The end of RawBee??

If you are following this blog, all 2 of you, then I apologize for the lack of attention. Since discoverying Facebook and Twitter I've found those technologies far easier and quicker to use then Blogging. I'm not sure what I will do with the blog but I don't see a log of current news being posted here but maybe I'll put up race reports. In the meantime, find me on Facebook or to a lesser extent Twitter.

I'm facinated with the Facebook trend. I've had an account for over a year but never used it. Then suddenly in December I got sucked into it by friends. It really has hit a critical mass. Personally I think it's the CB radio of the new century but I'll enjoy it while it's hot - good buddy.

Spinning at Now Sports

Time again to find ways to stay on the bike indoors. The guys at work head to Now Sport at noon for some spinning. Now Sport has a nice new area set up for spinning and they very generously let us come over and use it all winter. They also have a trainer attached to a computer for doing virtual rides on a computer. I usually don't bother because I can do it at night at home just as easily. However it is nice to mix it up as well as hang out with other riders instead just being alone in the basement. Here is Frankster riding in the new workout area. That's his new bike that he has on layaway at Now until next season. Nice bike.



The bikes on the wall are owned by people that elect to store them at Now for the winter. That way they don't have to carry them in, I did. Plus it probably makes the spouse happier not having them in the basement.




Just like last year I participated in their virtual time trail. The contest runs the whole month and as of this post I was in 2nd place - of two people that have done the ride. But the first place guy is very fast and he's beating me by only 15 seconds. So I wasn't too disappointed. Here you can see me set up on the Trax training and the route I'm riding on the TV screen.

BSC at the dome

Boston Scientific sponsors Gopher sports which is great. As a part of that sponsorship they get a certain amount of advertising at events. Last month I was asked by HR if I might be interesting in creating animation for use at the Gopher football games at the Metrodome. Hell yeah!

This is a still from the animation. Click on it to see the full resolution version. Be ready to scroll!



Right off I hit on the idea of the long strip being a blood vessel so I thought blood cells would make a neat backdrop to the text and logo treatments. I also tried more 3D cells but the more graphic cells looked better and didn't screen blood!

The display it would play on is one of those wrap around LED displays between upper and lower desks. I've usually seen them as continuous bands all the way around but the dome display was just stand alone with the bizarre resolution of 2400 by 40 pixels. By contrast, a TV is generally speaking 640 by 480 pixels. The whole piece only 17 seconds long and designed to loop for as long as they play it during breaks in the action. Its so wide that it's hard to put onto the blog. But is you want to see it, right click on this link and down load it. Then play it in Quicktime.

Here is a photo at the dome. The animation is the blue strip in the middle and just peeking in on the right.



OK, so I have to come clean on the photo. It's a fake. I couldn't find anyone to take a photo at a game so with a little help from some nameless Gopher fan on Flickr, I was able to find a random game photo. It nicely shows the display - just not the right message. No problem. Here's how I did it. Click on the images for a zoom in.

Here is the orginal. With a little color and contrast adjustment.



I saved one frame (this one) from the animation. Then scaled it down and warped it slightly to the curve of the stands. I was kinda luck that it's mostly flat to the camera so I didn't have to correct for perspective.



The new display does not look like its lit up so I had to add some glare and boost the saturation.



Much better. I also added subtle things like noise to the new elements and grunged up the edges. The CG elements were too perfect.

Bicycle Planet

On this planet, unlike this planet, the inhabitants have made a clearing for cyclocross racing.

This was made in Photoshop from a whole bunch of shots at the Afton Alps Cyclocross race. Normal photos can be found on Flickr.

Bike Race Dogs

I've been out to a couple bike races taking photos. I have photos from the Ham Lake Cyclocross race here, and yesterdays Afton Alps race here.

It occurred to me as I processed through yesterdays photos that I often end up with a really nice shot of someones dog. I don't know these dogs or their owners.

My photo tip to take away from this is that; even if you are somewhere to specially shoot subject A, always have an open eye to subject B, C, or D. They might end up more interesting then what you thought you were there to photograph in the first place.

UND Hockey Verses Mankato

My good friends and neighbors Hal Propp and his son Connor invited me along to a Sioux hockey game in Mankato. Hal is a UND alum like me. The Mavericks have a really good team this year and had already beaten UND on Friday night. The Sioux looked a bit sloppy to start with but came alive in the 3rd period to win 4-3. Winning goal was scored with only 8 seconds on the clock. Ended up being a fun game. We had a ball.



I had some trouble bring my camera into the arena. At the entrance the security guard asked me if I was a photographer. "Well, no, I'm not a professional if that's what you mean". It was the 20-200 pro-grade lens that drew her attention. I didn't argue, much, and headed back to the car. On the way I passed the front doors to the arena so I figured, what the hell, why not try here.

I passed right through with the camera right over my shoulder. I guess I found the 'camera' entrance. Wink wink. I didn't want to push my luck so I stayed in my seat in the far corner where all the North Dakota fans were. It limited my view but it was better then the view from the car if I got caught.

More photos on Flickr

Oseola Duathlon Photo

A nice shot from a Milwaukee photographer covering the race a few weeks back. Still waiting for the digital copy I ordered 2 weeks ago. Maybe me posting a hacked screen snap will draw his attention.

There are a few things that make it a great photo; The dynamic angle of the body as I'm about to turn is almost perfect. The dark defocused background really makes me and the bike standout. No sunglasses! You can actually recognize who the person is. Some of it's luck but a good photographer makes a certain amount of their luck happen by thinking ahead and being prepared. Nice job Fuad. Full disclosure; I did do a small bit of color and exposure correction on the screen snap I took from his race gallery.

This shot is just as I was heading out on the bike leg. The pylon in the left corner was only about 3 feet from the curb that we had to stay between. It was very tight.