Roadrunner Classic

Saturday was the inaugural Roadrunner Classic bicycle race here in Albuquerque. It brought out the local racers and some upper tier ,but not quite there, pros to race in a time trail in the morning and then a road race in the afternoon. It was an opportunity for the pros to get in a race at altitude along with some short , fairly steep climbs before heading off to that New Mexico classic, the Tour of the Gila. It was also an opportunity for me to get dialed in with shooting bicycle racing as I was asked to go back to the Gila to shoot the last two days of the race; the criterium and the queen stage, the “Gila Monster.” So, I dragged my daughter along who was totally cool with going with me (thank God, nothing like a whiney kid when you are trying to work). A fun day we had.

Two riders from Jamis went off the front early on and had a comfortable margin of victory when they crossed the finish line.

Orange Barrels

Homeless Orange Barrels Under I-40

I saw these guys the other day when I was photographing the I-40 Bike Bridge construction. Before I forget, the bridge is a bike path being built over the Rio Grande. It will run along I-40 where it crosses the river, giving cyclists another option to get from west to east, and vice-versa. It will also be good for hill repeats as it looks to have a nice 5% incline going towards the west. Sometime this summer it will open. Now, to comment on the barrels; they struck me as being a group of who have seen better days and are now down on their luck, living under the bridge. Couple of newcomers, some old timers that are a lot worse for the wear. One with a real bad hair day. All milling about. Then there is the barrel wanna be; a traffic cone trying to fit in. I’m sure when I go back for the ribbon cutting they will have moved on.