Pedal Dancer®: Jim Ochowicz

Showing posts with label Jim Ochowicz. Show all posts

25 August 2012

A Day at the Race in Colorado Springs

Garden of the Gods
After the stage start in Breckenridge (A Day at the Race in Breckenridge), the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge raced southeast to Colorado Springs passing through Garden of the Gods where Laurie and Brian lay waiting and photographing Stage 5 of the USA Pro Challenge. ©Photos by Laurie Valaer

©Photo by Laurie Valaer

What a minute - that is not Tejay, that is Jim Ochowicz, BMC Team Manager, he sure gets around.

Jim out for a ride ©Photo by Laurie Valaer

The on-course announcer signals the peloton is coming

©Photo by Laurie Valaer

Jeremy Vennell ©Photo by Laurie Valaer

Ivan Santaromita ©Photo by Laurie Valaer

Georg Preidler ©Photo by Laurie Valaer

Peloton passing through Garden of the Gods ©Photo by Laurie Valaer

Ben King (RadioShack Nissan Trek) ©Photo by Laurie Valaer

Craig Lewis (Champion Systems) ©Photo by Laurie Valaer

Stage 5 Results, from the desk of Nicole Okoneskie of Rogers & Cowan

·         First Place – Tyler Farrar (USA) of Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda
·         Second Place – Taylor Phinney (USA) of BMC Racing Team
·         Third Place – Alessandro Bazzana (ITA) of Team Type 1-SANOFI

Jerseys
·         Exergy Leader Jersey – Tejay van Garderen (USA) of BMC Racing Team
·         Waste Management Sprint Jersey – Tyler Farrar (USA) of Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda
·         Nissan King of the Mountains Jersey – Tom Danielson (USA) of Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda
·         Aquadraat Best Young Rider Jersey – Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA) of Bontrager Livestrong Team
·         Evolve Most Aggressive Rider Jersey – Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) of Liquigas-Cannondale

Catching up with Training Peaks - race analysis of Janic Brajkovic Timmy Duggan, Lucas Euser, and Rory Sutherland. View their numbers from the day's effort at: http://bit.ly/Pi4HOi

View the official race website at: www.ProChallenge.com
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22 August 2012

Did you know?

Did you know ... that racing in this year's USA Pro Cycling Challenge are 3 World Champions, 2 Olympics Medalists, 7 current National Champions, 8 Individual stage winners at the Tour de France, 4 overall podium finishers at the Tour de France and a lot of of Tour de something winners in 2012. A very impressive field.

Cadel Evans wearing his rainbow stripes on his jersey sleeve

Did you know ... that each stage of the USPCC is sponsored, except for Stage 7 in Denver.

Stage 1: Colorado.com

Stage 2: Aquadraat

Stage 3: New Belgium

Stage 4: United Healthcare

Stage 5: Waste Management

Stage 6: Nissan

Did you notice ... that key race facts are sometimes affixed to the stems of the bike to let riders know what to expect during the ride? Here a staff member is marking that for stage 2 the 1st KOM (K) will be at 27km, then the second K at 50, feed at 82, the two (S) sprints, a KOM and finally the finish.

Did you notice ... the haze in Montrose yesterday, or feel the smoke in your lungs? Well the local weatherman reported that he haze was the smoke moving down from the forest fires in Idaho.

Did you know ... that work continues on the road for team managers? Here is BMC racing team's Jim Ochowicz on a conference call yesterday morning outside his team bus in Montrose.

Did you notice ... the sign-in sheet has grown in size to a sign-in board at the USPCC? The sign-in sheet has a long history in the sport of cycling read more at I LOVE CYCLING.

Did you know ... that there is a lot of meaning to the specific number a cyclist wears? In America we call rider numbers bibs, at the Tour de France they are called dossards. Learn how to decode a rider's number at: Word of the Day: Dossard

Did you notice ... that we now have three sets of announcers covering the race live for fans? The legendary Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, who are commentating for NBC Television; Dave Towle and Brad Sohner (Who is that voice on stage?), the professional race announcers hired by USPCC to give on-site commentary for stage starts and finishes; And Neal Rogers and Brian Holcombe who both work for Velo Magazine and are announcing live on Tour Tracker. I am especially enjoying their calm interesting informative commentary this year. Check out all the options for following race coverage: TV and online coverage USA Pro Cycling Challenge

Did you know ... that there is a womens crit race in Aspen today from 1-2pm, there are other amateur races and events in town as well. The local Aspen Daily Times newspaper has complete time schedule of events.

Now for some Photos from the finish in Crested Butte from a fan. Photos by de Navaille Photographique

Tejay van Garderen in Crested Butte

Levi

Peter and Klodi nearing the finish line

Tejay started to descend and high-5 the crowd on his way down

Taylor Phinney

Tyler Farrar (yellow jersey) coming into the finish

See you on Independence Pass!

16 July 2012

Photos from the Tour de France

With the teams before stage 13 in St-Paul-Troix-Chateau

I am really enjoying photography as a fan. I try to take images of what it is like being a fan at the races. All the things we notice as fans - the bikes, team supplies and equipment, the staff, the riders. It took me years to learn who the riders were, to be able to recognize them, on and off the bike. Mostly because the majority of the images I saw of the riders were either through a camera angle on a bike during a race with their helmets, sunglasses and matching kits or in official team photo shoots where they all stood in the same position.

That is why I prefer conveying either the feeling and atmosphere of the race, or up close portraits of the riders. There are plenty of sports photographers who capture the race in action or the finish line photos. But for those fans at home - I like to share images from before or after the race.

Images from Stage 13 - 2012 Tour de France. All photos by Karen at PedalDancer®