Saturday I spent the day in Los Gatos, CA shooting the 35th edition of the Cat's Hill Classic, a race who's storied history includes wins by Greg Lemond, Ron Kiefel and more recently by Ben Jacques-Maynes and Jackson Stewart. The circuit is named for a leg-busting 23% ramp in the middle of the course.
I concentrated on the dramatics of the hill as racers of all ages tested themselves from morning to late afternoon. The youngest juniors 10-12, and the women's cat 1/2/3 races were the highlights for me. The kids because often they muscled bikes bigger than themselves up that climb and the women because their intensity was tempered by an esprit de corps that sparkled each time they cleared the summit.
Click the image to view the 100+ image gallery or follow this link.
13 Comments
Dear Velo Dramatic
Can you please contact me about hiring your firm for a professional shoot?
you quality is outstanding.
Hunter Ziesing
awesome pics michael! there isn’t one pic that i would say i didn’t like.
1. that climb looks brutal
2. seeing those kids riding makes me wish i had gotten into cycling a lot younger (along with golf)
3. until now, i hadn’t noticed that the ‘lower’ rock racing riders don’t get the green paint scheme on their derosa’s
Totally agree, these are superb pictures :-).
Glad everyone’s enjoying them.
Hunter, I’ll be in touch tomorrow.
Sam, the climb is short maybe 75 metres, but it’s a wall and it’s there waiting for the riders on every lap. One of these weekends I’m going to ride round the circuit and climb it a few times just to see how tough it is. I’ll do it on an empty stomach I think.
That Rock Racing kit is going to be available on the 20th right.
Nicolas, great you dropped by.
::M
These are by far the best quality pictures I’ve seen of the event. They truly capture the event, and as a competitor they bring the memory of the race back to life.
Simply amazing.
-kieran
(3rd Cat 4 Race)
Hey, the very first shot on the gallery is my boyfriend out in the lead! I don’t suppose I could buy a print of this?
Gnat,
To keep things manageable at my end I will do select custom prints on large media: 13″ x 19″ or 17″ x 22″, if the image quality, creatively and technically, works. In this case, your boyfriend’s image is a tight crop of the full frame, and it’s a little soft. (I’m so bloody fussy) I should have spotted the paceline effect faster and taken the shot vertically. Then we’d be in business for a big print.
Anyway, how about I email you the cropped hi-res file and you give it a shot at a digital print service and see how that goes. I’ll get it to you in a little while.
I’m going to post another gallery with the non-selects (over 350 images) in case someone spots a friend or themselves and wants the image for a website etc.
thanks
::M
Thanks for taking one of the best pictures I’ve seen on me on a bike. This is me:
http://www.velodramatic.com/images/cathill08/images/cathill2008_5087.jpg
Amazing.
Thanks!!!
Meredith (Mo)
Roaring Mouse
Great shots! I’d like to talk with you about two things if you’ve got some time. First, the winner at Cat’s Hill, Viktor Rapinski, was riding one of our Leopard bikes, so if possible I’d like to purchase some shots of Viktor to use on our website. Second, I’d like to see if you’d be interested in doing some product shots as well. You can reach me at the e-mail address provided on our website (www.leopardcycles.com). -RG
Hello again,
I really like the new shots. You are right, the womens and youth photos stand out, its obvious you enjoyed capturing them.
Scott
I’ve posted an outtake gallery with an additional 362 images. You may find yourself, or your team in this group that didn’t make the final gallery selection.
::M
Great pic’s…you need to do this on the back of a motorbike. You caught the energy on that hill and the shock on some of the faces is real. That hill has the pitch of an elevator and a peak in the middle.
Can’t wait to shoot from the back of a bike in a race situation.