Watching bicycists racing is awesome.   The Tour de Lafayette bicycle race was held tonight, about two miles away from my house.  My wife and two daughters (9 and 11) rode our lighted bikes through the dark to watch parts two races.  We brought our little consumer grade camera with us (the Canon SD1100SI) to see if we could squeeze a good photo out of fast bicycles racing through the still night.   There was lighting at each of the corners of the 1 mile square course, so we parked ourselves under one of those lights.   Most of our photos were total blurs, even when we tried panning with the bikes as they blew by us from left to right.   I did manage the photo on the right, though.

The winning photo of the night, however, belonged to my 11-year old daughter  JuJu, who at first thought she had let the pack get too far in front when she snapped her photo (below).   It’s a neat effect:  speed, darkness and well-tuned athletes.  You’ll have to imagine the cool night air and the gracious encouragement of the spectators.

Click on these photos for larger versions.