Published!

Today was an exciting day for me. When I got home from work, I saw that Singletrack Magazine had arrived. This is the first time I've had my photographs published, and it blew my mind. The article and photos were part of a feature on the Shenandoah Mountain 100 race that I started shooting in 2006. It was such a thrill to see my photos as part of a nice, glossy mtb magazine. Every one of the photos in the article was mine, I couldn't believe it. Its a great feeling. It was also rewarding because the SM100 is an event that's been part of my life since 2000. Its been exciting to see it grow over the years, into one of the premier events of the eat coast mtb season.

In 2006, I found myself on the sidelines for the Shenandoah Mountain 100. I took my new Nikon DSLR and tried to capture images of the race. The results were not good, so I started learning as much as I could about digital photography. I poured over American Photo, Digital Photo Pro, and every magazine I could get my hands on. I read books on photojournalism, portraits, and sports photography. I studied the how-tos on lighting, aperture, depth of field and compostion. I carried my camera around all the time to be ready for spontaneous photo opportunities. I invested in better glass. The following year, I was ready for race season, armed with what I learned I was able to capture great images that told the story of the race. I sold some images onine and I was hooked. Now I'm looking at eight of my images of the SM100 published alongside a feature about the race in Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine.

Check out the images on my facebook page

2008 SM 100

I just got back from Sunday's Shenandoah Mountain 100, and as always, it was a great time. Photos are up. Congratulations to our buddy Jonathan for completing the course in under 11 hours.

After unpacking, I got to work turning around the 1000 or so images I shot, including sending some to cyclingnews.com for publication with the race brief. I was up until after midnight, but I got everything posted to my site.

Photo of Chris Eatough, mens first place finisher.

Update: cyclingnews.com has picked up my photos from the race. (link)

I think it will be five more years before we go back to Davis, WV

Jenn and I spent the Fourth of July weekend camping with our friends in Davis, West Virginia. It rained every day.

Friday
After dropping Sam off at the kennel in Frederick, we arrived and set up in a light rain. Vin, Mike, Tris, Jonathan and Jessica had arrived earlier, and set up two pop up canopies, connected by a tarp. the tarp provided a lighter, dry area in the middle that we referred to as the 'atrium.' After dinner, we played cards all evening.

Saturday

After a late start, we scrapped our scheduled river trip to try to get a ride in. We rode the Plantation Trail, which has been a wet mess every time we try to ride it. Think of it as riding upstream through waterfalls, and across mud bogs and you'll have a pretty good idea of what the trail was like. Jenn bailed out early and Jonathan and I rode the Allegheny trail to take her back to camp. Jenn drove Wheaton and I to rejoin the group at the Blackwater Falls campground, and we set off for the Dobbin House Trail. It seemed really short, with not much to it. After Dobbin House, we had a short road ride back to the end of Allegheny, and a long 2 miles uphill back to camp. During the second trip up Allegheny, the sky opened up and poured rain on us.

Sunday
Sunday was departure day for everyone but Jenn and I, so after breakfast, they set about packing up, and getting ready for another ride. Sundays ride was the Leadmine trail, a steep, 3 mile climb followed by a sweet rolling, off camber downhill. Once we got to the trailhead, It was raining hard enough that Jenn and I decided not to ride. Instead, we went back to camp to try to make an alternate plan for the day. We had lunch in the rain and waited till about 4 before giving up on the idea of getting another ride in.

Instead we decided to explore the Canaan Loop Road in the CRV, and saw some impressive waterfalls and streams. We would our way around to the Table Rock trailhead and set out for a hike. What was supposed to be a 15 minute hike stretched into 45 one-way before we gave up. The trail was more of the mud bog from the day before, and we decided to call it a day. We went back to camp to make dinner, and I noted on the ride back that there was no one else camping there Sunday night. After dinner, we tried to ignore how much creepier the woods were without all our friends around.

Monday we were packing the car up when some Canadian mountain bikers rode by and asked us to describe some of the area trails. We told them about our trials on Plantation and Allegheny. They asked about an area called 'State Champion' or 'State Championship' that supposedly drained well, but it was the first time I'd heard of it and couldn't offer any help. The drive home seemed to take forever, and we spent hours drying everything out in the back yard.

Shenandoah Mountain 100

What a weekend. After spending Friday in the emergency room, we packed up the car and headed to Stokesville, Virginia for the annual Shenandoah Mountain 100, a 100-mile mountain bike race through the George Washington National Forest. I've got some great photos, including some of the 2006 Tour De France Champion Floyd Landis making his debut at the SM 100. I just uploaded all of the images to my web site.