2014 Buses at Bon Echo

What a fabulous weekend! The weather was perfect, the colours are almost at their best and the turnout was good.

Previous years have been cold or windy or both (you can read my 2011 entry for a little look into that!) but this year made up for all the past weekends. There was no real organization as an "event"; it's more of a come-as-you-are thing. In fact it almost didn't happen this year until Nancy picked a date and said "let's go". I would guess there were about 30 buses in total but I didn't actually count them... I do know that all the best campsites were full.

Vanalong - a stretch Westy

I loaded up the camper during the day & we got on the road around 3pm hoping to be ahead of rush hour traffic. It wasn't too bad; one significant slowdown that added close to an hour to the trip though. So we arrived in the dark which is often the case. Fortunately the site we had was really flat so getting set up wasn't as difficult as it often is. We spent the evening with Robin and Jouko (and their pup Bruno of course), sitting around a campfire as the gang all rolled in. Unfortunately we didn't take the opportunity to eat as soon as we arrived so it was close to 10 before we went back to the camper to make dinner. More visiting and then it was past midnight and everyone decided it was time to call it a night. A beautiful starry night.

The night was mild so no heater was needed. And the morning was another bright, sunny and warm one. We had a leisurely start to the day; walking around with a morning coffee saying hi to all or VW friends can take an hour or more. Then it was time to get ready for a ride. We had thought about going to some trails that John and Catrina have told us about and I think if they were going we would have enjoyed going there too. But John wasn't feeling well (turns out his appendix was acting up so he went in for surgery before the weekend was over!) so it was just the two of us. As it would have been around 12-15km just to get to the trails, we opted to explore some local things. The High Pines trail was a blast and just technical enough. Not long enough though so we went off in search of more. In all the years I've been there I've never gone into the western part of the park. It's actually much bigger than the eastern side and has some long trails as well as hike-in and canoe-in camping. The gravel road is about 6km to the end at Joeperry Lake. 

The trail we tried to ride was too technical so we gave up and just enjoyed the gravel riding and the scenery. Beautiful blue sky, autumn colours, reflections in smooth lakes. Yup.

Andrea at Joeperry Lake

Joeperry Lake

Joeperry Lake

Just another little lake

Ian

 Then it was time for a little more socializing, with beer in hand rather than coffee. In previous years the Saturday highlight was a crockpot potluck but we hadn't heard about anything being organized so the gang of cyclists elected to make up our own potluck. There was an afternoon of beer ahead first though! Afternoon snacks were laid out over at Doug and Linda's site so I wandered over and spent some time chatting. And taking photos... btw, all the photos here are from my iPhone (a new 6). Not too bad! I had fun taking this gallery I call Hats which was inspired by Jim's straw hat hanging on his bike.

Jim

Gord

Frank

 The one exception to my iPhone photos was the time-lapse I did on the GoPro. I am disappointed with the battery life on it, this is the second time it's run out of juice too early. In the first cases it was a sunset that didn't make it all the way. This time I was hoping to capture the transition from sunset to starry night. What I did get are some awesome photobombs though!

Here's the setup of the camera...

And here's the video...

A camouflaged Babe

All too soon it was Sunday and time to get ready to head home. It was another beautiful day (the sunrise in the video is from Sunday morning) and no-one really wanted to go. There were a handful of people who were going to stay another night or two, something we learned as we wandered around in the morning saying our good-byes. This is generally the last VW campout for most of the group so it's slightly emotional. And definitely important to take the time for hugs and farewells. I'm already looking forward to the next camping season!

A camouflaged Babe with sunlight and campfire smoke

It's Not All About The Bike

Today was a "rest day" for me... no photography required, no driving, and no deadlines. So here's how it went:

I checked out of the Chateau Laurier which was a comfortable hotel for the few days I was there. Nothing exceptional but comfortable. Lugging my stuff the few blocks down to the team hotel where I dropped off one bag at the cargo van and then hopped on a bus to the train station. Most of the teams were on the train but the media had a separate car and I was happy to let them enjoy a day without me in their face.

My temporary mobile office on the train

 It was a few relaxing hours on the train, time I spent reading and thinking and just enjoying being free of responsibility. The train arrived a little after noon just as the rain was beginning to come down and we all hopped onto another bus to the Montreal Delta hotel. Somehow my reservation wasn't in the system so it took a little time to sort out and once that was taken care of I had a few hours to kill until my room was ready. It was still raining but I went for a walk around to see what was in the the area. Nothing really caught my attention so I spent time reading in the lobby while waiting.

When my room was finally ready they let me know they had upgraded me to a bigger room... have a look and see if you think it was worth the wait. I would have loved to have this for the 3 days in Quebec rather than the one night here but I'm happy to have it at all.

