Road Rage

[kafin8ed]

Road Rage is a common occurence here in LA, but this was something completely different. Downhill mountain biking is nothing new but downhill road bike racing has never existed before, or at least like this it hasn't. As typical of most Red Bull events, this was invitational only for the fastest riders in the nation. The competitiors were a mix of road and mountain bikers on a wide range of bike styles. Qualifying runs were made one at a time against the clock until 16 of the fastest were pitted to run four at a time head to head for the win. Speeds were clocked up to 59 MPH. Red Bull did a cool job of shuttling us up and down the narrow race course that was 2 miles long, climbed over 2000 ft and included over 50 turns. The winner was former mountain bike downhill world champion Myles Rockwell, second place was mountain biker Eric Carter. Oh, and the location is Tuna Canyon in Malibu, CA.

We got lucky with picture purfect weather, but harsh shadows in the afternoon made photos of the final a big challenge. I don't usually shoot road stuff so this was a bit of a learning experience. A big lens and a monopod were very helpful here. I used a 70-200 with 1.4X extender on my 20D for the first half and then took the extender off for a different corner after I moved. Either way, these guys were moving REALLY fast and were a challenge to catch.

[brianc]

Nice work Alan. I was hoping you'd have a few photos from this event. Did you get any with the Ocean/hillside? Or are those saved for the Rag?

[kafin8ed]

Unfortunately, as far as I could tell, or at least from the two corners that I got dropped off at you couldn't see the Ocean from anywhere except for from looking down the finish line. The road is farely well secluded within Tuna Canyon. I'm curious to see what the Red Bull photog's photos looked like Francois Portman and Ian Hylands were both there and I think may have been shooting for Red Bull. I always have to compare my self to whoever was actually getting paid good money for the shoot I guess...

[Photo-John]

Those photos rock. They are so much more satisfying than the ones I saw on the DH forum. The second and last ones I like the best. And it's funny - Lopes looks so much like Lopes

Thanks for posting these. I'm living vicariously. I wanted go, but I'm burnt. The drive there and back wouldn't have been good for my head. Glad you got some good ones.