Author Archives: Jeff C

Florida 2012: My Glamorous Nieces

May 28, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

There are several nice family/vacation pictures from my trip to the Destin / Panama City area with my sister and her clan (plus a couple of great guests). But I thought these shots of my lovely nieces (Caitlin, 20, in brown stripes; Grace, 15 in blue) deserved a page of their own. They were taken on the balcony of our rented condo. Behind each picture is an ongoing debate about optimal smiling techniques, which side they felt (strongly) was their “best” side, and how they were going to keep their hair out of their faces.

For the photography folks: Nikon D800 (rocks), natural light on a shaded, open balcony. Evening sun on the beach behind. No tricks. 100mm or so, at f4 to blur the background.

Florida 2012: Coastal Dune Lakes

May 26, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

Right behind some of the stunning beaches of Florida’s Walton County are some small lakes called “coastal dune lakes.” Apparently, this type of lake –- created by natural coastal sand dunes that act as dams to hold back freshwater streams – exists in only a handful of places in the world. They have partial and intermittent connections to the Gulf, so they’re a mix of salt and fresh water. Surrounding the Florida lakes (and covering thousands of square miles of the panhandle) are tall, spindly “tropical” pine trees (slash and longleaf pines). Around the lakeshore and in just the right light, they somehow look like a taller, watery version of the African acacia trees on the Serengeti.

Last week, I found myself wandering around some of these lakes a couple of mornings in the twilight before a 5:45a.m. sunrise (I’m great fun to vacation with!). Yes, my feet did get wet. I kept wishing for a boat or fisherman or animal of some sort (or even one of my still-sleeping nieces) to provide a real focal point for these pictures, but alas I had to make do with the striking views of the lakes, trees and morning sky.

Ironman Texas 2012: Just Spectating

May 19, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

IM Texas swim leader Brandon Marsh approaching swim finish

IM Texas lead group “drafting” behind Marsh near swim finish

I got up early to drive to the Woodlands to watch some of Ironman Texas today. A year ago, a group of friends and I were among the swim-capped throng out there in that icky lake at sunrise, but with IM Texas already crossed off our lists, this year I was thrilled to be just a spectator. The outing today was mostly another chance to try to figure out my cameras. I only watched the swim — I started home when the racers headed out for their five-plus-hour bike ride. Like all full Ironman events, the swim is 2.4 miles long, but the IM Texas swim course has a unique finish up a canal (that’s what you see in most of the pictures — taken overhead from a bridge) that leads to the Woodlands Town Center area. Don’t ask what’s on the shallow bottom.

The water seems a lot less peaceful when you’re back in the pack:

The start:

Ruby Slippers

May 10, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

My god-daughter Olivia Reasoner is back in the spotlight. Last month she was a “chorus girl” in a HITS production at Miller Outdoor Theatre. This week she was front and center at the HITS theatre on 18th Street, donning the iconic red shoes and blue gingham of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Judy Garland herself would have been proud. Olivia was perfect for the role shepherding her three sidekicks to Oz: she clearly lacks neither heart nor brains nor courage. And she can sing!

That’s Olivia, above, outside the HITS theatre with a bouquet from her grandparents, Harry and Macy Reasoner. The first shot in the grid below is Olivia with her beautiful mom, Susan. Somehow her dad Barrett’s mug didn’t make it into the photos. All four of Olivia’s brothers and sisters were there to watch, then clap, now brag.

Tropical Beast — St. Croix Ironman 70.3

May 7, 2012 by Jeff C | Comments Off

These are just pocket camera shots. Obviously I’m not the photographer in several of them.

About twenty miles into the bike course of the St. Croix Ironman 70.3, there’s a hill called the “Beast.” It lasts less than a mile, but the average grade is about 15%. That means you climb the equivalent of a 50-story building (on a bicycle) in the nine-or-so minutes it takes someone like me to ride up. The Beast gets a lot of attention, but that’s just nine minutes out of your six-hour day, and just a small fraction of the hills you have to scale on bike and on foot. Thankfully, they haven’t figured out how to inject nasty hills into the swim course.

The 70.3 in the race name means it’s a “half” Ironman – which is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. Scott Humphries, Shane Merz and I just finished the race Sunday. The three of us have done “full” Ironman events (twice as long), so a little laziness and arrogance may have slipped into our training for this shorter race. These are not good training strategies, so we were appropriately punished by the otherwise-lovely St. Croix terrain. In a six-plus-hour event, Scott wound up beating me by 36 seconds! I should’ve spent less time in the Porta-potties (or maybe more time training in the pool last month), I guess. Shane was not too far back (he later confessed that he’d accidentally done the entire bike ride with his bike shorts on backward!?! Ouch.). We all finished and had a fine time doing so.

It rained much of the early morning, so the twisty bike descents were wet and scary and a few places had six inches or more of running water on the road. Triathlon bikes were not designed for any of that, so there was some nervous riding. The consolation was that the sun was not beating down on us as we’d expected.

The event is centered in Christensted in St. Croix – the southernmost of the Virgin Islands. The swim start is unique here: it starts on the beach of a tiny island (pictured above in daylight) in the bay – and you have to swim out to that island (just at sunrise) before the race even starts. It sounds odd, but as the race director said, “If you have a problem with that, you’re in the wrong race.”

Lance Armstrong was competing in the pro division. He’d started his career as a triathlete and did this very race 24 years ago. This time, all eyes were on #7 in the yellow swim cap. Standing on the beach at the swim start was the last time we saw him, of course. Obviously he finished miles (hours) ahead of us, though he came in third behind Andy Potts of the USA and Frenchman Stephan Poulat. After they finished but while the race continued for hundreds of us mere mortals, Lance’s police-escorted SUV came right down the middle of the otherwise-closed-to-traffic run course, whisking him back to his hotel. Meanwhile winner Andy Potts was hanging out in the finish area taking pictures and shaking hands. That’s him in red giving me the “thumbs up” after the race. Unlike Lance, Andy schlepped his own gear like the rest of us. Lance no-showed the awards ceremony. I think I became an Andy Potts fan yesterday.

Earlier in the week, we’d met Lance’s two pilots (he travels in a Gulfstream 4, yellow stripes, tail # N7LA) and spent a couple of days hanging out with them. Super-nice guys. To Scott and I (both small-plane pilots ourselves), Lance’s pilots may be bigger celebrities than Lance himself. What a fine gig if you’re a commercial pilot: St. Croix this month, Hawaii the next, France the next, maybe Aspen after that . . . . Apparently, though, they were bored enough to hang out with us – and nice enough to email us after the race (from 41,000 feet in the air) to see how we did.

Special thanks to Scott’s and Shane’s understanding wives for tolerating this “guys’ trip” to the Caribbean. Given the constant rains (it’s still raining now), you should be glad you didn’t come this time. Scott’s next athletic stop is Ironman Switzerland in July. Then he, Shane and I do the Leadville 100 (Colorado mountain bike race) in August. Each will be twice as hard as yesterday’s outing, so we’ve all got some work to do.