Hard to Photograph

RIVERROCK 2013 : Part 4

 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.

 This kid was 13 years old. Maybe because of that he was absolutely fearless. But he would do things on that bike that just left your jaw hanging!

 I'm not a big fan of cities, but Richmond at night can be kind of pretty.

RIVERROCK 2013 : Part 3

 Until going to Riverrock I did not know about slacklining. Slacklining is a sport that combines skateboarding style tricks with gymnastic flips and jumps, all while balancing on a 3 inch wide strap suspended four feet in the air. The competitors are judged on trick difficulty, style, and of course staying on the slack line.

 Random trivia about this guy you don't know - he was a backup dancer on one of Madonna's recent tours.

 The slackliners maintain intense focus on the end of the high tension line to monitor where in space they are while they flip, spin, and bounce.

 The Boulder Bash was fun to watch. Class eliminations were held through out the day to establish the roster for the night's final event. Between each event the wall builders changed the location of the holds. The whole group of climbers in the class were given five minutes at the start of their event to view the new hold positions and plan their route to the top. The climbers were then escorted to a holding area without a view of the wall to wait for their turns. Two climbers went at a time, usually the Men's class on one side of the split wall and the Women's class on the other side. Each climber had six minutes to get as high up the wall as possible.

 Nothing like hanging upside down, twenty feet above some thin safety pads.

 This girl made two of the most exciting moves of the night. Here she saves a fall by hanging off a single hand hold for almost forty seconds before she managed to propel herself to a hold that is out of the top of the photo.

RIVERROCK 2013 : Part 2

 Riverrock 2013 offered attendees many activities. The festival is free with the only cost being the purchase of an alcohol bracelet should you choose to drink. There were many vendors there but the atmosphere was pretty relaxed - it was more like you and your buddies hanging out talking about gear instead of a trade show 'gotta sell something' type thing.

Redbull brought a tricked out International truck that converted into a giant video game system complete with a mega watt stereo. The truck was surrounded for most of the day by twenty-something year old males playing the video games.

 Ruffwear makes some neat stuff for the outdoor dog on the go.

 Subaru brought a handful of new cars to tempt the crowds including this very nice WRX. 

I was very interested until I looked at the price tag!

 Jackson Kayaks held demos for you to try a kayak or a stand up paddleboard.

 This girl was handling the SUP (stand up paddleboard) quite well until about five seconds after I snapped the shot. She noticed me taking the photo, smirked, and promptly lost her balance. She was still drying out two hours later.

 There were dog dock jumping contests. I talked to the guy running the jump for a good bit in the morning. He travels the US with his truck and jump trailer attending festival all summer long. The 35 foot trailer ramps up to the edge of a large pool that he sets up at each event.

 This is the dock jump guy's dog. This dog was FOCUSED. Once he knew it was his time to jump his eyes never left the ball. Not once. 

 Just like any festival, there were plenty of people to watch.

 Some of those in attendance had a unique sense of style.

This girl brought her hoop to dance with.

 Yes, she is wearing a set of fairy wings.

 This girl drew a few looks.

 This is one of the racers waiting for his group to start. He rides an Airborne bicycle - the same brand I own. To see another Airborne rider around here is fairly unusual as Airborne is a small company that sells very small numbers of bikes each year.

 More colorful attendees.

 There were bands playing from about 10am until the festival ended at 11pm. I don't know the name of this band but they played pretty early, to a small crowd of about 20. I felt bad for them because they were quite good.

 Anders Osborne. I had never heard of Anders before but I am now a huge fan. About 9pm, a guy stepped onto the stage looking like a roughneck fresh off the rig and proceeded to rip through some awesome rock-n-roll. Sweet sounding, hard driving rock-n-roll!

 The view from the sound 'booth'.