Second place is first loser. In some ways I'm sore that I came second from a two man breakaway today at the Terry Cronin crits at Hillingdon, but at the same time I'm pretty excited at having done the best ride I've done all year.
I was in the thick of the action for the whole race, attacking alone after five (of 35) laps, riding solo for three laps, then together with two others for a further eight or so. When we got caught, rather than sulking at the back
and conning myself that it was "recovery", I kept on attacking. Eventually I got away with 10 laps to go, followed by one other rider. This time the elastic snapped and the bunch let us go. With a lap and a half to go my calf muscles started cramping painfully up the climb, so I knew the sprint would be tough, and so it proved. I got stuck on the front for the last 500m -tactical naivety having not been in this position for a while - and when the other guy jumped me with 200m to go he really got a good jump on me.
I got close to reeling him in, but never got on terms so had to settle for second, too tired to be disappointed.
I'm sure the "what-if's" will start tormenting me in the next few days, but for the time being, I'm pretty chuffed. All bodes well for the cyclocross season at least.
The race before mine was a master's and women's race, of which I shot a bunch of photos. The set is on flickr here. Martin Smith from the Army and AW Cycles won with an impressive, almost race long, solo break - a tough option on a windy day on an exposed circuit.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Hey skaters, fancy doing this in the UK?
I just found this over at Ben Spurrier's blog. I love this kind of thing - these guys are travelling round New Zealand on bikes, camping and skating. It looks hard, but I bet the trip was so cool to be a part of. Everything about it looks epic - I'd love to do something like this one day.
Riding The Long White Cloud - Trailer from friendlyfire on Vimeo.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Velodrome
I took this last week at about 8pm. Summer is well and truly on it's way out — almost zero light. Sad face.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Chris and Laura's Wedding
Last weekend I shot my second ever wedding, for my friend Chris and his (now) wife Laura. I'm actually beginning to think I really enjoy shooting weddings: it's mega stressful and you're rushing around all day with barely a chance to think, but it's really satisfying when the bride and groom see the photos and are happy with them.
This wedding was up in Edinburgh, with the reception held in a huge private school just outside the city. It was a beautiful spot and as the weather was playing ball, we had a great view of Edinburgh Castle — perfect for the formal portraits. This shot was lit with two flashes, both to camera left. The sun was coming in out from behind the clouds, so I doubled up the flashes so that I could achieve a decent aperture, allowing me to control the amount of ambient light by simply changing the shutter speed as and when the sun came in and out. If you click on the shot above and go through to my photostream, you'll see just how much the light changed as the formals progressed!
This wedding was up in Edinburgh, with the reception held in a huge private school just outside the city. It was a beautiful spot and as the weather was playing ball, we had a great view of Edinburgh Castle — perfect for the formal portraits. This shot was lit with two flashes, both to camera left. The sun was coming in out from behind the clouds, so I doubled up the flashes so that I could achieve a decent aperture, allowing me to control the amount of ambient light by simply changing the shutter speed as and when the sun came in and out. If you click on the shot above and go through to my photostream, you'll see just how much the light changed as the formals progressed!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Emil Zátopek
When I was 14 or 15, I got really into running. There was never any doubt that I was entirely without talent, but that didn't stop me coming back for more. What I loved about running was the gratification that any effort put in during training, almost immediately translated itself to increased performance in competition. The harder I tried, the faster I went, and although I was never going to win any races, I loved it.
One of the things that kept me motivated was reading about Emil Zátopek, a Czech who at the 1952 Olympics won the 5000m, the 10000m and the Marathon. His wins were a triumph of determination over talent, and the stories of his legendary training, running 80 lots of 400m in army boots, was totally inspiring.
Today I was lacking motivation so I went about reading a number of his biographies online, and hey presto, my motivation came flooding back.
To remind myself of this endurance hero, I decided to tape his picture to the stem of my TT bike. I'm doing a 2-up timetrial on Saturday and I think I'm going to need the inspiration if I'm going to get a result.
Go and check out Zátopek's wikipedia page
One of the things that kept me motivated was reading about Emil Zátopek, a Czech who at the 1952 Olympics won the 5000m, the 10000m and the Marathon. His wins were a triumph of determination over talent, and the stories of his legendary training, running 80 lots of 400m in army boots, was totally inspiring.
Today I was lacking motivation so I went about reading a number of his biographies online, and hey presto, my motivation came flooding back.
"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical.
Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem."
Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem."
Emil Zátopek
To remind myself of this endurance hero, I decided to tape his picture to the stem of my TT bike. I'm doing a 2-up timetrial on Saturday and I think I'm going to need the inspiration if I'm going to get a result.
Go and check out Zátopek's wikipedia page
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
SSEC 2010
Way back in April I posted a blog about riding the Singlespeed European Champiosnhips. The feature has now gone in MBR so I can show off some more of the photos. The top shot is of Phil Glowinski riding one of the downhill tracks in the Forest of Dean. We got some pretty funny looks from all the dude on 8in travel downhill bikes as we hit all the jumps on singlespeed XC bikes — the tracks there are great on trail bikes though as they're not super steep.
Below is a photo of Sheldon who organised the whole event. He did a great job and as I've said in the article in MBR, it was probably the most enjoyable bike event I've ever been involved in. Below that is Shannon, manager at Pearson's Cycles in our campsite.
Below is a photo of Sheldon who organised the whole event. He did a great job and as I've said in the article in MBR, it was probably the most enjoyable bike event I've ever been involved in. Below that is Shannon, manager at Pearson's Cycles in our campsite.
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