nvgp 08 stage 6

A beautiful day in Stillwater!

Saw Caroline at the race and she complimented me on several of my cyclingnews photos. Ran into my friend Jacob Gibb on the back side of the course where he had set up his strobes.

Spent too much time at the top of the climb during the women's race. Which surprises me, 'cuz I already felt like I've taken so many pictures from that same spot for the past several years. On the other hand, you get some dramatic shots there – slow speeds, huge efforts.

Moved around a lot more during the men's race. Lay on the sidewalk for a while to get dramatic shots of the cyclists flying around the corners. Shot many of these at 18mm and could have used a wider lens.

Received email from Phil Zajicek's mom. She liked the photo I got of him at the starting line of Stage 4.

Uploaded 27 photos to cyclingnews.

nvgp 08 stage 5

Car-pooled with Matt down to the start in Mankato — trying to save some gas, since it's almost $4/gal(!). Left my vest and media badge in my own car, so had to acquire new ones for the day.

Rode with Stephanie (local Mankato photographer) to various points on the course. Wanted to split from Matt since we're both shooting for cyclingnews. He rode with the race's media director, along with Kurt Jambretz who shoots for VeloNews, and one of the video cameramen.

Yowza it was hot today along the finishing circuits. Glad I was able to score free water from the volunteer tent. Had lots of trouble with the alternating bright sunlight and shadows on the big climb.

Stepped in front of the finish line camera late during the women's race — d'oh! Got in trouble and had to apologize to the officials, to keep from getting fined.

Had a storm/power outage at home from 8pm till 1am. Woke up at 4am to upload 20 photos to cyclingnews.

I mis-identified one of the GrandStay riders when I uploaded the photos to cyclingnews. Red Lantern let me know about it. Was afraid cyclingnews wouldn't make the correction but they promptly fixed the caption.

nvgp 08 stages 3 and 4

St.Paul: Time trial in the morning, with a new tough climb at the end, into the wind. Beautiful sunny weather today. Met fellow photographer Steve Pottinger who used to do the race's website. Also introduced myself to the TV motorbike driver, whose daughter was in the Kenda team car with me yesterday.

Today was the only vacation day I needed to take, to cover the race.

Downtown Minneapolis crit in the evening. I believe this is the first year I didn't see any crashes. There was a brief threat of rain, but it didn't materialize. Didn't get to see the end of the men's race; had to leave early to pick up my daughter from her work.

Uploaded 28 photos to cyclingnews for Stage 3, and 22 photos for Stage 4.

nvgp 08 stage 2

My friend and co-worker and fellow cyclist and photographer Robbie is hosting a couple members (women's elite amateurs) of Team Kenda Tire. And his neighbor Jeff is housing some of the other riders/staff. Robbie asked the team manager Paul if I could ride in the team car during today's stage and he said yes. Cool! Should be an interesting experience; I've never gotten to do anything like that before.

Not sure what kinda pictures I'll get. Will miss the men's race. At least there's a finishing circuit around Cannon Falls.

Post-stage thoughts: When you're in the team car, most of the race happens ~200 meters in front of you. Riders rarely come by the car unless they've been dropped or need a bottle. At today's race (average 24.6 mph) only one Kenda rider dropped back for water.

I was lucky that my friend and local rider Linda yo-yo'd through the caravan for a while and I got a few good pictures of her.

Uploaded 12 photos to cyclingnews.

nvgp 08 stage 1

Shooting the Nature Valley Grand Prix again this year for cyclingnews.com.

Rain! and more rain – enough to shorten the women's race and to cancel the men's race halfway through. I need protective gear for my photo equipment like Matt has. The free poncho from the volunteer tent just doesn't quite get the job done.

Rain varied from heavy downpour to steady drizzle. Didn't see any crashes in the women's race, though I know there were several. Saw numerous crashes in the men's race, especially in the northeast corner of the course.

With the dark skies (late start, heavy cloud cover) I had the opportunity to use my newest lens – 18-50 f/2.8. Still, very frustrated with the results – grainy, blurry. Out of practice – had trouble with focusing.

Should have pulled out my old, manual-focus 50mm f/1.7 prime lens. I always forget about that lens, but I need to use it more often.

I set a slow shutter speed for some panning shots, then forgot to pan. D'oh!

Uploaded 20 photos to cyclingnews.