Through the Lens: August 2013

I had planned to travel to Richmond for the day to take pictures of all of the interesting things I had spotted during my bike rides but the rainy weather and stalled traffic made me rethink my plans. I instead headed north along the George Washington Parkway looking for opportunities.

The clouds crowded out any useful light so all of my photo attempts turned out dull and gray.

I stopped at Belle Haven Marina in search of boats. Most of the vessels docked here could best be described as "crappy". The sailboats showed years of neglect and the powerboats appeared to be leftover movies props from The Perfect Storm.

In the background you can see National Harbor which will be the focus of a future photo trip.

Located adjacent to the marina is a nature trail. The trail had 'marsh' in it's name which I quickly learned means 'Land of the Blood Sucking Mosquito'. This red flower weed looking plant was a lonely splash of color in a sea of green marsh grass.

On the way home I stopped at the site of George Washington's Distillery and Grist Mill. By the time I got there the buildings were closed up tight for the day so I wandered the grounds.

Ruh-Roh! This can't be good!

As I walked to the car to leave I ran into Johnny Law. After a friendly chat the officer continued his door checks of the buildings and I went home disappointed with the photos I took on this rainy, cloudy day.

The main reason I attended Riverrock was the bikes. I first became aware of the festival after reading a short review of the Thule Urban Assault race in a magazine. The Urban Assault is a series of races staged in large metropolitan areas, usually combining dirt stages with some pavement pounding.

The Richmond Urban Assault is held on the James River Park System mountain bike trails. The two that made up the majority of this year's course are the Buttermilk and the Northshore trails. These two trails fight their way along the banks of the James River and are made up of mix of extremely challenging technical terrain and fast flowing single track.

The first race of the day was the Men's Expert class. I made it to a favorable position near the start and readied myself to shoot some photos. Not knowing what to expect from the start of a race, I guessed at the camera settings. I'm still not sure how I only managed to get three photos of a race group that held 35 guys, but these guys are FAST! All 35 riders swept around the first turn and were past my position before I knew what happened! I turned to take some photos and all I could see were a few remaining riders jockeying for position up the first super steep dirt hill. Maybe twenty seconds had elapsed from the starter's tone to all riders out of sight.

I do plan on racing the Urban Assault in 2014 and have begun to prepare myself. I will NOT be racing in the expert class. Right now it's a toss up between the Beginner class and the Clydesdale class. (Clydes are riders that weigh over 200lbs.)

Another bike event at Riverrock was the jump style competition. This event was delayed until late afternoon due to the rain making the ramps unsafe. There were about ten riders attempting outrageous stunts that involved jumping, spinning, flipping, twirling, hopping, sliding, and just about every other motion you can imagine. The formal competition was very brief with each rider taking two runs down a course of ramps. One rider did a front flip, another answered with a Superman well over thirty feet in the air....crazy stuff!

After a short awards ceremony for the jump style contest, the riders were bored and decided to spend the rest of the evening practicing tricks and seeing who could out jump the others. This impromptu session was much more fun to watch that the actual competition! It was here that my 'all access photo-journalist pass that doesn't really exist' came through big time. I had been shut out of the best spots at the rock climbing wall due to there actually being a photo pit in front of the wall (guarded vigilantly by Chewbacca's ex-wife). At the ramp park, I was allowed behind the crowd gates and into some great shooting positions.

The riders seemed to love having me taking their pictures. Each time a rider would complete a run they would have to walk past me back to the start ramp. After a short time, the riders would ask "Didja get that?" or "How'd that look?". They began to tell me what tricks they were going to attempt on the next run and which ramp in the series they would use. I made sure each rider spotted me before they dropped into their run because I sure didn't want to startle these guys as they flung themselves and their bikes into the air.

There was a videographer trying to get some shots with a unique perspective. He was using a four prop droid with a GoPro camera hanging off the bottom. This guy didn't let the riders know what he was doing and was politely asked to leave after his copter startled a rider launching off the twenty foot tall kicker ramp.