tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2763494743303638801.post-86527183353848293882008-05-19T20:58:00.014-04:002008-07-27T06:46:12.507-04:002008-07-27T06:46:12.507-04:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Can-Am U19 Challenge (organized by </span></span><a href="http://skylandscycling.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Skylands Cycling</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">) is consistently the best all-around  junior bicycling race on the East coast.  2008 marked </span></span><a href="http://ncvc.net/juniors"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">NCVC Juniors</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">' fourth consecutive year at Can-Am.  We brought seven young men to the three event omnium -- an uphill mountain time trial, a ballpark criterium, and a fairgrounds circuit race.  All very beautiful venues -- and, for once in quite a few races this season, the weather was perfect.  A little rain closed Sunday's circuit event, but that was good against lofty expectations.  The guys did great -- several podiums, and a team trophy.  My 17 year-old pushed to a mid-race tie for first place overall (GC -- general classification), but was marked, blocked and faded to a very respectable top-ten GC result.  His powerful teammate grabbed GC 2nd in the 17-18 year class.  Next year, when both boys will be racing age 18, is quite promising.  Same story for our 15 year-old hot shots.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The photography was pretty good.  950 images; posted 210+ to <a href="http://images.jamesrwilson.com/p703780069/">website</a>.  (Satisfactory yield was pretty high -- near 40% -- but didn't post many shots with folks I didn't know.)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Stuck ISO at 800 except for in the best light where I shot 400.  This let me work at 1/1250 and F8 +/- ... The cycling photography sweet spot for the 70-200 F4L seems to be F8 -- sharp and reasonable depth for the action.  Bicycling seems to require about 1/1250 if you're not panning.  I adjusted ISO to be near this sweet spot for action ... crowd/candid stuff generally gets about 1/320 ... higher if I want more bokeh.  Got a couple nice race shots at about 1/320 while panning.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Lots of kids racing bikes, a number of good crowd (and friend) shots, and a couple odd dog and bug images.  <a href="http://images.jamesrwilson.com/p703780069/">Enjoy</a>.</span></span></div>Jim Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00156428628557014326noreply@blogger.com0