Six years ago I attempted to indulge in the world of bicycle racing. I was in decent shape, followed a training plan to put me in what I had thought to be a competitive state of physical beastliness. Maintaining a heart rate of 150 for two hours was easy! What I was lacking was top end. 190 seemed to be my breaking point, only could last five minutes before the panting ensued. So I did not train right. During my regroup phase life got in the way and I was thrown into the just another recreational cyclist category. Nothing wrong with that at all. Getting up at 05:30 to go race a bike was not really my favorite thing to do anyway.
For those of you that have never tried it, racing a bicycle is no joke. Certainly not just a bunch of silly looking guys in spandex.Notice the trailer, max effort there. It is a shame that the person who brought cycling in America to the limelight is under so much scrutiny. The dude never tested positive. Enough said. Besides, spandex is quite comfortable and provides great compression to the muscles. Just no Boy George Spandex please…
Rollers, something I never got the hang of. Core, core, core. In the US most of the races are criteriums. Round and round a 1-2 mile loop. It is only in the past few years where the larger stage races have gained popularity here. Used to have to go to Europe to check out a big race, now you just have to go west….young man. Need a big east coast race.
Since this is supposed to be a photography oriented blog….
an attempt at panning
a better attempt
I felt like I did not have enough room on my first attempt, so I isolated the trailers the next time they came around. Harder than it sounds. Shutter speed was 1/30th for these shots.
Busy weekend coming up, hoping for a Fryday night surprise at the PNC Bank Arts Center. Thanks for stopping by! Till next time…
Twilight and Dusk 