Bicycle Racing in Boston

DoctorIt · April 12, 2005

My turn to play in sporting goods... Rather than being on the bike the past couple years, I've been behind the camera. This year I made a concerted effort at it. By far the best local race is the Tufts Criterium, part of the Boston Beanpot racing weekend on the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) circuit. Weather was perfect, and the racing was excellent!

A couple of my favorites:

Eventual winner of the women's A race

the two ladies (one of them the ECCC series points leader) at the front here battled hard the whole race in chase of the young lady with the pink shoe covers, above:

It's hard to convey in a photo how amazingly fast the A men come blazing down this tight downhill left hander:

And I wonder if anyone sees anything "strange" about the cornering technique on this B racer:

The rest of the photos are here, if you care to browse: http://doctorit.smugmug.com/Sports/72307

And I can actually call myself a pro. I made $10 from smugmug prints already as of this morning :lol3

DoctorIt · April 12, 2005

PS. Hey Winger, I know you'll see this so I just thought that you should know that my lens is absolutely amazing. Even with the old 10D that thing focuses fast. Trust me, those guys were hauling some major a**, like way faster than hockey guys. You're gonna love it on your MkII when you borrow it.

DoctorIt · April 12, 2005

And I noticed a strange phenomenon... many of the faster racers are biting their tongues. Maybe that's why I was never a good racer!!!

You get the idea. Believe it or not, I have more like this!

SusanB · April 12, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

And I noticed a strange phenomenon... many of the faster racers are biting their tongues. Maybe that's why I was never a good racer!!!
You get the idea. Believe it or not, I have more like this!

You did great! Super sharp pix and nice dof to get a feel for the environment.

Susan

rutt · April 12, 2005

Very nice bike racing shots. I guess I really need to decide which side of the lens to be on if I'm going to do well on either side. Next time you come to Boston to shoot something like this, invite me, eh?

DoctorIt · April 12, 2005

rutt wrote:

Very nice bike racing shots. I guess I really need to decide which side of the lens to be on if I'm going to do well on either side. Next time you come to Boston to shoot something like this, invite me, eh?

Thanks. I have a hard time with this too, I know I'm way to slow to really race, but man this crit used to be fun! I either finished top 10, or got blown off the back at this race, but the coures is awesome, 6 turns in .7 miles!

Sorry, I was all business on this trip. Last year I met up with other friends in Boston, chatted with all my racer friends, etc... so the shots were sporadic and I missed stuff. This year, I gave the promoter (an old friend) a business card in the morning, and spent the rest of the time shooting. Got every category and all the good action... well, except for the finish of the last race cause at that point my head was about to explode when the cold I had been fighting just dropped on me. Talk about the worst motorcycle ride I've ever had. 2 hour ride home turned into almost 3 hours as I stopped about every 10 minutes to take off my helmet and blow my nose and generally feel miserable. Yuck.
:sick

Thinkin' about coming down to see some marathon this weekend. You?

patch29 · April 12, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

And I wonder if anyone sees anything "strange" about the cornering technique on this B racer:

The rest of the photos are here

Push left, go left?

DoctorIt · April 12, 2005

patch29 wrote:

Push left, go left?

close. he was actually crashing. rear wheel started hopping and he held on, what a tough guy. He ended up going down, but very minor. Grazed the curb (and me) about 3 times before he finally got off.

GSPeP · April 12, 2005

Great pictures

It looks as if the victories of Greg Lemond, Lance Armstrong, etc. pushed the interest in cycling up in the US. Or has there been much interest before that also?

PS: you didn't sneeze in your helmet didn't you?

(get better soon)

patch29 · April 12, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

close. he was actually crashing. rear wheel started hopping and he held on, what a tough guy. He ended up going down, but very minor. Grazed the curb (and me) about 3 times before he finally got off.

It looks like he is on his way to crashing, I was just being a

DoctorIt · April 12, 2005

GSPeP wrote:

Great pictures

It looks as if the victories of Greg Lemond, Lance Armstrong, etc. pushed the interest in cycling up in the US. Or has there been much interest before that also?

Armstrong has definitely given some publicity and added interest, but to be honest most of the country is still oblivious to bicycle racing. I'm lucky to be in the northeast, there has always been a strong following here, especially at the collegiate level. Here the racing is cheap (as in $$$), fun, and the camaraderie is great. Once you graduate from college, its harder to find good racing. USCF is the main governing body, and USCF races are good, but the environment is a little more ego-driven. Or at least that is how it seems to me. Too many weekend warriors with multi thousand dollar bikes. Anyway... I could go on and on.

