U.S. Wind Map

Stumbled across this really cool vectorized wind map of the USA while perusing the Tour Divide discussion thread. I didn't see a way to embed the map, so the link will have to do. Enjoy!

Transit of Venus

Over the past 5 weeks or so I've been able to experiment with some really cool celestial events. First there was the Supermoon, then the Annular Eclipse, now the Transit of Venus!! I've never really followed these kind of events, only by accident, but now that I have a small capability to capture them, it's really quite fun! It also helps being in Arizona where we usually don't have to worry too much about cloud cover!!

So for this rare cosmic event I was going to use my homemade solar filter from the eclipse viewing. I was also working both of my jobs so I only had a small window of opportunity...or did I?  The first couple of shots I set up on the parking structure at Sky Harbor Internat'l. I then decided to take my gear with me to work with the hope that I could capture a few shots just before sunset.

There she is!! 1/1000th exposure.

This one was using 1/1500th exposure

I managed to only snap one photo, about 30 minutes before sunset. Notice the new position of Venus compared to the first two photos.

I had to adjust the exposure down to 1/350th for this one.

My flight came in and I raced around the tarmac as fast as a tug will allow hoping to beat the sunset. I had a couple of minutes to grab my gear and set things up once again.

Kind of a cool shot, but not what I wanted. A couple of minutes too late! :(

If you're around, the next Transit of Venus will be in 2117!! Here are a few parting shots from the tarmac.

Downtown Phoenix

The 'new' tower.

Tour Divide 2012

The Granddaddy of self supported mountain bike racing is upon us, welcome to the 2012 Tour Divide!! The field is filling, up to almost 100 right now!! While I'm not physically taking part in the festivities, I will be glued to the blue dots over the next couple of weeks. This year I can put a few names to faces.

Keep a special eye on Babe th'Blue Tandem (Kurt Refsnider & Caroline Soong) and David Goldberg & Kurt Sandiforth (they both completed the AZT750 and are attempting the bikepacking triple crown, the Colorado Trail Race follows this in August). A few others I'll be watching are: Max Morris, Eric Foster and Eszter Horanyi.

EDIT: Arno Minner added himself to the TD, riding northbound. So he's also in the running for the Triple Crown, Go Arno!

Friday morning the field starts rolling, best of luck out there, ride strong, ride safe!
Follow the race LIVE below or open a new window via Trackleaders.