I have come to grips with some injuries that I have that I may just not be able to race anymore. Time will tell.

Day over? Nope I had also commited to shooting some of the MASS (Mid Atlantic Super Series) races. The Short Track races was scheduled for the prior week, but due to a Nor'Easter it was rained out and rescheduled for this week...same day......so off to Coatesville Pa for the Short Track MTB race scheduled to start at 12:30. Some great racing from all groups - beginner, sport and expert. Fast, hard, aerobic! A one mile double track grave road that was rund the same way as a cross race. Photos should be up for the Short Track race in the next day or two so I will follow-up with those photos.

Kirkwood Road Race

Tried my 2nd attempt at a road race this year - Kirkwood PA which is in Lancaster County. Great race location since it's only 20 minutes from my house. I've done this race twice before an it usually rains....but this year we were spared the rain and only had to deal with the cold.

Registering as usual takes longer than it should.
This week I learned from my bunder last week and registered for the Cat 4 race - I had soom time so I did a lap as a warm up - I surely do not remember all the hills from the last time I raced here - going to be a hard race!

Our race goes of at 9am ish right after all the Masters - 4 laps scheduled for ~ 28 miles. First two laps were unevenuful, no real attempted breaks - I was amble to keep with all the moves and surges. Kept my riding position exactly where I needed/wanted to be to keep out of the wind as I really wanted to try and stay with the main group to the finish. Everyone seems to be riding pretty well as there were no fatalaties, no yelling "#^%^" for bad moves. I was feeling very comfortible with my pack riding - but cautious.

Ahhh - the third lap - this appears to be my downfall - dropping in the third lap...and it happened again. An attack about 1/2 into the third lap and I was just off the back with lots of others. I was able to get back to within - believe it of not - 5 yards.....5 stinking yards, but I was toast, just could not close those last 5 yards.....I had to let the break go. Cooked, toast, fried, however you want to say it - those were my legs.

Done for the day!....or so I thought.

I jumped on a wheel of a guy from Kellys (Actually he probably saw me gasping and told me to grab his wheel) and we managed to get with a group of 3 FSVS riders. I started getting some life back in me and managed to work pretty hard on the 4th lap. I seemed to be a bit faster on the down hills and climbing so I usually took the lead here and managed to close a gap to another small group of riders and worked beyound them. In the end I was pretty tired and the FSVS boys finished ahead of me but I really didn't care. At this point it was just about finishing for another day.

I didn't drop out, worked hard, thought I raced pretty smart (beside missing the 5 yards). I have no idea on results, but I may actually look this week for a good laugh!

I Photographed the remainder of the race - missed the Pro/Elite finish. They still had 7 laps to go and I really had to be home. I wanted to try some panning this weeks using two flash units - one on camera on one remote in front of the group - but for some reason I could not getthe remote flash to work - going to have to re-read the instructions again. Murphys Law - Works 100% of the time in my basementwhen foolwing around, but try putting it to real use outin the field and it will never work. I'll get it figured out as I want to use this technique on the next mountain bike race.

Next race I will be photographing is the start of the MASS Mountain Bike Race Series - Relay race.

Strasburg Road Race

IN OVER MY HEAD!
So I went into this race knowing the above. I just recently moved up from Cat 5 to Cat 4 on the road and for what every reason I still do not know - I decided to race the Masters 40+ for my

1st road race of the season. I guess there is no better way to get into shape than being hammered in March. Snow called off the race last weekend and was rescheduled for this past Saturday. I get to the race which was in Strasburg PA, there was slight rain and the roads were wet - this is a given for the first road race of the season. Registering was SLOW - not sure why since everyone was to have preregistered - had enough time to do a quick out and back and headed to the start line. Recognized a few Cat 2's and 3's.....what was I thinking?
Race is scheduled for 5 laps for 28 mile.

We start off and pace is fine - nothing to demanding.......and 1/2 way into the first lap the attackes start. Come-on! My goal is to make at least one lap with the group! This is not going to help. No one gets away, but I can see the tatics being played by two teams. Sending guys off the front and 2 or 3 members sit in on the front slowing the group down. No one was getting to far away and at times I felt good enough that I would go off the front pulling the group back up to the leads. I figured I would not be there long so why not! The race pace picks up and I am suprisingly hanging with the lead - usually riding in the top 5 most of the time. Roads have dried out nicely by now.....and then 1/2 way into the 3rd lap a surge happens to chase an attacking group and I'm off the back never to find my way back onto the group. Pretty much my race is over - my lower back was sore at this point so I roll into the start/finish and pulled out at the end of the 4th lap. Figured I would now grab my camera gear and Photograph the rest of the day.

All photos of the race can be found here:

http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/2007%20Sports/248104

I tried panning a few shots today and a few came out decent enough - definately a technicue that I need to pracfice on. Photography kind of went as

my race. I just did not seem to have a groove going and seemed to have some focus issues. I have not photographed any sports since the end of cyclocross season last year so my shuter fingers are a bit rusty.

New week I have decided to try and smarten up a bit and signed up for the Cat 4 race at Kirkwood - we will see if I can hang with the main group a bit longer - Photographing the remaining races as well.

Spring is (WAS) in the air!

Wednesday this week temperatures SOARED into the 70's, these are the type of days that it's impossible to not ride.

