At the Lake

…but no time to enjoy the view.

Beautiful and hilly terrain make for a scenic race along a 12-mile loop around Mason Lake.

Forested, rolling hills and shaded on one side.

Desolate and unrelenting on the other—no hiding from the wind.

(Well… it’s scenic when you aren’t going full-gas the whole race.)

Outpaced by the group

You’d think photographing a road race might have a fair amount of downtime, waiting for the field to appear. Typically, I drive the course in the opposite direction, scanning the roadside for a shooting location I want.

“When is the group going to get here?” and “Should I pull over yet?” are looping in my head as I count the minutes.

Sometimes, I miscalculate. “Ah, shit,” as I pass them in my car, and miss a photo completely.

Back to the race… a two-man breakaway formed pretty early, and after a lap or two, gained a sizable 1:45 gap.

The Métier squad put all of their big guns on the front of the group in an effort to chase them down.

A lot of work was being done, but it looks like the chasing peloton wasn’t going to get much help from the other teams.

The gap held at 1:45 for a few more laps.

It’s a good idea to count how many times the field goes around the course.

I lost count and ended up at the finish line one lap too early.

Funny enough, I saw a guy in the group sprinting to the line on that lap… I guess he didn’t count either.

The two stayed away until the finish. Dave sprinted for third place, as one might expect.