I have been nominated to post a riding/racing photo every day for 10 days.

Bike Photo Day 5: Yaak, Montana August 18, 2015

Each February my work Quality Bicycle Products hosts an event we call Frostbike.  What started out as our annual open house has morphed into a mini industry tradeshow.  On top of allowing our dealers a chance to visit our building and interact with our employees and vendors it also includes educational opportunities in the way of seminars for our retailers.

I have to brag a little as I’m excited that one of these seminars is being led my wife. As many of you know Laura is the project manager for Salsa Cycles.  Salsa just so happens to by owned QBP which means we work in the same building but being as there are 500+ employees we aren’t quite bumping into each other all the time.

So why is this relevant? Well the reason Laura is giving her seminar this weekend is that this past summer she and two others took part in a company sponsored bike packing trip into the Montana wilderness. This all female group spent four days riding between different fire huts camping each night high atop a mountain in the huts. Who did they get to go along to photograph? You got it. Shh don’t tell anyone but it’s like getting paid to go vacation sometimes.

Camera: Canon 5 Mark II
Focal Length: 16mm
Shutter Speed: 1/15
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 100

To view more photos from the trip jump to the next page and make sure to read all about their adventures on Salsa Cycles website.

Continue reading “Bike Photo Day 5: Yaak, Montana August 18, 2015”

I have been nominated to post a riding/racing photo every day for 10 days.

Bike Photo Day 4: Levis Trow, Neillsville, WI. June 11, 2011

In junior high I was tasked with selling magazines as a fundraiser for concert band.  I recall flipping through the brochure looking at magazines that might interest myself and then I came upon a magazine titled Mountain Bike.  I don’t think I’d ever even thought that what I’d always been doing with my bike was an actual sport.  My brother and I went 50/50 on a subscription and our first issue was in December 1993.  I recall that issue was Zapata Espinoza’s first issue as editor.  At school a few days later I noticed an old friend of mine was reading the same magazine and he low and behold he actually owned a mountain bike.  Who would have thought from then on mountain biking would be such a big influence on my life.

Mountain biking has always been a lot more to me than a form of exercise or escape.  Mountain biking, or as I’ve gotten older cycling in general, has always been a really big social aspect in my life.  The majority of my friends in junior high, high school, college and even now our cyclists.  I love going for rides in groups, far more than riding by myself.  I love waiting at the top of a climb chatting with everyone in the group before racing off to the next hangout.

I could pick any number of photos I’ve taken on rides but I chose this one from Levis Trow because it brings great memories of the camping weekend rides that my friends and I have done over the past handful of years. Levis Trow is one of my favorite places to ride in the area.  It has onsite camping at the trailhead, awesome trails and awesome views.  Nothing better than packing a couple of beers in your pack, riding to the top of the sandstone bluff and catching a sunset.

 

 

Camera: Canon 1D Mark III
Focal Length: 16mm
Shutter Speed: 1/12
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 400

I have been nominated to post a riding/racing photo every day for 10 days.

Bike Photo Day 3: Trans Iowa v.9, Iowa. June 15, 2012

The photo I have selected today was taken at Trans Iowa v.9.  TI is a self-navigated, self-supported, 300-plus mile gravel road event.  It is held in late April of each year and the course is made primarily of Iowa gravel roads that crisscross all over the state.   The course is not know the racers until the day of the event when they are given cue cards that tell them where to turn.  Each of the checkpoints that the racers make it allows them to get the next set of cue cards.  These same cue cards are what keep photographers like myself on the course.

I was given the opportunity to shoot TransIowa on behalf of Salsa Cycles.  This was the first time I had ever covered an ultra endurance event and decided that I would do what I do best.  Shoot it as a photojournalist attempting to cover the event from start to finish.  Salsa had two sponsored riders signed up that year.  Tim Ek and Paul Errington.  Tim I was somewhat familiar with as he lives in Minnesota but Paul was someone I had not heard of.  He lives in Newcastle, United Kingdom and I thought wow this guy is flying around the world to come to Iowa to race 300+ miles of gravel, that’s pretty cool.  So with that knowledge in hand I decided to latch onto Paul the first time I saw him and attempt my best to cover his path from the prerace dinner to post race.

