The Adventures of Jono

Looking beyond the race

As some of you may have realized from my photos I like to bring in elements from outside of the race. The race action itself is important that's for sure but give me an old barn, some horses or pretty much anything  interesting and I'll try to get it into a shot. Sometimes, however, I see things that I just have to shoot but I can't work them into an image of the race no matter how hard I try. This happened to me June 5th in Reading, PA.

It was during the womens race. After the women took off on the small crit course I walked around to get a couple shots I had gotten last year. As I walked over past the first turn I noticed this guy with a camera and big lens but he was looking up in the air instead of at the race. I crossed over the road to see what was happening and when I asked him what he was looking at he pointed up. High above the race on a tall building across the street I could see a bird on a ledge with wings spread wide. The wind was catching it and it would go a little off balance, pull its wings in to recover then stretch them out again. At first I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking at but then the guy explained that it was a baby Peregrine Falcon and it was about ready to take its first flight. The guy was frantic because, he explained, if the flight doesn't go well the bird could just plummet to its death on the sidewalk or perhaps right into the race.

The womens field came by again and Ina Teutenburg had attacked. It's always great to see Ina back in the states racing. She's the scrappiest rider out there and doesn't mind making herself suffer to ride everyone else into the ground.  She  kind of reminds me of the  Peregrine Falcon. Once an endangered species they have fought back from near extinction, to survive the falcons prey on other birds. They are very fast and can fly up to 70 mph while going after supper and can dive at up to 200 mph to attack prey. That's one scrappy little bird if I've ever seen one. Today Ina was the falcon and everyone else was prey.

With the baby bird still lingering precariously close to the edge the mum swooped in from out of nowhere.  Wings were flapping, feathers were ruffling and the falcons screeches pierced the air. My hands grew sweaty on my camera as I watched the seemingly impending tragedy. Finally, after much protest, the little one brought its wings back in by its sides and seemed to settle down. The mum landed on a nearby ledge and then dropped down to another one closer by. She must have known the dangers and maybe knew that the young one wasn't ready yet. 

Up above I heard a familiar noise. I hear it on the weekends a lot back home but I was surprised to hear it here. Sure enough, moments later I saw the mirrored alloy hull of a B-17 bomber passing over. What was with all the distractions today?  Is their a race going on or what? A couple riders tried to attack Ina but to no avail. She calculated every move and spent her energy cautiously. With all of the action at the front the field blew apart with women scattered all over the course. Just like the mother falcon above, team directors were screeching orders into race radios with either  encouragement to those off the back or orders to move up to those who could still hang on. No matter, they were all prey.

One more time the mother falcon swooped and this time came down on the same ledge as the young ling. Just when she did that I noticed another fuzzy head pop out and then another. The mum had 3 young ones up there to look after. But with the mum on the ledge now the first one, with wings by its sides, backed in closer to the wall of the building and away from the chaos below. She had done it, she'd calmed everyone down and kept the family together for another day. Thoughts of me having to run across the street with  cameras flopping everywhere, shoot the riders as they lean through the first turn and then swoop in to catch the falling bird just before it crashes to its death began to subside. Time to breath.

Back in the race it was one lap to go. In the distance you could barely see the riders as they came through the last turn. Ina swooped across the road and into the lead with a couple hundred meters to go and never looked back. Somehow I got focused back on the action and got the finish shot. What a day......I need a beer.

If you can't take the heat......

  Philly was hot! It was Africa hot. The big discussion the day before was the heat and we all got up the next morning thinking about the heat. When we rode the course the day before the heat was debilitating and I couldn't imagine many would go the distance. We took bets on how many guys would finish and I lost, I guessed 48.

Manyunk and the wall were packed. I think I saw more people on the descent off the wall than ever before. This year they had barriers lining a lot of it and it was probably a good idea. In years past I've seen people get pretty far out into the road when we were going by at 50+ mph. A lot of people will hang their hands out wanting a slap as you go by. Last year I made the mistake of responding to one guy and as we went by we slapped hands so hard.....geeez that stung. He was most likely too drunk to know how much it hurt. Lesson learned for me and I'll never do that again.

What gets me through the days are cookies. Man I love cookies, especially chocolate chip. But it was a sad day to be a chocolate chip and I was getting more on my hands then in my mouth. Never the less I persevered under such dreadful conditions and ended up having a pretty decent day. My old buddy Brendan came out to drive me around on his moto. He's been driving me there for the last 5 years or so and we've worked together since 2001 on other things so it's getting to be a sort of tradition. Usually he drives me all week but he had bike troubles. The throttle cable was stuck and when he went to fix that a fitting on the gas line broke. I told him that we didn't need to fix that throttle cable anyway because we only need it in one position, wide open! Using his better judgment and not listening to me he got another bike to use.

Speaking of lessons learned......we had an incident with a photographer during the week. I won't mention names because I don't want to go there but he should have known better, especially being as good as he thinks he is. We were in Allentown and part way through the race this guy decides it would be a good idea to kneel down in the middle of the road just after a fast right hand turn off of a decent. And then he had his moto driver waving traffic around him so that no one ran him over. Of all the stupid things I have seen people do at races that has got to be the worst. Not only do you put yourself in danger but you endanger everyone else around you. I have always lived by the code that the riders come first. I may do some nutty things to get a shot like hang out of a tree, climb on to a train car, balance on a skinny rail on the side of a bridge or who knows what else I have blocked out of memory for therapeutic reasons but I would never endanger the safety or lives of others. I'm still amazed at the lack of common sense shown in that situation. What was it Forest Gump said, "stupid is as stupid does."

