A.E.LANDES PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG.

Blistering heat? Choking dust? Hill climbing for eight hours? Sounds about right for the Marysville MASS Mountain Bike Race. Jeez, I did one lap for fun and went through all of my water and just about keeled over. Throw in a nighttime time trial and a short-track race on Sunday, and that’s a killer weekend. I got lots of goodies (photographically speaking) throughout the weekend, including shots from the Slowest Downhill Challenge and the Huffy Toss. Kudos to Mike Kuhn and team for another great race (remember the Trans-Sylvania Epic? Same promoter!).

Here is a gallery of the Marysville MASS Mountain Bike Race highlights.

And see the Complete Gallery and Print/Download Ordering here.

Wow – I really cannot tell you how much fun (and work!) this week has been! Hanging around this kooky crowd may have affected (or infected) my brain – truly, I am already craving next year’s race and blacked it out from my professional and social calendars. The front image is from one of my favorite racer-through-the-stream set-ups, and not to mention Leadville 100 Champ Rebecca Rusch in this image (name-drop here!). The final days of the Epic were amazing, with crushed souls and cracked Chris King headset races littering the Central PA forests. Looking forward to next year with Mike and Ray at TSE 2011!

Here is the highlight reel from the Trans-Sylvania Epic: Day 5-7.

And for those of you without jobs and a healthy mountain bike obsession, the TSE 2010 Complete Gallery.

The Trans-Sylvania Epic is most assuredly one of the highlights of my year. One week of stage race mountain biking in State College with plenty of rocks and roots to eat… *yum*. Lots of photos, lots of stories, and lots of sleep after exhausting days. And it’s only Tuesday. Here are the photos from Day 1 though Day 4, with hot stages and rainy downpours.

Check out the gallery here: Trans-Sylvania Epic 2010: Day 1-4.

And for all of you with a lot of time (and wanting to order prints and downloads), here is the Complete Trans-Sylvania Collection.

Most people started off with smiles and laughing, but after thirteen silly hours of mountain bike racing, there weren’t too many happy faces to be seen. Actually, there were some, but those people were hanging out by some of the massive bonfires and drinking beer at the end. It was another great time for mountain bikers in Leesburg, VA, and the setting offered a wide variety of lighting and backgrounds (a photographer’s playground). I was trying some more non-traditional shots, involving flashes and wide-angles and long-exposures, so hopefully if you raced, you will see yourself posed in the most flattering position: rubber side down and bib shorts up.

Here is the cream of the crop: Plum Cyclery Baker’s Dozen 2010.

And here is the complete collection of images, with the ability to purchase/download images: Baker’s Dozen 2010 Complete Collection. If you don’t see yourself, send me a shout and I will see if I can find your number.

When most people are enjoying their hot chocolate and fire inside, there are those who forgo conventional wisdom and play outside in the snow and dirt in Spandex. This was Plum Grove Cyclery’s Snotcycle 2010 out in Leesburg, VA (and no, I didn’t pick the name). The race went on as it snowed harder and harder, and by the time I was done photographing, my hands were no better than if they were made of wood. I threw on the flash for some snow-sparkling effects, and had a great time with Greg (another guy wanting to stand outside in the cold with a camera) along the way.

Here is a quick look at the Plum Grove Cyclery: Snotcycle 2010 Gallery.

To order prints and view more photos, click on the Snotcycle 2010 Print Website. (If you don’t see any pictures of you, just contact me with your rider number and bike/jersey).

Well, well… What do we have here? 101 miles of mountain biking through some of the best/rockiest trails PA has to offer? I guess the next best thing to actually riding in the race is photographing it. It was a really damp and humid morning, with plenty of fog and sweaty rocks for the riders to roll over. I got a bit too excited by them coming through a mud puddle (I really needed to set up some off-camera flash to get the shots I wanted), but I think that the back-lit riders coming across the ominous Three Bridges section are some of my favorite mountain biking images yet.

Here is a quick gallery of the Wilderness 101 Mountain Bike Race.

If you want to see a more extensive collection of images or order prints, go here: Wilderness 101 Mountain Bike Race Print Order Site.

PS – Don’t see any pictures of you? Let me know, and I will see if I have any to post.