HDMI hookup for my computer

Now that's a shower!

And before I forget, this is still a UCI World Tour bike event so I guess it is a little about the bike... I spent some time chatting with a friend from Belgium who Andrea and I first met in 2010 and very much enjoyed his company on and off the bike. I've seen Eric a few times here at the GPCQM races but today I brought along my iPad and fired up FaceTime so Andrea could say hi too. There's a bike story in there, one that includes a volcano :)

I'll leave this entry off with a parting shot and save the rest of the bike shots for tomorrow. So it's a little about the bike after all.

Creative carving

Gerrans Repeats in Quebec

Today was an amazing day of racing here in Quebec... it was a great temperature for racing and the light was bright and vibrant for photography. It's also a very scenic place to take photos :)

Rather than talk about the day, here are a few photos I like... enjoy. Look for more on PedalMag.com tomorrow.

Now I need to go pack and get ready to head to Montreal tomorrow for the next race on Sunday.

Matteo Trentin was in a late break

The first World Champion to race the GPCQM

A fine line

Gerrans powered through the sprint

Frank Schleck in action

Ryan Anderson and champagne

GPCQM Day 1 - The Sprint Challenge

Just a quick update... it's late, I've just finished dinner after processing photos and videos and I have a long day ahead tomorrow.

Look for more coverage on PedalMag.com soon but meanwhile here are a few photos of the day. It was a great Canadian start to these Canadian World Tour events with Cody Canning taking the win. Not the first Canadian to claim a victory in the Sprint, I wonder what it will take to have a Canadian win one of these two World Tour events though.

Preparing

Finishing

Appreciating

It was great to catch up with a few people including Steve Bauer and Eric Van Lancker (check this video interview I did with them 2 years ago!) and it was great to see the start of the competition.

Tomorrow will be the first road race and I'll try to get a few photos online!

Settled In For The GPCQM

I got a real chuckle when I arrive at my hotel in Quebec (the media are all in the Chateau Laurier while the teams are a block away in the Delta Quebec). For the first time I came to this event without my trusty camper... I decided to fly as I was pressed for time. So what do I see in front of the hotel? See for yourself.

No, that's not Babe... just looks wonderfully similar! Maybe she's trying to tell me something. Aanyhow, it brought a big smile to my face and started my time here nicely.

Next up was the room... I'm at the very far end of the hotel with a view out to the inner courtyard (which at this time of the evening is wonderfully lit and pretty). One bed for all my gear, one bed for me, and a bath robe hanging in wait for lounging. It's going to a rough trip. 

Then it was off to a media session with four riders. It wasn't a really big deal and I actually though the questions were pretty lame. But I didn't ask any so I can't point any fingers! I'm sure these top riders were happy when it was done and they could get back to their preparations, massages, or meals.

Tomorrow will be the first race, one that I think is unique to the GPCQM event. It's an elimination sprint with each team entering one rider and two of the 4 riders in each heat move on to the next one. This is more like a track event than a road race but it's very spectator friendly and has always drawn big crowds in the past.

The forecast for tomorrow suggests there could be rain and that may have some affect on the day. In any case, the race doesn't start until 4pm so I'll get to enjoy a good part of the day wandering around in this lovely city. There was one disappointment today though... there's a lovely little crepe restaurant that I've gone to and was looking forward to going to for dinner today. It's gone :(

Back To Back Bike Events

It's been a busy weekend and it will be an even busier week ahead. And I'm very much enjoying it all.

After having a little down time after Shelter Valley I ended up having two very different events to shoot this weekend. The first one involved around 75 people, some lovely quiet forest trails and included some VW campers. The second one was closer to 3,000 people and 170km of roads to ride. Between the two I found I was a little tired at the end of it all.

Part one was the Sausage Suit Individual Time Trial put on by Dan Marshall of Substance Projects. He laid out a 15km loop of singletrack in the Dufferin Forest with options to do one or two laps. Each category had about 30 racers.

The evening included a campout with a corn roast and fire. Sadly we didn't get to enjoy all that much of it as I had to get on the road by 5:30 to get to Part Two...

The Epic Tour Halton is a Gran Fondo of epic proportions with a huge turnout and a lot of careful planning required. It's the biggest in the Greater Toronto Area and is similar in scale to the Centurion held up at Collingwood. Both are great events...

I was contacted by one of the organizers over a month ago to see if I was available for the day and while it was a tight fit I let him know I could make it. An early day with lots of different photo opportunities in a number of different locations made for some fun photos. I've delivered the gallery of my best shots this morning so I'm now all set to move on to the next event. But here are a few photos from the Epic first.

