I attended the national MTB downhill champs today. My partner came
along as well, and we stationed ourselves at a good site that offered
three different routes for the competitors. The fastest option was a
spectacular jumping drop-off which required very large balls combined
with a lot of skill due to the less-than-ideal runup. The other
options were both near-vertical drops that were only marginally
rideable and much slower than taking the jump.
The first guy to attempt the jump landed OK but lost his balance in
the soft dirt, sending him sliding straight into some spectators at a
pretty decent speed. My partner happened to be standing in that part
of the crowd and she was knocked over, but no damage was done except
for my near heart attack. That one made the national news: the TV
cameraman struck it lucky as he'd only just arrived.
The next guy to crash on that jump did so right in front of me and I
was well-prepared with the 43mm lens. I got one photo of him coming
off, and when I pressed the button to take another frame nothing
happened. &#$%ing 24-exposure film. Note to self: don't buy film
from The Warehouse. Or get a DSLR with a big memory card.
The "easiest" option for the bikers proved quite popular among the
junior riders and there was one spectacular crash which I missed
because I had the wrong lens fitted. This was a little further away
and needed the 100mm lens, and I had no way of knowing which route a
rider would take. Note to self: buy a zoom. Swapping primes is
annoying in this situation.
A photographer sitting next to me had a D2X and was machinegunning it
whenever a rider showed up, then used the time between riders to
edit. It seemed like a nice piece of kit. I admit to feeling a
certain amount of gear-envy.
The dirt was very dry and quite loose, so every time a rider went
past a cloud of dust would envelop me. When someone landed the jump,
it was more like a volcanic eruption :) My camera bag is very dirty
on the outside. I don't want to know what the inside of my lenses
look like, nor my Z-1p. Or my lungs, for that matter. I did have
difficulty changing the metering mode at one stage.
Overall it was a very enjoyable couple of hours. The riders had a
very challenging time and there was some spectacularly good riding
with no injuries apart from a few slightly broken bikes, mostly
involving rear derailleurs.
The bad news is that I won't get to see my photos until I get the
films processed... I might drop them off for 1-hour processing
tomorrow. I think that if I start doing more of this kind of
photography, landscaping gear isn't going to cut it :) Overall I
don't think my photos will be that great, but I was happy just to be
there.
Now I'm off to clean my gear... well, after dinner anyway.
- Dave
