The whole event

Hello all,
I need a little, okay a lot of help. When I shoot events, I like to shoot the whole event. Here are two shots that capture more than just the riders. The first one has a mill in the backgroud, but it is washed out, what would help? The second the riders feel a little too leftout for me... Any ideas?

I use a Canon Rebel Ti with a Tamron 70-300 lens.

TIA
________________________
Shane Young
www.oregonvelo.com

I think the background blur and wash-out are OK in the 1st image because it puts more emphasis on the line of cyclists. Putting the cyclists in the middle of the frame puts my eyes on the too-large area of rocks in the foreground. Tilting the camera up a bit, with just a thin row of rocks at the bottom of the frame would improve this, in my opinion.
<p>2nd image...excellent capture, excellent composition, poor exposure, as the highlights...woman's face, white areas on bikers and signs are totally washed out. Good eye for seeing this one. :-)

Both photos are well-composed for the most part. I think that the first image is not washed out, that's just haze you've captured. A victim of the blue vault. I will say it might've been improved if the bodies of the cylcists were more "frozen". I think the spokes wheels would still carry the blurred effect in that case and thus convey the motion.

The second one is good except that the lady's face looks blown out (used too much flash maybe?) and a bit out of focus as a result. Otherwise it's pretty cool I think.