Next up? It's the Grand Prix Cycliste Quebec et Montreal which is now in its fifth year. These are the only two North American World Tour single day events on the UCI road calendar and are some of the most exciting races we get to see. I've been at all of them except last year when I wasn't up to the travel. But I'm on my way tomorrow... for a change I'll be flying rather than driving Babe. I just didn't have the time so instead I took her into the spa to get some minor work done while I'm away.

Here's my blog entry from the last time I was there...
http://nextchapter.kraikerphoto.com/2012/09/grand-prix-cycliste-de-quebec-et.html

With Matteo Trentin

SVFF 2014 - And Then It Was Over

All the planning and preparing was done for Friday and the gates to the 2014 Shelter Valley Folk Festival opened at noon for campers to get set up and then the festival gates opened at 5pm to let everyone in.

It's now Tuesday, a full day has gone by since SVFF ended and I'm still bopping along to the music ringing in my head. It seems to echo off all the images in my mind. What a fabulous weekend! I'll go back to Thursday since I didn't get many blog updates during the week.

I had spent the week putting in long days, eating delicious meals, and jumping into the lake at Wiklow Beach when I was able to. That was as close as I got to being refreshed and clean so I was happy to head home Thursday afternoon so I'd be able to have a shower and sleep at home for the night. Our plan was to get up early the next morning and head back to SVFF for 10am. That all worked out fine and it felt great to be able to shave my head and get clean. We got there just past 10 and were 8th in line for camping (they hand out a number when you arrive and then you line up to check-in according to your arrival... very civilized). Our friends Doug and Linda were #2 in line so we knew we'd get our usual camping area and there were enough of us in the early check-ins that we were able to set aside out usual space and keep room for the late arrivals.

Andrea and I at our front-row camping spot

Babe was looking in on the Pine Stage all weekend

 I spent a little time doing some final volunteer work while we waited to get into the camping area but once we were in the only work I did was to set up the Westfalia Way signs that Greg made. This is the 3rd year running for the temporary road to get named Westfalia Way and each year has been a limited edition sign with the year on the sign.

A Westfalia Way sign waiting for the signpost to arrive

Then it was time for the music! Friday night was only at the main stage (the 3 side stages were used during the day on Saturday & Sunday) and right from the start it was awesome. The opener was Union Duke, a Toronto band. Two highlights were Joel Plaskett (who played solo) and Danny Michel with his band to close the night. And then there was great music at the campfire after the main stage was done! More Union Duke along with campers playing their songs.

It all seems like a blur of activity... so much to do and listen to that it would be impossible to describe it all. Instead I'll pick a few of the highlights.

The music: I think this may have been the best line-up in the 4 years I've been coming. Lots of great surprises even from seasoned pros like Plaskett. The Quebecois band The Season surprised a lot people with their music and how incredibly young they are! James Hill (ukulele) and Anne on cello have a great sound and stage presence. The list goes on!

Our good friend Greg (maker of the signs) has also volunteered at SVFF and this year he was accepted to have a booth at the Artists Village for his Slow Lane Music instruments. He had quite an assortment of hubcap, license plate and cigar box guitars on hand plus some beat boxes. And he put on a workshop to show people how to build them. All very cool.

The instrument Greg is playing got a shout-out on the main stage

The Slow Lane Music Workshop

When I first published this I was remiss in skipping over one of the most important things from SVFF which is the opportunity to catch up with a very special family. Many of the folks who make this festival happen are people I only get to see once a year so the time together is both special and fun. So to all... a big THANKS and see you next year!

Other highlights were at some of the songwriter workshops that put a few musicians together with a theme. I think the one with Plaskett & Michel and NQ Arbuckle was the best. Three incredible talents, three huge egos, lots of great music and fun. And as an indication of how "real" this festival is, here's a shot Andrea took of Danny Michel being his own roadie...

Danny Michel being his own roadie

The music went on, the pleasures kept on coming, and then all of a sudden it was over. A few of other performs that I was impressed with include:
Ennis, De Temp Antan, along with Sherman Downey & The Ambiguous Case. Oh... and then there's Ashley McIsaac of course!

I spent yesterday processing images and shared a gallery with the SVFF Living Archives (you can look through them on my new website... it's not done yet but I have stopped using the old one so all new photos are destined for Kraiker.Photography).

Stay tuned for another time-lapse video! That's the one thing I still need to wrap up.

Jorge Miguel & his drummer

Gregory Hoskins with Ray Bonneville

Tune Your Ride is touring on bikes with all their gear

Henna

Danny Michel was a blast... go listen to his music!