It's on!

Today was stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia. Yesterday we began stage 1 out on Tybee Island which was a pretty cool start. Everyone seemed pretty laid back and relaxed after spending a couple days out there relaxing by the beach. For us it's pretty much business as usual. We've got the regular Cyclingnews crew here of myself, Mark Zalewski and Kirsten Robbins. Mark does the live coverage and race reports each day while Kirsten works on news items and quotes from the day. We've all been working together for the last 3 years and Mark and I for about 5 now so we've got a pretty good system of things. Every day we pack up at the hotel and get to the start of the race so that we can each head off to our respective jobs. I'm on the back of a moto each day shooting so I gather gear and head over to it. Mark is always in a media car so he makes his way there after talking to some riders and getting a scoop for the day. Kirsten gets quotes from the riders as to how they are feeling, how the day was yesterday or about whatever else is going on. The quotes she gets at the start end up going into the live coverage later in the day. And thus our day begins. At the end of the race Mark talks to some riders or maybe team managers or whoever he needs to to get info about the day. Kirsten gets quotes from the winner and then heads to the press conference to get some more time with the big guns from the day. After I have shot the finish I get a couple shots of the winner and then head over to the podium to get those shots. When the podium is wrapped up I'm off to the press room to start my editing and sending out photos. We all finally meet up there and get caught up on stories from the day and then it's nose to the grind stone to try and get our work done before they close the press room. Sometimes we don't quite get done in time so we'll head off to find a good coffee shop to work in.

Stage 1 was pretty short so the day went fast. It always takes a day or two to get into the rhythm of things and Monday was no different. This week I am on the moto with my friend Chris Monroe. Chris and I have worked together off and on since his first time as a "photo moto" at the first Tour de Georgia 6 years ago. He's great to work with and we get on really well with each other. We had a bit of a rough day on stage 1 though. The sprinters seemed eager to keep things together so that they would have their chance at the end of the day so that kept the group bunched up a lot. And with the roads being narrow that didn't make it very easy for us to make our passes. Not long after the start Chris and I were on a pretty wide section of road but riders were spread from shoulder to shoulder when we needed to get by. Things get tight like that sometimes and sometimes tighter than others. But Chris kept us right on the edge of the road for as long as he could and finally we got to a section where there was a big paved median which seemed like a good place for us to get by. He laid on the throttle a little bit to get us past a few guys before the median ended. The bad part was that we had traffic poles in the median; they were those thick round kind that are fixed to the ground and if you hit them with a car they would bend over. I can now tell you however, that they do not bend quite so much when they are hit by a motorcycle or a camera. The first one seemed to glide off of us without any prejudice but the second one hit with a loud thud. At the time I was shooting over my right shoulder so I didn't see it coming but I felt my camera swing back after I heard the hit. I really didn't think much of it until I looked down at my camera and the lens hood from my 70-200 was missing. The guys in the front of the bunch never yelled or anything so I am thinking it just shattered and landed on the other side of the road instead of heading towards the riders, thank goodness! Chris had done a great job of keeping us out of trouble with the riders but my camera bore the brunt of it. I'd rather it be that way instead of being "that guy" and taking out a rider. I shot the rest of the day without much trouble until I got to the finish. The boys were coming in fast....really fast. I got myself set up for the finish shot but when I looked through my camera it seemed fuzzy. When I flipped the camera down and looked at the front of the lens I saw that the UV filter was shattered, that traffic pole had taken it out. So I quickly unscrewed it and flipped the camera back up to catch Ivan Dominguez take the win. Never a dull moment.

Well .........maybe a couple dull moments. Stage 2 today was a slightly less than spectacular stage to say the least. Georgia has some beautiful countryside don't get me wrong. I really like shooting this race but sometimes, as with any stage race, you just have to get from point A to point B and today was pretty much one of those days. you know were board out there when the photographers start taking photos of each other. Casey Gibson and I had the amazing timing today to take photos of each other at exactly the same time so that we could see each others flashes go off. It's the little things.........

That's all for today. It's gotten late and we've got another big stage tomorrow.

Comments

[kevin]

Very nice J!

On Tuesday evening your dad was telling me about your incident. He's a proud poppa.

Love your shots, and the live updates are so addicting----im hooked!blackberry, and TDG live updates is like crack and sweet tea!

Talk to ya

Kevin