November 13, 2022
Photos From Old Negatives
I've recently been scanning some old negatives (not slides). Here are a few of them.
Sal and me on the Cape Cod National Seashore near Provincetown. Kodak TMax 400 film, late 1980s.
A tree in Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain (Boston) 1980s. TMax 400 film.
Diamond Head Lighthouse on Oahu, November 1986. Kodak Gold 100 film.
Apparently I went to a college wrestling meet in Boston and shot TMax 3200 film, but I don't recall doing this.
This is how I would clean snow, sand and salt off my Diamond Back while I lived in Boston. TMax 3200 film.
The grave of Howard Hughes in Houston, November 1989. Tri-X film.
A panorama of the Boston skyline shot from a hill in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. That's Harvard stadium in the center of the photo (in Allston). Sometime in 1989, Fujifilm.
Modern headstones in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, 1989. Tri-X film.
Williams Tower in Houston shot from Waterwall Park in 1989. Tri-X film.
Roosevelt Cottage on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, 1989. Fujifilm.
West Quoddy Head Light in Maine, 1989. Fuifilm.
Stegosaurus by Alexander Calder in Hartford, Connecticut, 1990. Kodak Gold 200 film.
Washington County Courthouse in Brenham, Texas, 1989. Tri-X film.
permalink | November 13, 2022 at 05:45 PM | Comments (1)
October 20, 2022
Tour de Palm Springs
Yeah, we're talking about the Tour de Palm Springs that took place last February, not next. I went out and photographed the cyclists as they were riding south on Little Morongo. It's been eight months, but I took a lot of photos so they took a long time to edit. The complete set of photos can be seen here, but I'll give you two samples:
permalink | October 20, 2022 at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)
September 2, 2022
Getting Around On The Playa
2019.
permalink | September 2, 2022 at 06:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2022
My Work Commute
permalink | August 21, 2022 at 06:00 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2022
Million Dollar Theatre
A good shot of the Million Dollar Theatre while the Los Angeles World Naked Bike Ride was passing by. Photo by westwood1727.
permalink | June 28, 2022 at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)
May 6, 2022
Four Kodachromes From The 1990s
"Hiawatha" by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and "The Struggle of the Two Natures in Man" by George Grey Barnard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, Kodachrome.
Myself, posing with my bike and David K.'s bike, 1992, Kodachrome.
A mobile by Alexander Calder at the National gallery of Art, 1992, Kodachrome.
A Veterans' cemetery, but I don't know which one or where. 1992, Kodachrome.
permalink | May 6, 2022 at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2022
Masshole Cop
I never bicycled on Route 9 in Massachusetts, nor would I. There are plenty of parallel routes that are safer and much more pleasant for cycling. Neverethless, it is legal to ride on Route 9, and this guy does it all legally. Cop makes the stupid assertion that you can't ride a bicycle on state highways! I'd like to see them try to enforce that.
I recall one year when I was bicycling across New Jersey. I had done this before, but the way the land lies in NJ, there are no straight east-west routes from NYC to Delaware Water Gap except for I-80. Following the usual 2-lane roads that one would bicycle on requires you to angle north and then south as one moves west, expending a lot of time and calories that one would rather conserve. Then I discovered that a cyclist could get a permit from the New Jersey DOT to ride on the shoulder of I-80 between Delaware Water Gap and somewhere west of the George Washington Bridge. I don't recall exactly where that eastern cutoff was, but it made perfect sense because the interchanges further east from that point became too huge and complex for a cyclist to safely negotiate.
So I got that permit one year and got on I-80 west of the George Washington Bridge and had a great ride! To my surprise, it was nicer and felt safer than a lot of 2-lane roads I had ridden. There was less debris on the shoulder of I-80 than I would normally encounter on a 2-lane road; I could ride further away from the motor vehicle traffic on I-80; and the rumble strip separating the travel lanes from the shoulder meant I didn't have to keep a constant eye over my shoulder for idiot drivers who might try to pick me off.
Everything went fine for quite a while, until I heard a voice from out of nowhere. Looking around I saw that a NJ state trooper had stopped way over on the left shoulder of the westbound lanes and was using his loudspeaker to yell at me. I was impressed that it was loud enough so I could understand him, despite the three lanes of traffic between us. He told me to "go back down" the entrance ramp I had just passed. That would normally be a fairly dangerous action, since motorists coming up the entrance would not expect to come face to face with a wrong-way cyclist. So I walked my bike down the entrance ramp - and waited. I thought the cop would come to me to cite me or talk to me, but he never showed up. So I got back on I-80 and rode to the net exit, thinking he might be waiting there, but he was not. I decided to continue on all the way to Delaware Water Gap and never encountered another cop on the way.
permalink | March 19, 2022 at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
March 4, 2022
Cycling In The Boston Area
permalink | March 4, 2022 at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2022
Four Shot On KONO! Monolit 64 Film
These were all shot on KONO! Monolit 64 film last month.