Headed out for my routine lunch time type ride - 1st stop was at the local golf course, there were a few players out, but not as many as I would have suspected (see my short sleeves :)

I also had to throw in a few photographs of my legs just to confirm I am wearing shorts - you will also notice that some of my photographs are a bit "odd", that is because I "borrow" my wife's Point and Shoot camera and the photos it produces are really not that crisp - so I often find myself touching these up a bit with some software to try and make them a bit more interesting.

Toward the end of my ride I cross the Red Clay Creek and with a nice sweat, the water looked very tempting - not quite yet, but soon enough.

The bad thing is I had my first road race
scheduled for the Sunday in Lancaster PA and it
has been cancelled to to SNOW - yea, you got that right, it is snowing right now - actually ice
pellets right now - roads are a complete mess.

Races is scheduled for next Saturday so at leas that will give me a chance to delay my immanent implosion.

Asylum 29er

Well I finally got around to taking some photographs of my Asylum 29er.....my bike for 2007 and hopefully beyond. I have owned a few Titus Racer X's in the past (actually 3) and it is definitely one of the best racing platform bikes every made. I switched to a Turner Flux for a short period looking for a plusher ride, but the 29er bug hit me. This wasn't hard since most of my ridding buddies are on 29ers and I knew eventually peer pressure would set in. Plus I have the reputation of getting a new bike every

time mine gets too dirty???

I found a sweet deal on a Used Asylum in the MTBR classifieds this past fall and jumped on it knowing if I did not like it, I could easily sell it and make a few $$ in the process. I immediately like the 29er ride over a 26". The 29er just seems to have so much better traction thru corners and rolls faster that overall the bike comes out faster. I actually did a back to back test on my Turner Flux which weights around 24lbs and the original Asylum I owned which weighted close to 28lbs. In the end the Asylum was faster. I did this test twice with the same results. My after ride quotes were the Turner Flux "felt lighter" while the Asylum "felt faster".

So within a few weeks I had someone contact me wanting to buy my Asylum.....I didn't like the polished frame color, wheel set was way too heavy for my liking and the Maveric fork was not for me - Sold him those parts. Speedgoat had a deal to buy a Asylum frame and get a fork for free so that is what you see here.

Not a Rock Shox fan, but Fox has yet to release a 29er fork so until there is a Fox terrilogic fork available, I will use the RS.

It's not an Extreme lightweight build - I could pull some of the parts off my Turner Flux and loose another 3/4 of a pound, but am content with how the bike is built now - rides purrrrrrrfect! The Asylum as you see it (minus the spare tube) weight is guesstimated at around 25.5lbs. I stated weighting most of the parts, but never ended up weighing the entire bike. The big weight savings is the wheel set built by Mike Garcia. WTB hubs, Stans Olympic Rims, Supercomp spokes - wheel set weight is 1605 grams, with 620 gram Specialized Fast Trak tires which say 2.0 sized tires, but are closer to a 2.1. Great grip and roll nice and fast.

Photos were taken with my Nikon D200 and 85 1.4 lens. The lens is more of a portrait type lens but since I have not used it a ton, wanted to try it
out a bit more. Not bad for some quick shots with natural lighting in the back yard. Photos are untouched out of the camera.

Spring ride.....not quite yet :(

Thursday I was down in Annapolis MD for a work lunch meeting, sun was shining, not a flake of snow in site and how WARM it was - drive home I had the windows down....call a co-worker and he had his AC on in the car already. What a great day to get in a quick road ride. As I cross over the Maryland state line into Pennsylvania I notice, complete cloud cover and the ground still covered with snow.

I head out on my new road bike (teaser shot, more details on the bike later) that I picked up from Henry's Bikes in Pike Creek DE. 2 weeks ago. The frame is a replacement frame paid for by the nice insurance company for the girl that was driving the Suburban that hit me over the Christmas holiday.

So heading out on a quick ride - colder than earlier and much more snow than I expected.













Since I am planning on my 1st road race in two weeks I thought I better start riding a few hills so a few miles into my ride I start into my 1st hill behind my house - wasn't all that painful, but again I was not pushing hard up the hill - I will probably have a very rude awakening in 2 weeks. And this year I made my upgrade to Cat 4....but signed up for the Masters race - probably not my smartest move of the year

After going up you are always rewarded by a nice down hill section, Roads were way too wet and my feet and legs were drenched - I know this was going to end up being too cold of a ride because of the water. Did my regular lunch time loop with a short expanded section. Actually felt kind of tired after the ride and the same after my lunch break at the YMCA today. I was planning on riding the trainer during lunch on Friday, but I think I will take the day off and try and rest a bit. Right now I am doing fairly well and above my norm for riding time each week - from the beginning of the year thru now I am averaging ~5-7 hours a week exercise time (including the YMCA), which is pretty good for me.
















Another sneek peak at the new road bike - the face was blurred to protect the......Once I get some decent pictures of the bike, I'll post a review.

The SH_T 2007 Kit! - HOT PINK
Rik just sent out the layout for the Secret Henry's Team 2007 Racing kit. SWEET!
I found a pair of Hot Pink lycra shoe covers on Ebay to add to the ensymble.
Great thing is some of the $$ from purchasing the kit will be donated to Breast Cancer research.

Hopefully most people will only be seeing the kits from the rear :)