Another cold and very windy day, but I did this race last year and expected things to go like clockwork again. After all, the camera was high up and next to a very narrow finishing road, so I was ready for some good pictures. How easy it is for plans to fall apart!

The race came through the finishing area in the usual direction, that is along the wall of the dam. However, on the last lap the riders came through in the other direction so that they would have to approach up a fairly steep hill. This would make it easier for the judges, but harder for me because the light would hit the riders from a different angle to all the previous approaches.

This first Lynx image shows how the pictures were for most of the day. I have to say that they were pretty good in spite of the single body numbers in the middle of the back.

For the race finish, there was too much shadow so I had to enhance the picture to bring up the details. See the next picture for an example of this - very poor quality. Still, at least most of the riders had shoulder numbers which I could make out.

With hindsight I should have treated the race as a straight-in finish like the Tour of Britain, and not adjust the camera for the first few passes. Likewise I could have slowed the scanning rate to cope with the uphill approach. I still don't agree with the idea of changing the direction of the race. We do many other events which have a fast finish and the judges seem to cope with them.

Now then, last year I included a few photographs of the area to show what a pleasant location this is. I couldn't resist these next two below. On the left is the choppy water in the reservoir throwing lots of spray in my direction, and on the right is a rather picturesque rainbow. I've never got a picture of a rainbow before, so I'm pleased with that.