Monday 30 July 2012

Olympic Cycling Mens Road Race 2012

The trouble with having a job that is also your hobby, is every now and again, out of choice, you go and basically work for free. Given that this was the nearest to the Olympic site in london that I wanted to get - going over to Dorking to take photos of the Mens Cycling Road race was my only option to see some top level sport and also to put my professional skills to the test.

Knowing the roads around the area, and seeing the route, I drove to a small village south of Dorking and then cycled with my 17kg photo kit on my back up Flint Hill, past the centre of town, down the actual route from the town (well the cycle path was blocked with pedestrians) to some muted cheers from the assembled masses (which was nice), then along the shut A24 up to the area I had planned to get some good fast action - an area of downhill roads with good views and where the bikes went past 8 times.

Here's my route and locations: http://goo.gl/maps/yT99t
Only about a 5 mile ride, on a tractor of a bike with the wrong tyres and a saddle that's too low. Never mind - it got me there and back !


I went home and watched the race again on the BBC iPlayer - trying to figure out what had happened on the laps around Box Hill and how the breakaway managed to give the peloton the slip. A peloton which on each lap the British team were spearheading on each and every lap, followed by the Germans - who only got in the front four by mistake when they weren't paying attention. And every now and again the Belgians found themselves to close to the front too.

Basically it was the GB cycling squad making the chase and load of others not wanting to let them give Cavendish a chance. They had to make it away from the Peloton without the GB squad - because if there was just a peloton at the end - Cavendish was odds-on to win.

The GB strategy was to arrive at the finish and chase down any breakaways with the lead 4 putting in the work to slingshot Cavendish at the finish.  The one small problem was it was GB 4+Cav+Peloton chasing 24 cyclists in the final breakaway who were all putting in a fair share of the effort.

The final 24 were never going to be caught by a team of 4 - just consider the relative work effort and work share at the front, and it was never going to be done without the rest of the peloton taking a turn.

It seems the breakaway group that made it ahead before Dorking kept roughly in front by about 23 seconds on each lap, and a few efforts and a mini break that tried to catch them from the peloton got ahead for 10 seconds but that got caught by the peloton before lap 8, meant there was only the one climb left before the return to Leatherhead and back into london. A gap of 23 seconds to bridge, and only one climb left.

I think it was on the final climb that the final winner Kazakstans' VINOKUROV Alexandr 
managed to bridge the gap from the Peloton to the breakaway group, and then work his way to take the victory.
With the flat roads on the way back from Leatherhead it was too fast to catch , and the gap grew to 40 seconds - knowledge that fortunately Elizabeth Armitstead said she was able to put into practise to her advantage on Sunday to win Silver.


Team GB being followed, with the odd German getting lost
 
Getting the size of the crowds - not a square foot spare


Cavendish under Bradley Wiggins wing as the front two of David Millar and Ian Stannard (off picture) discuss tactics

Cavendish, Froome turning to talk to him (behind Wiggins) Wiggins, Confused German, Millar (shouting at Stannard)

Cavendish cups his ear to listen to Froomes tactics
 
"you what?" Cavendish listening for team tactics


Froome takes a bite out of his thumb to refuel, whilst Wiggins, Stannard and Millar provide the engine to drag Cavendish along to the planned ideal finish.

The lead group, of which Alexander Kristoff (at the back in red) made it to Bronze.

The TV cameramen swap jokes on the way round

Rolf Harris was on the motorbike and was showing sketches to the peloton to help take their mind of things

Cavendish kept in place ready for his chance later

Things get a bit busy when the peloton passes

The police Bikers got into the spirit of the race, despite his numberplate.

Belgian Philippe Gilbert had a quick go off the front to see how he'd get on. Not for long.

The GB team again leading the pack, this time with a lost Austrian
 

Wiggins and Millar leading out
This is my favourite shot of the day, Wiggins and the GB team leading the peloton, Union Flag at the side, and the eventual Gold medallist Alexandr Vinokurov at the head of the rest, just before the last climb up Box Hill. Sums up the race really.
I need to go back through my images to see if I did get the silver medal Rigoberto Uran Uran from Columbia (bike 52).
Here's the results
http://www.london2012.com/cycling-road/event/men-road-race/index.html

It was a long day - out taking shots for about 3 hours in quite strong sun, with a 5 mile ride each end, and a 17kg pack. 3ltrs of water and I was still dehydrated, all for 8 chances at the shot. I think my main conclusion - chasing around the Tour de France without a local motorbike rider and going pillion would be a pretty high-risk strategy to try to get plenty of shots. I think I learnt a new level of respect for those photographers.