At the corner of Tachevah and Palm Canyon.
A cholla just outside of Joshua Tree National Park.
In the foreground: Albert Frey's Cree House.
permalink | February 21, 2022 at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2022
Tour de Palm Springs
I went out to watch the riders on Little Morongo Road during the Tour de Palm Springs.
permalink | February 20, 2022 at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2022
Four Digitals In DHS
You can see some riders in the Tour de Palm Springs coming along Little Morongo Road after their rest stop at Mission Lakes Market Place.
In front of the inactive (AFAIK) MedMen cultivation facility.
Mt San Gorgonio catching the morning light above Desert Hot Springs High School.
permalink | February 19, 2022 at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2022
Four Grave Photos
All of these were shot on Kodachrome in October 1990. I was probably preparing for the Tour De Graves or participating in the actual tour. The Tour De Graves was a bicycle ride that visited most (if not all) of the city-owned cemeteries in Boston. That proved to be too long a ride for some of the people who turned out for it, so in subsequent years it was shortened to exclude the cemeteries that are further out from the center of the city. These photos (or some of these) might be in Mt. Hope Cemetery, but I have been unable to determine for sure which cemetery any of these are in.
permalink | January 23, 2022 at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2022
Four Old Kodachromes
Provincetown viewed from atop the Pilgrim Monument, Kodachrome, 1991.
The Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown, Kodachrome, 2002.
Old North Church, Kodachrome, 2002.
Riding to a bike rally in way-upstate New York I crossed over this divide, Kodachrome, 1992.
permalink | January 22, 2022 at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2021
What You Can Do With A Track Bike And A Lot Of Practice
Plus a bit of rain to slicken the pavement.
permalink | December 29, 2021 at 05:41 PM | Comments (0)
December 28, 2021
Four More On Let It Snow! Film
All of these were shot with Film Photography Project's Let It Snow! film which is sensitive into the infrared zone. I used a dark red filter.
A Palm Springs bike rack.
The fountain in the new Downtown Park in Palm Springs.
Another shot of "History of Suspended Time" by Gonzalo Lebrija, this time with Palm Springs Pride happening in the background.
The mural at Delicia's on Pierson Boulevard in Desert Hot Springs.
permalink | December 28, 2021 at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 9, 2021
Woulda Been Helpful...
...thirty years ago for me. New York State now has the Empire State Trail, a system of bicycle and pedestrian paths and routes that reach from Manhattan to Canada and from Albany to Buffalo.
permalink | November 9, 2021 at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
September 30, 2021
Los Angeles World Naked Bike Ride 2012
I wasn't able to participate in this year's LAWNBR, but just yesterday I did happen to come across this video shot at the beginning of the 2012 naked bike ride, which was the first LAWNBR I rode. The video has been lounging over at Ipernity all these years, where it appears only 11 people have seen it. So I copied it over to Vimeo.
permalink | September 30, 2021 at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2021
Three In California; One in Boston
Here I am on Ocean Beach in San Francisco in the days just before California AIDS Ride 2 started in May 1995. This was my Cannondale bike's first trip to the west coast, so I wanted to baptize it with Pacific Ocean water.
Park Street Church and Park Street Station shot on Agfachrome in December 1992. In the foreground is the Brewer Fountain.
Prosperity Cleaners on Cole Street in San Francisco, May 1995.
permalink | September 23, 2021 at 07:33 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2021
Cavendish Ties Mercx
A great summary for American non-cyclists of what's happening with Mark Cavendish on the Tour de France. I believe this is the first time I've seen a stage winner of the Tour openly weeping after his wins. For those blocked by WSJ's paywall:
An Emotional Comeback at the Tour
JASON GAYOn the verge of leaving the sport, Mark Cavendish equals Eddy Merckx's legendary record of 34 stage wins
To appreciate the full picture of what Mark Cavendish is doing right now at the Tour de France—to understand why this story is so thrillingly emotional and unexpected that it's making grown, grizzled cycling fans weepy— you've got to appreciate where Cavendish was, not terribly long ago.
And where was he?
He was all but out of the sport. Done. Kaput. A shell of his former, spandexed self.
There are comebacks in sports, and then there is this one: Mark Cavendish, the 36-year-old missile from the Isle of Man, back from the brink and born anew, winning four stages at the 2021 Tour and tying bike legend's Eddy Merckx's record of 34 stages Friday with a brilliant closing gallop in Carcassonne.
It's a feat so improbable, not even Cavendish was willing to consider it, until maybe a few days ago.
Why would he? A few months back, it would have been outrageous to think Cavendish could even start the 2021 Tour. He hadn't won a stage of cycling's grandest event since 2016. He hadn't even been invited to participate in it since 2018.
