Tuesday 19 October 2010

a bit of this and that

There is a wonderful feeling when a major project at work is complete. I do love it.

It has been a strange few days around here. Firstly, I managed a 70km ride last Saturday between Cambridge and Brantford. The ride out was fantastic - three of us went - and fast. However, for some reason, I was not into it mentally and "ran out of gas" about 15km from the end. I had to be towed back (ironically, the person who towed me is someone that I got into cycling a number of years ago who, in return, got me back into it this year.) Sucking wheels because you are too weak to keep up sometimes sucks. ha ha. My reason for not being mentally all there had to do with that then unfinished work project.

Sunday, I had a wonderful run. I managed about 12.25km or so at over 11km per hour. I am not fast, but am consistent with my speed. What made the run great was the fact that for most of it, I felt like I was floating. It was as effortless as the ride the day before hurt. Guess who had the work project almost done?

Monday was good too. I commuted in on my bike (30km round trip) and had a terrific day at work. All went wonderfully, and the work project ended complete by the end of the evening.

Which brings us to today's festivities - another 42 km of rail trails. We flew. It was nice and fast and mentally, I was right on and able to totally ignore minor leg burn and just keep the hammer down. Wonderful.

I don't think I should really push it when the work pressure mounts. Good thing it doesn't mount like that often - only three times a year usually.

***

In other news, last Saturday, my daughter flew into the house all frantic and asked (begged?) to go to the place where her friends were going - namely a roller derby in New Hamburg.

We looked at each other.

We thought about it.

We said, ok.

It was not what I was expecting. Let's be honest, I was not sure what to expect, but I was not expecting to have as much fun as I had. All three of us - plus my daughter's friend and her family - had a total hoot.

Here is the result:


The lighting was a challenge. You see, arenas with black painted ceilings to not make for perfect photo venues. I found myself at iso3200 (not an Olympus E-3's strong suit unless you get the exposure perfect) and my lens wide open and struggling to maintain 1/200 a second shutter speed. It was enough to make me pine, ever so slightly, for the 1d mkIII I saw someone using. I shall have to practice a bit more and see what happens next time. I should think with better panning technique, I could sustain a lower shutter speed and drop the iso to 1600 which is a much better option for my current gear. Also, it would give a nice bit of motion blur should I get it right.

Going back is going to happen :)

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