Sunday, September 9, 2012

Lilac City Twilight Crit 2012

Patty and I have been vacationing the past week, but touched back down in Spo this evening with just enough time left to make a mad dash downtown. I was sorry to have missed the Men 4-5 and Master 60+/Women 4 races, but was jacked to be able to take in the Master 40+/50+/Women 1-2-3 and Men 1-2-3 races.

It would have been especially fun to see Hank experience his first crit, racing in the Men 4-5 group, but by the time I got there he was off the bike and busy with his camera.  I, of course, was also interested in capturing some of the action through a lens and he helped me out with some technique and get-to-know-your-camera tips. In fact now that I think about it, he showed up at just about every corner I did.  Stalking is maybe too strong a word, but just barely.  Weird.

Anyway, I shot about 300 pics, of which 20-something were even palatable. And then I pared it down to 13 for this post. Shooting fast-moving things in the dark is way beyond my skill set. But the fact that this event took place is just too rad, and so I gave it my best shot.









Among the "technical" failures, were three that I really liked.




The enormity of this race and what it took to pull it off in terms of organization, manpower, equipment, and cooperation across various community fences is kind of off the charts.  Racing promotion and organization around here (and most places, for that matter) is normally conducted in a manner so as to tread as lightly as possible and ruffle the fewest feathers.

But this was full-on, in-your-grill, we-think-racing-is-good-for-the-city stuff. My hat's all the way off . . . to everyone who had a hand in this, from the organizers, to the sponsors, to the USA Cycling officials, to the government and business groups, to the army of volunteers. You know who you are. Awesome job.



1 comment:

Alan said...

I'm still tired from putting this race on. Thanks for the kind words and great photos.