What a day yesterday. First, I experienced such a thrill riding down GA 400 in the early morning--I even rode in the "fast lane" of the four-lane highway after a fellow rider said, "When are you ever going to claim your rode your bike there?" Good point!
This bike ride, called the GA400Century, is a 100-mile ride, but you could do other distances: 9, 27, 45, 62. Everyone starts together by going down the highway south from Holcomb Bridge to Northridge, and then the ride is all on side streets. One beautiful section of the ride included going over the Chattahoochee River, and at the time there was a beautiful mist covering it. The whole time, my photographer’s eye kept noting where I could return some other early morning to get some wonderful shots. Apparently, I cannot turn off photography thoughts. Like Ever.
When I signed up for this ride, my intention was to do the "I did it" 9-mile ride, but as I completed it in pretty good time and had a few hours before I was going to volunteer for the event, I made the decision to go for 27 miles. OUCH! Man, there were some steep hills, but I made it just in time to grab a bagel, get a shower, put on my volunteer shirt to work from noon-4pm at Rest Stop 6, the last rest stop for the other "serious" riders.
Once I arrived at Rest Stop 6, I learned the things-to-do from one of my neighbors whose husband coordinates much of the event, and she was part of the volunteer group for the morning. At our rest stop, we offered snacks, PBJ’s, Gatorade, Water, fruit, and Pickles (also pickle juice shots—who knew that pickle juice is known to cure cramps while riding? I’m seriously happy about this discovery because it gives me yet another reason to eat those things).
At my rest stop, also, was a friend from my days at St. David’s Church—he also coordinates much of this amazing event—AND he had his full-framed camera—he has done a lot of event photography for tri’s! I oohed and awwwed, and then he pulled out his zoom from his truck to let me try it on my Rebel. WOW, my first thought was—“yep, it’s heavy!” My second thought was “I sure hope I don’t hurt it.” Then my third thought was “Oh, this is fun!”
This shot here is the first of the good shots I got with this lens. I took several shots, but this one really captured everything so well, and it didn’t require editing. If you are interested in seeing the entire set of my event photography (photos before this one are with my own lens), here they are:
https://darylohare.shutterfly.com/4536. I had a blast working at the Rest Stop, even with sore knees, burned-up face, and waning energy as the day progressed. We had a blast providing pickle shots, ringing cow bells, and shouting “allez, allez, allez!” when riders resumed their courses after a short visit at our Rest Stop!
