I have done a few Nocturnes over the years, but never the Smithfield one until now. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I found out before the event that the race infrastructure was going to be similar to the setup seen on the Tour of Britain so I knew that it meant getting there early just to get in and put my kit out. A few pictures of the general layout show just what I mean - very much the same as the Tours. Although the racing started with some of the 'funny stuff' around 4 pm, the main events were not until later. In fact the Elite event was not due to finish until around 10 pm. The whole programme ran late and in fact it was well after 10.30 pm before it all ended. I had set up some of my floodlights which made a great difference to the picture quality, and the finish of the Women's race is shown below. Still quite a good readable image. By the way, the winner is on the nearside, just in the process of lapping a slower rider. By the time the Elites were finishing, there was absolutely no light apart from mine. Picture quality went downhill rapidly as can be seen below. However most of the numbers were readable and I was quite pleased with it all in the end. So a very long day. I was up at 4 am and did not get to the hotel until nearly 1 am the following day. |