PS: you didn't sneeze in your helmet didn't you? (get better soon)

Um, yeah, several times. It really was a gross ride home. I've ridden in rain, I've ridden in snow, I've been filthy and cold, nothing was as bad as this! And the added pain of a throbbing head didn't help either. Needless to say, I got some good post processing time in on the couch yesterday

Steve Cavigliano · April 12, 2005

Nice ones Doc

Yeah, I can believe how fast these guys and gals can come barreling down the street :yikes and how far they slide if they dump it in a turn :uhoh

So what lens were you using, that you thought Karen was gonna love when she borrowed it?

Thanks for sharing,
Steve

DoctorIt · April 13, 2005

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Nice ones Doc

Yeah, I can believe how fast these guys and gals can come barreling down the street :yikes and how far they slide if they dump it in a turn :uhoh

So what lens were you using, that you thought Karen was gonna love when she borrowed it?

Thanks for sharing,
Steve

thanks Steve! Lens in question is my Sigma 100-300 f/4 - Winger wants it mainly for the reach, as I have the 1.4x TC as well, so 420mm at f/5.6 is pretty sweet for the big baseball field.

rutt · April 13, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

Thanks. I have a hard time with this too, I know I'm way to slow to really race, but man this crit used to be fun! I either finished top 10, or got blown off the back at this race, but the coures is awesome, 6 turns in .7 miles!

Come race in Nantucket this summer. We haven't finalized our schedule yet, I'll let you know when we do. Our big road race at the end of the summer is always a blast. Where else do the grandmasters and girls in skirts race at the same time as Cat 1s? We also have a couple of mountain bike (really sand bike) races that have the same huge range of abilities on the course at the same time.

DoctorIt wrote:

Thinkin' about coming down to see some marathon this weekend. You?

I live around the corner from Washington St and it's an easy walk to bottom of Heartbreak Hill. I shot the marathon last year with horrible results, but I'm willing to try again. Give me a holler if you want come and want company.

DoctorIt · April 13, 2005

rutt wrote:

Come race in Nantucket this summer. We haven't finalized our schedule yet, I'll let you know when we do. Our big road race at the end of the summer is always a blast. Where else do the grandmasters and girls in skirts race at the same time as Cat 1s? We also have a couple of mountain bike (really sand bike) races that have the same huge range of abilities on the course at the same time.

I've heard about this race. It'd be a good excuse to get out to that darn island I still haven't been to!

ian408 · April 26, 2005

Doc,

I can't believe I missed this. Great post.

Sorry you had to be on the receiving end of the crash though :uhoh

We used to have two district champs in the office. Now we're down
to one

She's headed up to Montreal for the Tour du Grand Montreal
at the end of May.

Might have to hook up with them for the Cascade Classic or maybe
something closer to home.

Oh, and you should try moto-marshalling. I hear they're always looking
for riders. I marshalled a ride around Lake Tahoe last year as well as a
Triathalon. It's pretty fun stuff.

Ian

DoctorIt · April 26, 2005

ian408 wrote:

Oh, and you should try moto-marshalling. I hear they're always looking
for riders. I marshalled a ride around Lake Tahoe last year as well as a
Triathalon. It's pretty fun stuff.

Ian

Maybe out west. Around here, seems like maybe they look sometimes, but they never offer the class so you can be official! Once a year max. There was one recently, but it was on a bad weekend and it was hours away.

I've done some "un"official motoring. A buddy is a pro photog and I've ridden him around some of the big USCF races here in Western MA. Claims he's gotten the best shots that way, so we both win. I get to ride and he gets good shooting and keeps me in mind for future photo work.

ian408 · April 26, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

Maybe out west. Around here, seems like maybe they look sometimes, but they never offer the class so you can be official! Once a year max. There was one recently, but it was on a bad weekend and it was hours away.

I've done some "un"official motoring. A buddy is a pro photog and I've ridden him around some of the big USCF races here in Western MA. Claims he's gotten the best shots that way, so we both win. I get to ride and he gets good shooting and keeps me in mind for future photo work.

Here's a document talking about marshalling.

Ian

rutt · April 26, 2005

All bets are off in Nantucket races. Want to ride a motorcycle in the pack? No problem.

Here's an idea: I have a fine tandem. Stoke and shoot at the same time.

rutt · April 26, 2005

rutt wrote:

All bets are off in Nantucket races. Want to ride a motorcycle in the pack? No problem.

