Summer is over and well…it’s been a while since I posted anything here. Not that I haven’t been shooting. Since my last post I’ve traveled to Alaska and Seattle AND cyclocross season has started here in the Pacific NW. I’ve been spending time shooting CX races for the last month or so. Early season Central Oregon CX=dust, dust and more dust. The rains will be coming and I plan to be shooting some up in Portland this fall/winter and CX Nationals are once again going to be in Bend so there will be plenty of CX weather to come.
I started a YouTube channel for my event photography company where I have been posting the highlights reels for our events: http://www.youtube.com/cascadeeventphtgrphy
We also started a Facebook fan page to keep everyone up-to-date on what going on: http://www.facebook.com/CascadeEventPhotography
Here are a few of my favorite pics so far from this season, stay tuned for more.
Enjoy
-t-
Well I had a pretty busy past 2 weekends. Hard core cyclocross racing was in full effect in the Pacific NW.
First came the The Stanley Portland Cup US Gran Prix of Cyclocross weekend–2 days at Portland International Raceway.Then, the next week, 4 day here at home in Bend for the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships.
Morning racing in the fog at PIR
First up was the USGP racing in Portland. The conditions and the crowds didn’t disappoint. The first morning saw the course fogged in and the racers battling the chilling wet air and the sticky mud. As the day progressed the sun came out and the racing got even hotter. Here are some highlights from that first day.
An OTB rider takes the opportunity to make a buck from the crowd
Day 2 for the The Stanley Portland Cup saw conditions change again. The temperature was crisp and the morning sky’s were clear, mostly due to the raging wind that was blowing most of morning (so fierce that several of the team tents that were left up overnight were found that morning ripped up and blow out onto the course). As the day went on the winds blew in the clouds and the temperature went down more. As the racing heated, up so did the crowds–mostly from bbqs and propane heaters…and the occasional beer. Some of the less serious racers were actually able to make a couple bucks by pluck dollar bills out of spent beer bottles the spectators were placing on the course. Here are some highlights from that day’s racing.
A racer takes a flyer...not your typical flyer for racing
The second long weekend saw the racing and the crowds migrate South to Bend, OR for the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships. Bend is a hot-bed for cycling and outdoor activity and has been bless to host both the road and the CX National Championships for ’09 (and will again in ’10). CX Nationals consisted of 4 full days of racing for men/woman, Jrs/master’s, amateurs/pros. And in typical fashion, Bend rolled out the red carpet for the visitors and put on what some are saying is one of the best (if not the best) CX Championships ever. Many are already looking forward to coming back for next year’s event.
The crowds enjoying the pros throw it down in the elite men's race
As with the last race in Portland, the temperatures dropped and some of the racers were starting their races in temps hovering around 0 degrees. The ground was frozen and had snow for most of the first couple days and then the temps started to rise and the mud started to come out later in the weekend (ahh Bend has everything to offer a CX racer). With the frozen ground the first couple of days, the less fortunate were hitting the deck all around the course (someone was joking they were averaging 3 broken bones a day…probably not far off). While we had 4 days of racing and thousands of pictures taken by myself and my Cascade Event Photography partner Dina Boswell, I’ve decided not to subject you to all of them unless you want 
Here is a sampling of my favorites from the 4 days of action here in town. If you want to see more, we’ll have all of our race photos up shortly on the Cascade Event Photography website.
So as many of the pros head to Europe, the CX season in the PNW is pretty much in the bag. Hope you enjoy seeing what I’ve enjoyed shooting this year.
Well the rains have come and cyclocross season is in full swing here in the PacNW. I had the opportunity to head over to Salem and Portland this weekend to shoot some races and visit some of my friends and teammates.
The weekend started out with an early morning drive over the mountains to Salem for the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association (OBRA) CX Championships which were held at the state fairgrounds. Turn-out was kinda light, but the course was very cool…and yes the rain came down. The course consisted of some pavement (wet most of the day), grass (wet), mud holes (wet and waterlogged), a short dash across some sand volleyball courts (covered and dry), a riding arena (covered and dry) and a BMX track (covered and dry). The covered and dry made it nice when the rain was really coming down (at least for the photographers), but the best pictures were from the rainy and wet areas. I just got a new 15mm fisheye lens this week that I was very excited break in. On my full-frame 5D, I was getting some really good curvature from it.
Here are select highlights from the OBRA CX Championship races
All my photos from the OBRA CX Championship races
After the races I drove to Portland and spent Saturday night with one of my cycling teammates and his family (Thanks Ian, Heahter and boys). Then Sunday morning got a lazy morning, late start, but made my way over to Portland International Raceway for the Cross Crusade races.
Well weekday cross racing is done again in Bend for another season. Webcyclery’s Thrilla Cross Series wrapped up tonight in fine fashion. Racing was good, dust was low and the green man showed up. There is one more local series in town (2 weekend races in Nov) before Nationals here in Dec.
Here’s some select shots from tonight, hope you enjoy -t-
PS: To see more or to purchase go to: Cascade Event Photography
Well here’s the second installment from my whirlwind photo trip to Portland last weekend. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go out to the bike race on my way back home. While the new camera is killer, I am going to have to get some more practice with it…bummer guess that mean I’ll just have to shoot some more racing 
Hope you enjoy -t-
