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.

Boston Scientifc Bike Club

During the week I try to get out for a ride with the guys at work. Around 11:30 a random bunch of people get together for a 20-22 mile ride through the northern suburbs of St Paul. We gather in the parking lot after changing into our gear in the company locker rooms. It's usually a very strong group and it's always fun. Some of us have been riding together at noon for years. Today we had a larger group of 8 people.



On this day I decided to take along my Canon G9 and try my hand at riding and shooting. A feat that can be a bit unnerving. I mostly just shot away without spending to much time thinking about it. Better to watch the road and my mates with at least one eye.



This video is of the hill on Snail Lake Road. It's the last hard stretch before we cool down on the last mile back to work. Most of the time we treat it like the end of a race. Either we stay together as if we were a team trying to launch someone to the top, or it's everyone for themselves.



I have a lot more photos on Flickr. The loop we take, which we call the northern loop, takes us up into White Bear Lake then loops back through North Oaks. It's a really nice urban ride that takes us around a few lakes, along a golf course, and some nice long stretches to really hammer on. Here is the map of our route.





View Larger Map

New Bike

I bought a new road bike!

Some time this Summer I decided that I was going to buy a new bike next year. I figured that gave me 6 to 9 months to look around and make some decisions on what I wanted.

The issue was accelerated for me when the right shifter on my Bianchi seized up. The mechanic told me it was a replace, not repair. Not good news but seeing as it was Fall and I would probably ride my Cervelo time trial bike on the trainer this winter - not a complete tragedy.

One day while I was at Now Sport, sponsor of my triathlon team, the owner, Paul, told me he had a used bike of the type I had my eye on. He let me take it for a few days, actually 4 days over a weekend. Now that is customer service. No money down or deposit. I just walked out.

The neat thing about the bike is that it was ridden for the Summer by a guy named Tim Mulrooney, Timmer to the racing community. Timmer was a sponsored rider on the Now Sport team. See, when you are really good you get bikes from your sponsor to ride. He went on to be the Rider of the Year (ROY) for the top division in Minnesota. The dude it fast. Here is a photo of Tim on the bike.


Photo from http://nowbikes-fitness.com/

So I bought!

It's a Litespeed Icon with Shimano Dura Ace components. It's made of Titanium. I haven't been on it more then a few times since I was getting ready for the 2 duathlons. But I hope to get some nice rides before it gets too cold.

Race Report: Oseola Duathon

This duathlon was in Oseola, WS about 35 miles from home along the Minnesota Wisconsin board. I really beautiful area with rolling hills. Nice to look at, not so nice it bike on - more on that later. The distances were 3 mile run, 22 mile bike, 1 mile run. Usually the runs are the same distance but the longer bike followed by a quick run would be good for me.

I had to get up at 5:30am to get there and get set up by the 8:30 start. Way to early for a Sunday morning. I always pack everything up the night before so a) I don't have to pack in the morning, b) I don't forget anything or at the very least have the whole night to think what I haven't packed. We didn't have any milk for cereal so I had a hot dog!

At the race they had everyone preassigned to a rack spot. WTF? I always rack close to the exit but this time I was about half way back. So it wasn't terrible. The other bad thing was that the racks were set up in a grass/sand area of a park. Walking and rolling the bike covered them in sand. Not good.

The start was in 5 waves with me in the 4th wave. The first 3 miles went without much excitement. I was running well. Unlike last weekend we had to pass a ton of slower runners from the first 3 waves.

I transitioned fine, opting to carry my bike out instead of rolling it so as to keep the tires clean of sand. They sent us out out onto highway 35 that had a narrow shoulder. They had a lot of pylons that were only getting in way as I passed more and more people. I had to stay sharp not to hit one. It was far easier, and safer, to just ride out in the road lane. After 3 miles we turned off the highway. It's at this point that the race got interesting. We were into the hills.

I had seen the altitude profile on their website. I knew what to expect - sorta. The first climb would be the toughest with some nice descents after them. So I stayed aero and hit them hard. At the top of one I was caught by a guy. He said "this is not very fun!". He was right. I put him behind me after another mile or two.

More hills, more descent. Some at up to 40mphs! According to my GPS I was nearing 18 of the 20 miles so I started to add a bit of effort. Then I saw a big sign saying - 15 miles. Huh? Oops, I forgot that my GPS had recorded the first 3 mile run. Lucky for me the last 5 miles were mostly down hill so I was in good shape and really flying. Caught a few more people in the last 5 miles.

The second run was only 1 miles. I scanned the transition area and could only see maybe 10 bikes. Excellent. I run out with a guy on my heels. I stayed ahead of him for most of the run but he caught me as we neared the park and the finish. He jokes with me about finishing together and I asked if we should hold hands across the finish line. But he sprinted away in the final 100 yards. No problem, I noticed he was in the first wave. In race time I was actually 3 minutes ahead of him.

I was 10th overall. 1st in my age division. My bike time, which is always the most important for me, was good enough for 8th fastest. A very nice finish to my 2008 racing season.

Here is my surprising large and slightly cheesy trophy.