Sports Photography

Ok...I'm not a sports photographer by any stretch. Today's race, the Huck-a-Buck at Lake Crabtree, was by FAR the most difficult race to shoot of the 3 I've done. The other 2 were up at Carolina North Forest, near Chapel Hill, NC.

Why was this race so difficult for me to shoot? A couple reasons, I think. Firstly, it is VERY shaded there. As in so shaded that what sunlight gets through is dappled and not consistent. I didn't walk the whole race course, but from what I know of Crabtree, there really aren't any places that get good open shade light. It's either full sunlight (which I would have paid for today) or the dappled stuff I mentioned. So I was at a bit of a disadvantage already as I don't have good low light equipment. I can use my 50mm prime lens, which stops down to 1.8, but then I'm limited in my range because it only has one option - 50mm. My 18 - 55mm lens stops down to 3.5/5.6, but I had a hard time with that as well for most of the morning, unless I bumped my ISO up to 400...which is what I ended up doing. I have a long lens, but it has the same max f/stop as the 18 - 55.

So the other thing I could have done was use my flash. And I did on occasion, but the problem with my flash is that it takes a bit for the flash to recharge, and mountain biking is fast paced stuff. You can't sit there and wait for your flash to recharge and not miss stuff. I'm referring to my on-camera flash, btw. I have a small hot shoe flash, but I don't think it recharges very quickly either. I just got it, so I'm not for sure about it.

So I saw all these other people taking photos and was almost embarrassed at my equipment. Then I reminded myself that it is not the equipment that makes the shot, but the person using the equipment and whether they know what they are doing. Not that I always know, but I try, and I've learned a lot in the past few months. One thing I did notice was that most of them had hot shoe flashes, and what looked like diffusers over them. They had the kind that could be swiveled up and down for better light control - mine doesn't swivel. It's just a little guy a bit more powerful than the on-camera.

Something else that I did notice...and maybe it's just me being me...I like to move around when I shoot. Try different angles, get nice panning shots, etc. A couple of the photogs I saw there were literally in one spot for the entire race (3+ hours) - with the exception of going to the starting line at each stage of the race. I don't understand that...I'm not knocking it, I'm just trying to figure out how that could be fun for them. To get the same shot every time. My question then becomes, is that what "real" photography is about? Getting the perfect shot? Or is it about trying different things? Or maybe it's just personal preference.

Anyway, I had a good time despite the fucking heat...it was OPPRESSIVE today. I got lots of good shots and met some new people, got to hang with some people I don't get to see often. It was good.

I'm just sorry I didn't catch Kim before she left so I could give her the bracelet...that I actually brought this time. ;)

Bikin' Broads Maintenance Skillz Clinic (Saturday Night)

Hey y'all! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this entry written...but here I am and here we gooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

We had a FANTASTIC turnout at night 1 of the Skillz Clinic put on by TORC/The Clean Machine! This was the portion of the Clinic at which the parts of the bike were sort of de-mystified for many of us...Tamara went over each part of the bike from wheel to wheel and explained its purpose in life...from presta vs schrader valves, hydraulic to cable actuated disc brakes to rim brakes, high gear to easy gear and where the chain is on the cassette or front chain ring...and so much more. And then it was hands on fun time for the chicks...and hands on it was, folks! Men, if it turns you on to see a woman working on a bike, you'd a been a horn dog that night! Bikes on stands, women turning bikes onto handlebars/seats, women with tire levers, grease under their nails, fingering rear derailleurs...whew! The estrogen in the room was overpowering!!

Oh - and whoever picked out the beer and snacks - GOOD CHOICES! I can't remember the name of the beer I had, but I know it was a blueberry wheat beer and it just freakin' rocked! There was smoked gouda, brie, swiss; pears, apples, grapes; hummus and the most adorable little pitas (said like a woman, right? :P)...fantastic and classy food.

Here are some pics from that night:










And thank you mucho to my good friend, and guest for the weekend, Daniel, for taking all these wonderful photos (except the valve photos - those are photos from the interwebs). You can see the rest of them on my flickr account.

I will post part 2 - the SKILLZ part of the clinic later today.

My kid is so cool!

My older son, M, learned how to ride a 2 wheeler with no training wheels today! It took a little under 2 hours to teach him. I am SO PROUD of him for staying with it.

We did the "no pedals" way of learning and it really works. I took the pedals off his bike and make sure the seat was low enough for him to reach the ground with his feet and let him coast down our driveway about 10 or 15 times until he could do it without putting his feet down. Once that happened, I put the pedals back on and he did the same thing a few times, then we went riding around the road right in front of the house and I explained road rules, etc.

I'm just really really proud of him. He did such a great job listening, concentrating and doing what I asked of him!

Here are some pics:

TORC Trail Building Clinic

So as promised (and yes, it really is 3:38am...I can't sleep yet again and I'm sick :(), here is my take on the TORC Trail Building Clinic I involved myself in.

