This past Sunday, Chico Racing put on their 5th Ontario Cup XC race for 2010 in beautiful Gravenhurst, Ontario at the Buckwallow Cycling Centre. Buckwallow is one of Ontario’s premiere cycling destinations and considered by many to be the crown jewel in the O-Cup series. The owners take meticulous care of their trails and it’s one of the only legal trails around where you can get a taste of great Canadian Shield. I cut my teeth riding similar shield just outside Ottawa in the Gatineau Hills. This is definitely the landscape of my youth and my favourite style of trail. I had one of the best rides of my life there a few years ago during Best Fest, a fundraiser for a friend with MS. It was absolutely pouring rain and we were soaked to the bone before we even got into the singletrack. Chico did an amazing job and the race ran pretty much like clockwork. Even though there are some big races out West, including Nationals, the race was well attended.
I was pretty eager to shoot this race as it offered some new scenery when compared to the other venues. I had a pile of other work to do but I decided to make the trip north to try and capture what I was after: quintessential rock riding shots – steep roll-inns and whale-backs. I had checked the forecast in the morning and the one thing I didn’t want to see was full on sun, all day. I was really hoping for a nice overcast day. I wanted to shoot some wider shots and showcase the terrain as well as the rider. The trails really wind through the bush in some areas so I thought I could get some nice s-shapes of riders as well. Unfortunately the sun was out in full force and the forest was strewn with hot spots of light everywhere. My composition was really limited and I had to choose my spots wisely. Often, even once I found a nice evenly lit location, by the time the riders came around the light had created new hot spots for me to contend with. I shot with three Nikon SB-800s all day. I managed to get some nice images, but not the ones I dreamed of, lying in bed the night before the race. Sometimes that’s how it goes. The light is the boss.
I’m still really pleased with images that I captured. Here are a few samples from the race.
All my images from the race are available here in the FastTimes online store. http://fasttimesinc.com/store/index.php?gnum=138
If you are one of the riders featured in the images above and would like to use them, you may do so by purchasing the $25.00 digital download from the online store. Landscape oriented shots will be the same size as the portrait ones, these are only reduces to better fit my blog dimensions.
I apologize for the huge logo on the images in the online store but because some people have tried to use them without my permission, I had no choice. I know it’s harder to see yourselves in some cases. I do go through each shot and I don’t post blinkers or any with awkward faces. These aren’t just batch processed and dumped online, I go through each and every shot. If you want to be sure though, feel free to drop me a line and I will look at it more closely for you. You can use the email to a friend option and send it landry(at)fasttimesinc.com. Just enter your questions in the notes. You can also email me directly if you like.
Thanks to Adam, Sean and the rest of the great team at Chico Racing. Thanks to all the riders as well! See you at the races.
Filmmaker/photographer 