A close-to-unbeatable tornado in his 20s, Cavendish fell apart as he entered his mid-30s. He endured bad luck, bad crashes, awkward fits with mediocre teams, and was flattened by successive bouts with the Epstein-Barr virus, which drained his energy and stripped his unshakable sprinter's confidence. Depression reared from the darkness.
A once-swaggering phenom was humbled. The man they call "Cav" collected 30 Tour stage victories by 2016, and then, abruptly, he couldn't win at all. He kept pushing on, turning the pedals, but it became difficult to watch. After a grueling race last fall, he tearfully told a reporter: "That's perhaps the last race of my career."
Please understand: Bike sprinting is an underrated head game. You've got to have ferociously strong legs, yes, and it helps to have some talented teammates to deliver you close to the finish line, but in the final, furious meters, you have to believe, unequivocally, to barrel out of that blurry pack at 45 MPH and gun it for the finish, elbows wide, head over handlebars, brakes be damned.
Cav wasn't sure if he could believe again.
"I was kind of lost in the wilderness," Cavendish told me in April.
The sport had moved on.
"It'd just felt like everybody had given up," he said.
Cavendish had to cobble together his own, last-ditch offer just to stick around. Last winter, he grabbed a lifeline from an old team, Deceuninck-Quick-Step, and a bike sponsor, Specialized, but expectations were minimal. Maybe Cav could help out with the young riders. Maybe he could swipe a victory at a C-list race.
Win stages of the Tour de France? Close the gap with Merckx's 34, a mark which loomed over cycling like DiMaggio's 56?
Ha, ha. No way. It was such a ridiculous proposition that Cavendish grew to loathe being asked about it.
In the spring, he showed a flash of his old self, winning four sprint stages of the Tour of Turkey. It was a stirring moment, enough to walk away from the sport with his head held high, but it wasn't France in July. Cavendish wasn't mentioned in Deceuninck-Quick-Step's Tour de France plans. The team had a strong, younger sprinter in Sam Bennett, who'd won the green jersey as the Tour's top speedster in 2020.
They were set. Cav would again watch the Tour on TV.
Then Cavendish got lucky— lucky in the grim way a cyclist doesn't ever want to be lucky, but fortunate still. Bennett, struggling to rehabilitate from a knee injury, got scratched from the Tour roster. Cavendish was summoned off the bench, less than a week before the start.
And since then, it's been like turning a switch, back to the brilliant old days. Cavendish has stepped into the cockpit of a cycling powerhouse—Deceuninck-Quick-Step is an outfit in which Cavendish has a reigning world champion, Julian Alaphilippe, helping to protect him in the pack, and other teammates have lugged Cavendish through difficult mountain stages. In the sprints, Cavendish barely has to stick his nose into the wind until the closing kilometer.
But you know what? He still has to do it in those closing meters, and he's done it, turning on those diabolical jets everyone presumed were long, long gone. He's been speedy and crafty and calm under pressure. This may not be peak Cavendish cannonball, but in a Tour that has seen some top competition like Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan depart with injuries, it's been plenty enough.
Cav's joy has been—well—a joy. Late edition Cavendish brims with gratitude, to his teammates, to Deceuninck- Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere, to the entire sport, his family, and to his fans who never gave up. It seems he, too, can't quite believe it. The Brash Missile has gone Warm and Fuzzy. A sport is swooning.
Even Eddy seems OK with it. Merckx, aka "The Cannibal," is cycling's Babe Ruth—and, as he recently reminded La Gazzetta dello Sport, he won his 34 Tour stages in an assortment of sprints, mountain climbs and time trials. There's no comparison between what Eddy did and what Cav's doing as a sprint specialist. Still, the 76-year-old respectfully allowed: "He's been through a difficult time and has fallen in love with cycling again. That's a great message for young people in the sport."
It is indeed. And it isn't yet done. More mountains are coming, which will be another slog for Cavendish, but there are a pair of sprint stages late, including a final romp on Sunday, July 18 on the cobbles of the Champs-Élysées. A record-breaker could be coming, but I would caution you that nothing in cycling's ever given, that luck can change in an instant, and you can never count on an outcome, but you already know that. You're watching Mark Cavendish win at the Tour de France again, and it's enough to take anyone's breath away.
Mark Cavendish had to cobble together his own, last-ditch offer just to stick around.
permalink | July 10, 2021 at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2021
Two AIDS Rides, Two From DC
A narrow, isolated road that was not used on California AIDS Rides after CAR2. It was a great road for bicycling, as it had very little traffic. It narrowed down to a width of just one lane. The trouble was that if a cyclist had an accident and needed medical help, it took forever to get an ambulance and medical crew to them. At least two accidents did happen along here, and the injured riders had to be medevaced. Ektachrome, 1995.
CAR2 riders crossing a little flood, Ektachrome, 1995.
DC Metro in 2001, Kodachrome.
Winter shadows in DC, Kodachrome, 2001.