First off, it was FUN. I'm a big nerd, in case you hadn't realized that. I guess it's just the way my brain works, but I LOVE to learn. And when I get a chance to learn about something I've no knowledge about, more the better for me. So when I got there, and Matt was presenting, I was really excited to hear what he had to say. And what was even nicer was that they didn't seem to mind the questions I had. See, I truly had no idea how getting trails built works - so I was starting from scratch. My mind went through things like how do we get the land, who controls the way the trails are built, what about the environmental impact, etc, etc. And every question I asked, either Brian, Stewart or Matt answered...and they weren't just short little "ha ha - what a silly question Jodey" answers. They were fully fleshed out, nicely formed answers. And those are the kinds of things I appreciate and that make me want to participate further in things like this.

Anyway, we listened to the presentation, which was an IMBA presentation that was shortened, I believe, and like I said, it was really informative. I surprised myself at how much information I actually retained. I usually need to take notes to retain info, but I think because I was also engaging my brain in taking pictures, I was able to get more. Don't ask...my brain works in weird ways. There was a lot of good discussion about trail building, good questions asked and great answers given.

Once the show was over, we went outside to do some actual hands on trail building. How cool was that? We got to use the clinos to determine the proper places to put our trail, so that we stayed, for the most part, within IMBA guidelines for trail building. Let me interject here that the land on which we were having this session was beautiful, the house was amazing and all the people there were so nice and a bunch of fun. The land/house is in rural Orange County, NC...somewhere past/near Chapel Hill/Carrboro, I think.

Back to the story...so we go out and "design" our trail on the land that Scott has designated for his trail. Yes...this is a REAL trail we are building. There were 2 groups of us and we met somewhere in the middle, I suppose. I didn't see what the other group designed, to be honest. But me, Maggie, Matt, Stewart and Dave all went out and designed our part of the trail, talked about the best places to put the corridor so that we were getting what we wanted as far as turns, incline and layout and used the clino to measure to make sure we were within standards and flagged the route. Then the real fun began.

Stewart gave us our weapo....er...um...tools so we could get out and start building the trail. He gave a great short lecture on how to carry the tools so as not to kill each other on the way in...let us know that how ever many tools we carried in were as many tools we were expected to carry out, etc. So in we walked. Not too far...we actually started at the top of where we had flagged our trail.

The first thing we did was clean the trail - Stewart went in with the leaf blower along the flagged trail so we could see where to clean, then lots and lots of loose rocks and yard yuck were removed. Trees and limbs that were in the way had to come down...and oh boy did they ever. That saw was incredible! Once that was done for a while, it was time to start taking the organic material off the trail face and making a clearer corridor. It actually went pretty quickly - I was surprised. And again, I was surprised at how much information I had retained and how much more I learned while out there actually doing it.

Maggie and I had to leave early, which was unfortunate as we were both having a blast doing this. During our conversation afterward, we both were saying how much we can't wait to do it again.

Oh - and Scott makes the most AMAZING habernero sauce/spread/whatever it's called. Holy shit - it was spicy...but damn...it was addictive almost. If you like REALLY spicy stuff, get him to give you some. It rocked. I had it spread on a burger.

So here are some pictures...lots of them, actually. I'll try to put them in order so you can figure out what's going on without me putting a blurb in right now...

I've been thinking 'bout tires....

...so I asked my Tire Whore about exactly what rolling resistance is and how it can effect the way I ride. I currently have Kenda Nevegal 2.1s on Gustav. From what I understand, these tires would have a large (or large-ish) rolling resistance inherently due to the large knobs and width of the tire...maybe mostly because of the large knobs. I'm not sure what the pressure is in the tires...is there a pressure that's better than another or is it really personal preference?

So...here's what I'm wondering. Being that I'm a heavy girl, running knobby tires that grip the ground, would it behoove me to run at a higher pressure or perhaps look at something like a Small Block 8 or Panaracer Smokes, Fire XC Pros, Rampage...something not quite as knobbby and grippy as the Nevegals.

I really like the tires I have now, but I'm wondering if something with smaller knobs would be better for someone like me, which is why I kind of like the Small Blocks.

Ok...now, what about what the tires are made of? And if I am running 2.1s now, what would something like say a 2.35 get me?

And here's something that I really don't understand...why would I run say a Smoke on the front of the bike but a Rampage on the back?

So every time I think about something, I come up with a hundred thousand other questions.

Gonna ride Beaver Dam tomorrow (Thursday)

...this should be fun. I'm REALLY looking forward to it. Not sure which loops Maggie and I will ride, but definitely NOT South Loop. From what I understand, Inner, Outer and West Loops are technically similar to the intermediate loops at Harris, which is my "home" set of trails, since that's where I ride almost exclusively. Guess I'm lookin' for a little strange. :-O

A map for your convenience:


Why am I up at 3am? Who knows? I went to bed at 10:30pm, which is way early for me. So now I'm up. Lucky me.

I've enjoyed reading Mountain Bike Magazine

I happened to see it at Wally Hell the other day, and since I have nothing else to read, I picked it up. I'm getting a lot out of it and will hit up mountainbike.com as well when I get a chance.

Anyone else care to share how they learn or keep up to date on new stuff?