So, back to Philly.......Manayunk was packed. Every time up the wall the fans had multiplied. And every time up it got hotter and hotter. At one point I tried to sit in the road to wait for the riders but I couldn't do it because the pavement was too hot for my delicate posterior. Even standing out there the bottom of my shoes were hot. On one of the last laps we went through an area where they had put some tar down to seal the cracks and when the bike rolled across the tar the motorcycle slid sideways a couple of inches. We kept it up no problem and a mental note was made, the road is melting. I've seen it so bad in France that the riders tires sink right into the asphalt. That's what happened to Biloki when he crashed and Lance cyclorossed it around him. (As a side note they had just passed me and the crash happened right around the corner. We couldn't see much but knew it was something bad when we drove by.) But for the most part we have a better mixture of asphalt in the US so we don't see it much. 

By the end of the day we logged one of the longest days ever for that race. It ended up being about 6'15". The heat kept the speeds down mostly until the last couple laps. I was surprised that a break didn't get up the road but the field sprints are fun to see on that course too. It's such a buildup to see them go down past the big screen and into the circle, fighting for position the whole way. They come out of the circle and I watch them through my big lens to try and see what is happening. The mass of color starts to take shape as they get closer and closer and a cloud of dust rises behind them. Riders are spread across the road going elbow to elbow at 40+ mph. As they get bigger and bigger in the lens I decide who is in front and focus on him. Closer, closer and then bdddtttttttt the shutter fires like a machine gun going off at 10 frames per second as they cross the line. Just like that the day is over.

Gripping I tell you, gripping!

Reading

Today I shot the 3rd race in the Commerce Bank Triple Crown week in Reading, PA. Reading is really challenging to shoot because it is boooring. It's lacking scenics and the downtown is slowly being revitalized but it's got a long way to go. What I do like though is the challenge. Anyone can go to a beautiful place and get nice shots but put someone in a visually boring place and see what they get. Ragged roads, abandoned warehouses, old bars and row houses were the setting for today. What to do, what to do?

Finally the racing got started and I took off on the moto to get some nice safe shots that I had gotten before. After getting the easy ones I remembered a place I had seen one year earlier. Tim scooted us around on his Beemer with ease, we had just worked together in Allentown and it was great to work together again. (Thanks to Paul McKelvey for the photo) We headed back out of downtown and up to the historic area. Their are some really nice old houses up there. As we cruised along I saw the place from last year so we pulled over to check it out. Come to find out it was actually a cemetery. Across from the cemetery was a beautiful old mansion that is now a B&B. Well I couldn't pass either of these up so I got off the moto and had a look around. The light was awkward. The angles weren't working. With nothing looking good I walked through the big iron gates of the cemetery just to see inside. I walked through, had a quick look and turned to go back out when I saw it. The archway that I had just walked through was beautiful. Above it the ceiling arched up like the inside of an old cathedral and the gates were opened in with the light hi-lighting them against the dark stone columns. That was it, time to make it work.

I took a couple test shots and got the camera set up. The idea was to show off the beautiful architecture of the gates and the house but not so much the race. As the race got close some old guy rode his bike down the side of the road and stopped right in the middle of the driveway leading to the gates.....happens every time. I can't tell you how many shots I have had set up only to have someone decide at the last second that they need to cross the road and stand in front of me. Or a moto, will cross in front just as the riders are going by. It never fails. Fortunately this time the fan was pretty nice and moved quietly when I asked him to. Tim, my moto driver, then stayed out front to keep it from happening again and let me know when the riders were coming. With everything in place and the gate on lock down we sat and waited. Finally the lead cars came. The motos came and then the riders. All I had to do was click away. Click I did and I'm pretty happy with what I got. To me it looks more like somewhere in Europe then Reading, PA. Not too bad considering it took me a year to get the shot.

Still here

It's been a busy couple of weeks so no posts but I'm still here. This week I'm Philadelphia for the Triple Crown aka "Philly week". Mark Z and I started things in DC at the CSC Invitational on Sunday. I posted probably the most photos I ever have from one day of racing that you can check out here Usually we head up to Philly right after the race but this year we had an extra day in between races so we decided to stay in DC and see some sites. Our first stop was the Spy Museum which was pretty cool. They had all kinds of gadgets and stories from the beginning of spy history. If you get the chance definitely check it out. 

After that we headed over to see the Korean War, Vietnam and WWII memorials. It was humbling to walk through and think about what it all meant. I thought about my grandfather while I walked around the WWII memorial.

I thought about his brothers who made it back and the one who didn't. Last summer I learned that his brother was an Army Ranger and was in one of the gliders that went behind enemy lines on D day. My grandfather never talked about it because it bothered him too much but his sister told me the story not long before she past away last summer . Somewhere their are still boxes of letters sent back from Europe and even souvenirs that the brothers sent home as they swept across Europe on their various duties. Even though it always bothered my grandfather I was proud of what he did. Probably should have told him.

The Vietnam Memorial was eerie to me, the names make it different. When you look down the wall and see all those names etched into the stone it seems more real. Flowers are laid at the base of the wall and wreaths or little American flags that flutter in the breeze. In some places kids had made cards that were still left from memorial day. Families were there and looking for names of friends or relatives. It was mostly quiet. For a moment I wished that I had a name of my own to find but it didn't take long to remember what those names really stood for.

Once we finished there we walked over to the Lincoln Memorial. We read Lincoln's inaugural speech and maneuvered around the other tourists to try to get some photos of Lincoln. It's pretty fun being a tourist but credentials would have been nice, maybe a photo bib like we get at the races. I guess that would take the fun out of being a tourist though. 

Now we are up in Philly and I've got some time off in between races so I'll get caught up here. Maybe I'll even come up with some good material from race day.