Sunday at Woodland Park was the final installment of the 2013 MFG Cyclocross series. The plan was to snap pics of suffering, mud-encrusted competitors. But, first things first: Score an 8 oz Motofish Americano (which was my sixth of seven contributions to the 2013 Coffeeneuring Challenge). It was a tasty beverage, though demand exceeded production capacity by a good margin. Fortunately everyone had a positive attitude about the wait time.
The timing turned out to be perfect and the women’s race commenced just a few minutes after the caffeine euphoria lifted my spirits.
Once the women’s race got started I followed the crowd and cheers and arrived at the run-up which turned out to be a fantastic vantage point to watch the action and urge on friends.
I love my camera. I recently got a Sony RX100, which is a compact camera with a 1″ sensor, and is considered a marvel of camera technology. When I was looking for a new camera about a year ago it had everything I wanted in a camera that I could stuff in my jersey pocket. Although Sunday’s cloudy conditions were relatively favorable for the amateur photographer, the low light and moving targets did provide a challenge. I shot most of the images in continuous mode with an ISO setting of 1600 at 1/800 of a second.
283 images of the women’s race.
By all accounts the MFG Series has been getting great reviews. From the spectator’s perspective the Woodland Park venue was fantastic, and the run-up was a great place to watch because that was where the spectator energy was most enthusiastic, and the competitive suffering was at its peak.
A couple weeks ago I watched the cross races at Magnuson Park, and noticed the distinct odor of marijuana. It caught me by surprise at first, then realized times have changed. This week at Woodland Park, mary jane was once again floating through the air. This time a racer stopped in his tracks at the top of the run-up, looked around and yelled: “Heeyy, I smell dope!”
The crowd laughed and he resumed racing.
391 images of the men’s category 1/2 race.
Regional cyclocross races continue next weekend with the Cascade Cross Series in Bellingham, Deschutes River Cyclocross in Tumwater, and Seattle Cyclocross in Spanaway.
