Track Cycling: Velodrome Racing and Training Area - Sarah Hammer winning in LA

Hi All,

Didn't know that this forum existed until tonight. Here's a shot of Sarah Hammer winning the gold in the women's Individual Pursuit in the UCI Track World Cup - LA last night at the ADT Event Center:

http://www.pbase.com/cleavel/image/55186094/original.jpg

First gold by a "senior" American rider at this venue.

Thanks.

Cleave

Great shot!!!
I got hosed and could not find a spot on the rail for her ride.
What camera/lens did you use? What shutter speed?
Where along the track were you?
How much post processing?

That shot kicks butt on any that I got for the whole first 2 days. Congrats!!!

EDIT: Here is my best shot of her after changing color balance.

Great shot!!!
I got hosed and could not find a spot on the rail for her ride.
What camera/lens did you use? What shutter speed?
Where along the track were you?
How much post processing?

That shot kicks butt on any that I got for the whole first 2 days. Congrats!!!

Thanks for the kind words.

Olympus E-1, 50mm + 1.4 teleconverter (=70mm or 140mm equiv. 35mm film), 1/200s
(BTW, the EXIF is in the shot)

I was on the concourse level right at the entrance of turn 1.

Messed with the WB, levels, and sharpness a bit -- nothing too extreme.

She had another awesome ride today in the Scratch Race. She sat at the back the whole race, until 8 to go, then she went to the front and pulled a can of pain from a pocket in her skinsuit and poured it all over the pack. Sarah sat on the front and just started winding up, while Becky Quinn got into the money spot and cruised. Every time it looked like someone was going to try to come around, Sarah just picked it up a little. It almost looked like Sarah was riding a derny and Becky was giving directions ("A little faster now...ok tempo....now wind it up....") I couldn't tell if nobody was capable of coming around, or if they were waiting for Becky to move first, but when the bell rang she just kept winding up, and they got first and second (Becky never came all the way around).

The looks on everybody's faces were priceless as they were cooling down on the infield. Sarah and Becky were riding around side by side with big smiles recounting the race to each other, while most of other riders had looks that said "What the %@#@$% just happened, and how did they do that to me?"

A great ride on both their parts. A friend and I were talking on the infield before the start about how they both had a really good chance of winning, but would go about it entirely different ways. They have really different riding styles.

That scratch race by Sarah was amazing. Everyone in the stands was astonished as well.

That scratch race by Sarah was amazing. Everyone in the stands was astonished as well.
I was there Saturday night, and it was great. Sarah haulin' ass, wiping away the competition ... she made it look easy.

Too bad I missed the scratch race ... imagine, me wanting to get in a ride at the same time she was tearing up the track ... what was I thinking?

I read about that in the new issue of Velo News, and I really wished I could have been there. It sounds legendary!

Just starting to get the grasp of action photography. Canon Powershot A610.

Here's Sarah just starting out

http://www.l33tdomain.org/gallery2/d/508-2/IMG_0185_edited.jpg


Luckily the camera takes 60 second videos too. I wish I had remembered this 15 minutes earlier so I could have recorded the keirin and sprint finals (how stupid was I feeling?)

First video is a sprint lap from the points race.
6MB - http://l33tdomain.org/pics/cycling/videos/points_race_sprint.wmv


Second is the final ride of the match sprint for the Bronze - Blatchford vs Kwiatkowski from Poland
15MB - http://l33tdomain.org/pics/cycling/videos/match_sprint.wmv

Great videos. At least this makes up for me forgetting to bring any photography equipment. But at least it made me focus on watching the race.