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Saturday morning at 4am, my body screams at me to get back into bed! But somehow, I keep saying to myself, I really need to get moving because I really want to go see this race! I reach for my secret weapon, a jar of Colombian coffee beans! After a quick fix, shower, and very light breakfast I head out to the Snelling Road race, but it's still dark out. I'm watching the sun rise in my rear view mirror, while drinking a Starbucks on the way to Snelling. I get there early to drive the course and select the best spot for the climbs, and hopefully the best composition for photos.
However the weather is not cooperating, as the wind starts to pick up. I catch some ZZZZZZZ in the car before the big races start. Meanwhile, things are buzzing all about, and several groups are racing including what appears to be the minimes or cadettes. The pro women start around 12 noon, slightly thereafter. I make my way toward the climb on foot with camera in hand, and I can't help but notice the 50 mile per hour winds since my hat flies off like a kite! I didn't think I would ever see that hat again, but no sooner I got my hat back, and my chair became airborne! I literally had to sit in chair all the time or strap it down to a fence nearby!
There was a treat early on, I took a photo of this Coyote before the women pro 1-2 started! It had rained previously and was cloudy and dark with horrendous winds. I could tell some of the women weren't enjoying this and they huddled together to block the wind. I was trying to get some shots off a small vista overlooking a ranch down the hill, but it was really windy up there on the ridge, and I was freezing as it was pretty cold with the high winds adding to it. I didn't dress properly for this, and I was shivering a lot from the cold. I am surprised I got any decent photos at all, since it was really hard to hold the camera steady.
Also to compound the problems further, I was shooting on dark overcast conditions without a flash, and I hadn't given in yet to just setting the ISO values on auto. The lighting conditions changed often enough that it made it impossible to stay in the manual mode without constantly fiddling with my aperture and ISO settings. The ISO levels went bonkers all day long, so I should of just used the histogram or left it on auto, which often doesn't produce great results. Remarkably this camera gets it right pretty often, but I prefer to push it to the extremes to get the results I want. So far, because of the rainy and winding conditions, I have had very poor luck, but without a flash on a overcast day is always a challenge.
These photos are average at best, and some are quite poor due to the very bad weather conditions, and it just saps you spirit to chase that special shot when you got 50 mile an hour winds. I finally gave up on the vista thing, and just went back to the car, for some flat shots using my car for a wind break. I noticed the break by High Road, but race reporting is not really my cup of tea. While I enjoy the race, and enjoy taking photos, there are actually some great race reports by the women pros themselves over at some of their blogs. On the last lap, I headed over to the finish line to get some shots there. Kim Anderson won on the final solo breakaway, and while I got a few shots, it was starting to rain, and the quality is quite poor. Again I could of used a flash, but I sure didn't want to blind her right at the finish line.
All and all, it had to be one of the worse conditions for racing I certainly have ever been too, but I know the riders suffered a lot too, and I guess if they can hack it, then so can I! Tomorrow is the Merced Criterium, let's hope it doesn't rain there!
I fail to name all the riders in the photo captions, which would take some digging, but I will provide a partial list of women here who raced in the Snelling road race and refresh your memory. Some of the blogs actually carry some excellant race reports, so check them out!
Kristy Gough was in the 3-4 women, and I guess I was the only one who got photos of her, as I did at the Merced Criterium. These photos turned out to be priceless surprises to her family and friends, and I didn't even know that I had them, as I only cover Pro 1-2, but I will share three photos from Snelling here, as she went solo and the finish I also captured!
Results
1. Kim Anderson - 801 Team High Road
2. Anke Wichmann - 826 Team High Road
3. Rushlee Buchanan - 829 Team Tibco
Registered Riders for the Snelling Road Race.
Trish Bell Morgan Stanley - 803
Mara Abbott Team High Road - 800
Kim Anderson Team High Road - 801
Emilia Fahlin Team High Road - 809
Madeleine Sandig Team High Road - 823
Anke Wichmann Team High Road - 826
Yukie Nakamura Team Kenda Tire - 816
Victoria Bastide Team Tibco - 802
Holly Borowski Touchstone - US Armed Forces - 804
Molly Van Houweling Metromint Cycling - 825
Sarah Lightfoot Metromint Cycling - 812
Virginia Perkins Proman Racing - 817
Amanda Seigle code 3 racing - 824
Elis Bradshaw Metromint Cycling - 805
Mary Elizabeth Maroon Vanderkitten - 814
Alison Rosenthal Team Tibco - 821
Jane Robertson Metromint - 820
Amy McGuire Team Kenda Tire - 815
Jane Despas Vanderkitten - 808
Liza Rachetto Team Tibco - 818
Pat Ross Touchstone Climbing - 822
Jerika Hutchinson Team Tibco - 811
Rushlee Buchanan Team Tibco - 806
Betina Hold Proman - 810
Giana Roberge Proman Racing - 819
Emily Zell Proman Racing - 827
Abby Lyn Cooper Proman Racing - 807
Kate Ligler Proman Racing - 813
