Just back from An evening at the Races...

TheBigYin

British National Circuit Race Championships were tonight, on a city centre criterium circuit about 10 miles from my home - it'd have been churlish not to nip over there. Sadly, it's been pissing down with rain most of the day, so riding over there wasn't high on my prioritys so I drove over instead and took the camera.

Took lots of pictures that I'll probably post up a few from in here, but there's one I just wanted to share with you...

IMG_4977.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Don't you just HATE it when someone jumps in front of you and takes a shot. Still, ever the professional, you'll see I got the picture, it's just a little small, and on HIS phone...

IMG_4977.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Jakess1971

v cool pic Mark, great perspective.

cloggsy71

Was the Dave Brailsford out scouting?

TheBigYin

Oops... think i've broken the link to the "crop" shot...

IMG_4977.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

should work better....

Actually, that kind of shot has an informal name within Pro-Photographers Circles ... it's Called an "Uncle Bob" - originating from wedding photographers getting pissed off with "Uncle Bob" getting in front of them after they set up the "formal groups" and getting a snap to tweet or put on his faecesbook... Of course, some clever photographers decided to just set the camera to a really shallow Depth of Field and photograph the Phone Screen "just for a fun shot" for the B&G.

TheBigYin

Jakess1971 wrote: »

v cool pic Mark, great perspective.

Cheers - the thing that struck me was the "lag" on the phone though... the Guy "on screen" in the lead of the bunch was through and the people in my shots background were probably riding 10-15th on the road at the time...

cloggsy71 wrote: »

Was the Dave Brailsford out scouting?

Nahhhh - too much hair . Lots of the British Cycling crew were there, along with one of the Sky Cars and a couple of their support staff guys, but unless Dave was up in the "VIP Area" I don't think he'd made it.

TheBigYin

Okay, a few from the Ladies Race...

The Roll-Out - this was taken 4/5ths of the way around the parade lap, maybe 200m from the "start/finish" line release point...

IMG_4784.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

And a few more from the first 20 minutes or so of the race from the same vantage point... I stayed there, basically because I was under a tree to avoid the worst of the rain in the first 15 minutes...

IMG_4804.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_4808.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_4821.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

from the first couple of laps it was clear that Team Giordana-Triton meant business... Being a top domestic team that is pretty much all-british, they had the bunch loaded - in contrast to Wiggle Honda, who pretty much just had two riders (Eileen Roe, the defending champion and Amy Roberts) in there this evening.

IMG_4844.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_4851.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

After a few laps I decided to have a walk around the course, check out a few other potential vantage points, ready for the mens race.

It appeared that the race settled down into a Wiggle-Giordana train...

IMG_4861.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_4866.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Even on the "cobbled" (well, okay, block paved - but they were actually too smooth if anything, especially in the rain and wet conditions...) bits...

IMG_4879.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

...and the wierd cambered section with the wonderfully placed inspection chamber right on the racing line...

IMG_4912.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

But the lead group got through unscathed and eventually crossed the line in a close sprint...

IMG_4945-Edit.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Eileen Roe made the first move on the last climb to the finish, before Nicola Juniper quickly joined and passed her.

Roe valiantly tried to claw the gap back but Juniper held firm to celebrate across the line and continue her fine season with a British title.

Roe had to settle for silver with Amy Roberts completing the podium with bronze.

and just off the podium in fourth, Louise Mahe of team Ikon-Mazda.


Guy's race to follow, once i've waded through the next memory card!

Jakess1971

Nice expressive shots, gotta love some of the expressions from the ladies, you know your in pain when you pull a dwayne dibley on the 4th one down.

TheBigYin

27 laps (29.7km) in 55'.01"... and the course doesn't have a flat metre on it!

I can see why they're pulling faces!

TheBigYin

Finally got some of the Mens Race sorted.

shots from the final lap I'm afraid, and no "victory line" stuff - basically, I decided to actually watch the race for the last couple of laps instead of just gluing my face to the back of the camera.

Anyway - in no particular order, heres a few from the Mens Race...

IMG_5004.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_4996.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Good to See The Raleigh Team colours back racing
IMG_5022.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_5049.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_5033.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Young Stephen WIlliams made a great effort on the front for Pedal Heaven, giving his teammates a chance to just "sit on" while the rest had to dig in and chase...

IMG_5046.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

A few from the "back straight" on the "cobbles"

IMG_5059.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_5066.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_5074.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Russell Downing lurking
IMG_5080.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Stephen still out on the front...
IMG_5101.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

IMG_5104.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr


But here comes Briggsy and the Chaseing Bunch...

IMG_5113.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

And the Winner, Ian Bibby, Attacked on the Bottom Corner of the Course, coming up to the Finish Line...

IMG_5012-Edit.jpg by The Big Yin, on Flickr

TheBigYin

if anyone's interested in the actual results...

Mens and Womens are here.

Jakess1971

Good set of pics, the final one is a great shot from the captured determined look on his face to the overall shot.

TheBigYin

Cheers Jas... I must say, I was actually happier with some of the Mens race - mainly as the cloud had cleared a bit and despite it being a hour and a half later, there was a little more light, so I didn't have to push the ISO quite so hard, at least early on in the race. I think my favourite of the lot was actually the one of Briggsy (second last) - i'f I'd have got that shot of Ian at the Last Lap where he attacked that'd have been a killer, but as it was, you can see from the (unaltered) file-numbers, that it was actually shot on one of the initial laps (maybe 2nd third shot of this group)

I was actually kicking myself when I got there, as to be honest I'd taken the wrong lens - took the 70-200F4L, which on a crop-sensor camera like the 7D was simply "too long" - the crit course was so tight I couldn't get back far enough to get anything more "interesting" than the straight head-on type shots - i'd fancied a few "arty" panned shots, but even at the 70mm end of the lens, shooting across the course, I couldn't get a whole bike in frame. Basically, I needed the 24-105 instead. Normally, I'd have taken both - if the weather had been better, but as it was forecast intermittent showers all evening, swapping lenses wasn't ideal - and my "spare" body is an old 450D which is a) far from weather-shielded and b) has bloody TERRIBLE high ISO performance (even worse than the 7D)

So - 26 (or, being a little more critical, really more like 22) keepers from a 2 hour shoot - culled down from 403 shutter releases. Not a great keeper-ratio to be honest.