Thursday, April 19, 2012

Tour of the Battenkill Video

The video guy was on the back of an Aprillia.
The race was 4.5 hours, here are 15 minutes of highlights.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Motorcycle Marshal - Carrying the Photographer

Tour of the Battenkill is promoted as America's toughest one day race.

BW Road Dust
Photo: © marcoquezada.com/nyvelocity/

I rode the 124 miles of pavement and dirt of Battenkill under horsepower, and I can attest that it is a tough route. I taxied two photographers during the elite men's race. How I was assigned two photographers is a mystery to me. They worked out a drop off and pick up schedule around the 62 mile circuit. It sort of worked out.

Photo 2

Pre Race Staging

Pre Race Line Up

This race operated with a rolling roadblock. If you are outside the official vehicles, you need to abide by road rules. Inside the enclosure and you can ride the left side of the road, pass police cruisers and blow your horn at the Sheriff's car. Any questions as to why I like to participate?

Oncoming Road Closure

Moto Marshals and officials have different functions with the race. I was carrying a photographer, so I did not have marshal responsibilities.
Moto 4

Shortcuts outside of the route allowed us to get to a shoot area, park and set up in anticipation of the racers coming through. I had enough time to shoot the shooters.

Head of the Pack

I love my new Canon SX 230 with GPS. Now I just need to find the software to map the GPS locations for me. The picture quality is nice for a point and shoot.

Determination

It was my first time carrying a full sized adult who probably outweighed me. The most difficult aspect was the mounting and dismounting the bike, which was often parked in less than optimal road conditions.

The twisting and turning of a photographer did not prove to be a problem. Communication via shouting worked just fine. I had the race channel cranked up to hear instruction from the director. Frequently he would direct me to move along, away from the pack. Roll along side, get your shots, roll away. If you tried to hog the good position, you would hear the radio squawk.

Wearing the Road
Photo: © marcoquezada.com/nyvelocity/

Feathering the clutch for miles on end to pace a bicycle is challenging work. One guy liked to lean way out, with him on the back, I would lose visibility in my right mirror. For this I needed to compensate with more full head checks.

Tour de Dust
Tour De Dust
Photo: © Barry Koblenz/basetwelvephoto.com

These yellow line pictures can only come from being right in there with the riders.

Yellow Line
Photo: © Barry Koblenz/basetwelvephoto.com

This picture, probably shot from a stationary position, shows good perspective of the aggressiveness of the course.

Mountain of dirt
Photo: © Barry Koblenz/basetwelvephoto.com

Moto Marshal

Moto Marshal
Photo: © Barry Koblenz/basetwelvephoto.com

Barry & Marco did succeed in getting their shots. And I succeeded at my first outing as a photo biker.

For information about moto marshals: Motorcycle Marshal Handbook