And next time - I wouldn't take the heavy long lens, or the second camera. That would have halved my pack weight!

Right, I hope you enjoy the rest of the Olympics, I'll next be at the Milland Valley half-ish marathon - which should be good fun next sunday. See you there - down the end of the A3 - http://bit.ly/Milland-Valley-trail-race-entry
See you there ?

Until next time,
Anthony





Tuesday 24 July 2012

PP DTUF Half Marathon, HHH Downland Festival and REP Adur Swim - all now live

It was a weekend of acronyms with all three main races:


1. PP DTUF  (Purple Patch Down-Tow Up-Flow) Half Marathon,
http://bit.ly/DTUF-2012-Race-Photos


2. The HHH (Haywards Heath Harriers) Downland Running Festival, and
http://bit.ly/HHH-Downland_Festival-Gallery-2012


3. The REP (Raw Energy Pursuits) Arun River Swim - with free downloads
http://bit.ly/REP-Adur-Swim-2012-photo-gallery

followed of course by the final three lettered word from sunday - SUN !!!!


Enjoy the galleries - there's a selection below from the days events. If you enjoyed these then you might also enjoy some of these in the next few months from the same people, so you know they will be top notch !


http://bit.ly/PP-Maidenhead-Half-2012-entry
http://bit.ly/vachery_triathlon_2012
http://bit.ly/Worthing-Triathlon-2012-entry

other great events on the horizon you might want to check out for August:
http://bit.ly/Tri-together-2012
http://bit.ly/Monster-middle-Tri-2012-entry
http://bit.ly/F3-Henley-Tri-2012-entry

and finally the Arundel 10k with free race photos from around the castle and at the finish
http://bit.ly/arundel10k-entry

In the meantime you might also want to check out this event over the next few weeks. I hear it's going to be quite big but I understand that entries might already be closed for a few of the races... http://bit.ly/london-2012-olympics

And if you're in need of a pick-up on the second weekend of the olympics and have itchy feet - I can thoroughly recommend the Milland Valley Half(ish) marathon - off road, a bit hilly and some lovely views: http://bit.ly/Milland-Valley-trail-race-entry

Purple Patch DTUF Half Marathon
There was a lot of thumbs up along the Thames and Jubilee rivers on the way to Marlow on Sunday:

If you look carefully, you can see the Slough powerstation chimneys in the background

Daddy made it to the finish !

.M.C.A.

Good teamwork to the finish

Pure relief

Tight finishing into the line

Hi-Fives into the finish line

good teamwork, even though they started on different waves

Extreme Dipping, although a bit too early for the line. (She was all ok afterwards)

"It's not a race". much.

:-(   & :-)

The Running equivalent of Lightning McQueen in Cars

Thumbs up !

Pretty paths along the riverside

More thumbs up

Nice day for a run

It doesn't get that much better than this as a backdrop


Victory all round

More thumbs up - must be a good race !!

Run DMC, walk this way.



HHH Downlands festival - 30 mile ultra, and the New Dewpond 7- with over 1000ft of climbing enroute...


Steve's a fan of Julie Andrews - apparently

Look - sun, and views to the south downs in the background and yes - DRY PATHS!!

The Legend that is The Jacko

Running down that Hill

What do you call a man with a windmill on his head ? Well, I call him Jon.

REP River Adur Swim 2012

A new event held on the river adur at the Adur Outdoor Activity Centre http://www.aoac.org.uk/ , a great new venue for a challenging tidal river swim. The out and back format meant it was easy for supporters to keep an eye on the swimmers as the race unfolded, and the winners were men this time (compared with the Arun swim last month).
Mass start from the AOAC
Breeaath !!!
As you can see - it was nice to have a race finish that wasn't back-lit by the sun !!
First man out, Dave Warren in 28:10 and time for some catalogue work

Madeline Parra in 29:46 - first lady

Cue baywatch soundtrack and splashy running ?
 
Good running up to the finish
A perfect way to spend your Sunday ? - Looks like fun.

 Enjoy the olympics, and if you're in the Surrey Sussex Area - keep an eye out for the bike rides on Saturday and Sunday - especially in the Dorking / Box hill area. http://bit.ly/Oly-2012-cycling-route-pdf and watch out for the road closures too...

Until next time - which might be a few weeks, and then we're closing the office for four days when we have our first holiday in 6 years. Wish us luck !!

Anthony