Shooting a 300 mile race, much of which involves rolling hills without much to see in the middle of Iowa, means driving well ahead of riders looking for places of interest.  After the riders exited the second checkpoint I did just that driving out in front, using the same cue cards they had to find my way.  After a bit of a drive I came across a field of wind turbines lazily spinning in the late afternoon sun.  I immediately sized up the spot and got my gear out of the car thinking that the riders would be along shortly.  Taking a couple of light reading I realized that if I wanted to expose properly for the background the riders were going to be in heavy shadow from the quickly setting sun.  I took the opportunity to setup a remote flash near the road that would be triggered when I took the picture.  Everything set I began to wait, and wait, and wait………and then panic sets in.  Am I on the course?  Did I miss a turn?  Has something happened to them?  Do leave my spot?  I know the law of photography is that if you leave your spot the riders will come up over the hill just as you get in your car.  So I continued to wait, and wait and wait.  Finally riders, a few at a time allowing me to test my setup.  After what seemed like forever, and as luck should have it, both Salsa sponsored riders came over the hill riding together and into frame, CLICK, and off the go.

So where were they?  Well unknown to me shortly after that checkpoint there is a gas station.  These riders have been riding for hours and have already used many of the foodstuffs they packed along so they utilize gas stations to fill up on water, get additional food and basically take a bit of time off the bike.  I kick myself for not following them out of that checkpoint as surely would have gotten more photos that told the story but if I had left my spot I’m sure I would have missed both.

This image was taken using a Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens and an off camera flash, triggered remotely to provide fill light on the riders.   I normally will carry four lenses when covering an event.  The 70-200, a 16-35 f2.8, 50mm f1.8 and a 50mm f2.8 macro lens.  My vision for this shot was to attempt to compress the photo and have the wind turbines dominating the backdrop as the riders rode into the frame.  Unfortunately I was slightly on a hill that only allowed me to only back up so far and was limited to shooting at 125mm.  The perfect shot would have been to have room to use my 2x extender essentially making my lens a 140-400 f4 lens that would really have compressed the image but alas you make due with what you are given.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II
Focal Length: 125mm
Shutter Speed: 1/800
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 320

I have been nominated to post a riding/racing photo every day for 10 days.

Bike Photo Day 2: Nature Valley Grand Prix, Winona, Mn. June 15, 2002

Today’s subject is Marty Nothstein photographed at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Nothstein is an American professional road and track cyclist. He is a 3-time world champion in track events and an Olympic gold and silver medalist.

In the early 2000s I was employed as a staff photographer at the Winona Daily News which afforded me the opportunity to shoot the mundane (bowling team photos anyone?) to the gut wrenching (auto accidents).  One of the more enjoyable events to come to town each year was the Grand Prix.  It brought many of the nation’s best cyclists to the small river town to compete in the road race portion of the event.  Winona’s river bluffs adding much needed elevation in a state known more for rolling hills than brutal climbs.

Working the race weekend was a love hate relationship for me.  I loved being to photograph something I was really passionate about but hated that I’d also be charged with photographing a handful of other events and would not have time to hang around the race course all day.

This image was taken using a Nikon D1 Digital Single Reflex Lens camera.  The D1 was first released in June of 1999 and was the first DSLR camera body widely accepted by the news media.  The Daily News had just switched over to digital when I arrived and it really allowed us shooters to take more chances we might not normally have taken or at least know when we had a shot in the can.  For this shot I set up on a corner where racer’s cut as close to the curb as they could.  A slow shutter combined with panning the camera at the same speed as the rider blurs the background while the on camera flash freezes the rider in the frame.

I’ve photographed dozens of cycling races over the years but this one has particular meaning as it was the first time I also had a byline to go with a news story.  I’ll stick to taking pictures as I’m sure an editor could easily rip apart what I just have finished writing 🙂

Camera: Nikon D1
Focal Length: 17mm
Shutter Speed: 1/60
Aperture: f/10
ISO: 200

Seeing my Facebook feed blow up with these kind of posts the past week I thought that maybe I’d sneak by without a mention…but leave it to a living legend in the mountain bike photography game Mike Riemer to nominate me to post a riding/racing photo every day for 10 days.

Bike Photo Day 1: Joe’s Ridge, Fruita, Colorado. September 22, 2003

This photo is special because it was taken during Laura and my first big trip together.  We set out from Minnesota in my Honda Accord, bikes loaded on the roof,  with a destination of Moab, Utah and a stop in Fruita, Colorado to see my old friend Joe Wilcox.  I can still remember the Accord getting passed by semi trucks in the mountain passes.  I also am pretty sure I get the worst boyfriend award for taking Laura on some trails that were most certainly above her level but like everything she has ever done she was awesome at it.

The photo itself was created using a mini tripod and the timer release.  I sent Joe and Laura off down the trail, pushed the shutter button and started the countdown in my head before riding into the shot.

Camera: Nikon D1h
Focal Length: 24mm
Shutter Speed: 1/320
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 200