On Saturday, we drove out to San Rafael to watch James ride in the San Rafael Twilight Criterium.  It was a series of races that took place in Downtown and the cyclists went basically around a block 40 times as fast as they could.  Since they went around so many times, it was a fun race to watch and I got lots of opportunities to experiment with my camera settings.

It was a pretty warm day out but since James is on a team that’s sponsored by Muscle Milk, we got to hang out under their tent for some relief.  Kumquat did rather well that day and only napped at the beginning.  It was too exciting for her and she seemed to enjoy the noise and all the hustle and bustle around her.  It was also a good trial run for us for Hawaii.  We experienced what it was like to have warmer weather with a sweaty baby and no stroller.  This is us in the Japanese restaurant where we had lunch.

We had to take turns holding and entertaining her while we ate.  It’s an interesting challenge – especially when she’s hungry too.

I managed to get a couple of decent shots of James in the race.  They zoom by so quickly that you have to be just as quick with the focus, pressing the shutter, and moving the camera with the rider.

After James’ two races, he and Jes went to the beer garden while Kumquat and I hung out on the curb watching the other races go by.  We also found a Starbucks along the course and got a really good corner window seat to watch the action in the air-conditioned shop.  I also had to be creative with where I changed her diapers too.

Later that evening, we had dinner at a restaurant that was along the course and saw the pros zoom by from the window.

We finished in time to catch the last half of the race and they were so fast that it was just a blur and a huge gush of wind that would blow by every 30 seconds.

I’m surprised I managed to capture this rider with my camera.

Here’s a video of them going by.  Jes had a good time watching right up front with his trusty cowbell.