Here's an idea: I have a fine tandem. Stoke and shoot at the same time.

Or a dirt bike in one of our mountain bike races? Boy we could really use some great shots of those.

DoctorIt · April 26, 2005

rutt wrote:

Or a dirt bike in one of our mountain bike races? Boy we could really use some great shots of those.

got a dirt bike I could use? I used to do this in high school - friend on the back of my bike in the woods with dad's video camera. If only I could find the footage, man was that fun!!

AlexIs · April 26, 2005

I missed this thread the first time. I'm very glad it was picked up again: cool shots Erik! Nice galleries too. You're a Graham Watson in progress (he has a cool job).
I would love to train on those road you have in the states. Must be great to have all that space. In Belgium, however THE cycling country, we are forced onto tiny roads and we're always riding between houses (we do not have open spaces, or barely). And the weather stinks. But we've got great chocolate

!

rutt · April 26, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

got a dirt bike I could use?

I'll bet I could dig one up.

ginger_55 · April 26, 2005

rutt wrote:

I'll bet I could dig one up.

Good play on words!

DoctorIt · April 26, 2005

AlexIs wrote:

I missed this thread the first time. I'm very glad it was picked up again: cool shots Erik! Nice galleries too. You're a Graham Watson in progress (he has a cool job).
I would love to train on those road you have in the states. Must be great to have all that space. In Belgium, however THE cycling country, we are forced onto tiny roads and we're always riding between houses (we do not have open spaces, or barely). And the weather stinks. But we've got great chocolate !

Funny how you always want the opposite of what you have... our "open spaces" as you call them, the long flat straight roads, get rather boring! There are days when I would gladly trade them for dicey village roads! But I see your point, especially here in the Northeast, we have quite a selection. We can ride twisty and hilly back roads, or we can ride along the river - flat, straight as far as the eye can see. All in the same day! The valley where I'm from is a Mecca for cyclists. When I moved from here for a year, I missed it very much. Now I don't take it for granted anymore.

gus · April 26, 2005

Good shots Doc...

DoctorIt · April 26, 2005

Humungus wrote:

Good shots Doc...

thank you sir :andy

rutt · April 26, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

Funny how you always want the opposite of what you have... our "open spaces" as you call them, the long flat straight roads, get rather boring! There are days when I would gladly trade them for dicey village roads! But I see your point, especially here in the Northeast, we have quite a selection. We can ride twisty and hilly back roads, or we can ride along the river - flat, straight as far as the eye can see. All in the same day! The valley where I'm from is a Mecca for cyclists. When I moved from here for a year, I missed it very much. Now I don't take it for granted anymore.

I still miss cycling around Amherst. I've been riding some in New Hampshire and Vermont over the last few years. Makes Eastern MA seem pretty boring.

One of our Nantucket club members keeps trying to organize a crit on the cobbles in town in the summer. This is pretty unlikely to be allowed, but it would be a wild race, let me tell you. We are looking at an on/off road crit with a leg on a sandy back road for next summer...

DoctorIt · April 26, 2005

rutt wrote:

One of our Nantucket club members keeps trying to organize a crit on the cobbles in town in the summer. This is pretty unlikely to be allowed, but it would be a wild race, let me tell you. We are looking at an on/off road crit with a leg on a sandy back road for next summer...

One of them there fancy cyclocross races, eh???

I love cross. All you have to be able to do is push for 45 minutes. Its the only discipline working guys can be competitive in... kinda.

winger · April 26, 2005

DoctorIt wrote:

thanks Steve! Lens in question is my Sigma 100-300 f/4 - Winger wants it mainly for the reach, as I have the 1.4x TC as well, so 420mm at f/5.6 is pretty sweet for the big baseball field.

Or I can just climb on the green monster....
I really need to get those edited, the masses are clamoring.
If you arent doing cycling this weekend I think baseball is home, other than that i can do soccer and lax with the "short" 200 lens.
HA
Erik you want to be my assisant, for um.
Nothing :-P

DoctorIt · April 27, 2005

winger wrote:

Or I can just climb on the green monster....
I really need to get those edited, the masses are clamoring.
If you arent doing cycling this weekend I think baseball is home, other than that i can do soccer and lax with the "short" 200 lens.
HA
Erik you want to be my assisant, for um.
Nothing :-P

I don't know what I'm doing this weekend. A bit overwhelmed with plans at the moment.

I'll be your assistant, and you don't have to pay me... but there may be an agreement I'll want you to sign in a couple months

Bicycle Racing in Boston

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