Sports photography presents challenges that attract me like a finger to an itch. The only thing that keeps me from fulfilling my itch is time.

So when I had a couple of free hours before church today, I couldn’t resist the urge to chase pro and amateur cyclists on their 20km individual time trial on the Ndumberi – Limuru road.

Shooting on a route lined with many coffe estates that provided great scenic backgrounds, plus ideal cloud cover that filtered the sun to just the right intensity, makes me believe I had more fun with my Canons than cyclists on they Canyons but in need of a serious work out like some of the cyclists who were panting and wheezing at the finish line.

Just like in motorsports, I did not try to capture everything because this way, I’d have missed more and shot less. I positioned myself at three spots along the route and shot from there.

The photo below was a happy accident. It was taken after the race was over and the cyclists were returning to the start line. I wanted to get a panning shot like above but they were riding downhill and too fast. In my attempt to keep up with them, I got what I consider the most artistic sports shot I’ve ever taken.

You can see more shots here.