Adam and Jessa 09.04.09

As promised nearly a month ago, here are some more pics of Adam and Jessa's wedding.

Jessa getting ready. They had just moved all of their things into the new apartment a couple of days before the wedding, so the night before we hid all of the boxes so they would not be in every picture.

This is one of my favorites of the day. She looks so beautiful.

Jess chose to have bright red lips for the ceremony, which is great until she kissed Adam.

we snuck outside of the church to take some pics, while everyone arrived. It was nice to get outside away from wedding day chaos.

I love a good black and white photo. I have been experimenting with darker photos. It is not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it.

The rings.

This wedding was filled with prayer. This is their first prayer as a married couple, and then they chose to take their first communion as a couple together as well.

Both Adam and Jessa are breakfast food junkies, so for their reception, they chose to serve breakfast, and since cake is not acceptable for breakfast . . . they had CINNAMON ROLLS!!!

(Everything about that wedding was dark, yet this shot is not. . . go figure)

Tour of Missouri 2009

I was planning to update when I was done editing, but seeing as it has been a week and I am still not done editing, I have chosen to share some of my favorites from the week.

Jelly Belly handlebars. I love this shot. Do not be surprised to find it hanging on my wall in the near future.

George Hincape at the start of Stage 1 in St. Louis in his new National Champion Jersey

Team Columbia controlling the race as it passes through Lafayette Square.

Yaroslav Popovych making it look easy, as he travels through Soulard

Local police leading the way through downtown St. Louis, past Anheuser Busch brewery.

Mark Cavendish at the end of Stage 1, in yellow and posing on his new motorcycle for the crowd

Cavendish, Hincape, and VandeVelde leaving St. Genevieve. Christian lasted about another 15 be minutes before having to abandon the race with his broken left wrist.

Cavendish after his sprint win in Cape Girardeau, Stage 2

I had a lot of fun this year playing with the reflections in the riders glasses. You can see here how happy fans were to meet and receive autographs from the riders.

Another photo that I am in love with. It is interesting to see the variety between the shoes for a majority of the riders.

Bernhard Eisel at rider sign-in in Farmington, MO.

George Hincape signing autographs before the start of Stage 3 in Farmington

The Mavic service cars. Constantly seemed to travel behind them between finish and start stages.

Cavendish on the podium for the last time of 2009 in Rolla. He did not start stage 4 the next morning in St. James, because of a pulmonary infection. Last I heard he is still recovering . . .

Thor Hushovd enjoying his first win and first yellow jersey at the Tour of Missouri.

The peloton being led into the Stage 4 feedzone, by Marco Pinotti of Team Columbia-HTC

A bunch coming through the Jefferson City circuit. . . this is before the nasty crash that happened just east of the capital building.

David Zabriskie, National Time Trial Champion, showing his stuff at the Stage 5 TT in Sedalia.

Levi Leipheimer coming into the finish in Sedalia.

Thor Hushovd wearing the green during the time trial, having lost the yellow to JJ Haedo.

David Zabriskie signing autographs in the yellow jersey, which he gained by winning the individual time trial.

The peloton, led by a small breakaway, barreling through the streets of Kansas City, MO. What you can not see is that I found one of only 3 Starbucks in their city, and they had closed that day, because of the tour. If they had only known that the race will ALWAYS bring in business (even if the road is closed, just ask Park Ave Coffee)

One of the many future riders hanging out in the crowd in Missouri.

Christian VandeVelde (Garmin-2008 ToMO winner) presenting David Zabriskie (Garmin -2009 ToMO winner) with the yellow jersey and his Norton Wine (to the right is Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who is largely responsible for bringing in another professional sport to St. Louis)

Team Saxo Bank, ended up winning the overall team title taking it from last years winner Columbia HTC.

I want to again thank everyone who was a part of this race, from organizers to fans . . . The work and dedication that goes into making this race is amazing. Many Tours of this caliber are put on by entire countries, yet we (and California) are showing that the US can not only create a grand tour here, but we can have 2, highlighting the diversity of our Nation.

Night for now

unparralled day in sports

As many of you know, I have been an avid cycling fan for years, and quickly fell in love with having a tour here in Missouri. The speed at which it has gained respect in the sport still amazes me. In my time of following (and promoting it to fellow St. Louisians) I have been blessed to network with many of the people responcible for bringing cycling here. On Thursday night, I was offered an amazing chance to ride in a VIP car (which I honestly thought was nearly impossible, so again thank you) during the Sedalia Time Trial. Originally our car was going to follow Franco Pellizotti (41) and then pull over to let a few riders pass, then pick back up behind Jens Voigt (34). We expected to spend about 3-4 mins on the side watching. After about 1.3 mins, we had to get in the car because the men between the two of them were booking it. One of those men was Kanstantsin Siutsou. Our car decided to follow Siutsou and let the other car follow Jens (the roads were really tight and with all of the passing during this time trial, it was probably best) before we had caught up with Siutsou he had already passed one of the Liquigas rider's in front of him. When we cought up with him, the field looked like this

That is Siutsou in the forground, Franco Pellozotti between the cars in the "valley" and Anibal Borrajo (124) at the top of the next hill.

As you can see it became very crowded on the road at times. I believe that is Pellozotti's team car in front of the police car.

Siutsou passing Pellozotti, as you can see they are very close to catching Borrajo.

Our car behind Borrajo after Siutsou had passed him. We had to wait until their was an ample amout of room between them, so Borrajo could not draft and so we were not in his way.

One of the final turns before we came into the "tight" part of the course. For a small section of road, the race goes both directions on the road, so if a rider is posed to pass in this section it becomes a nightmare for the drivers who are responsible for their riders. Some of the smaller teams did not have follow cars for all of their riders, this was the case for Borrajo. Borrajo made back excelent time in the last 1k if the course, and he caught up with our car befor the turn off of the two way section, and was trying to get our attention. When our driver saw him, she quickly tried to get out of his way. The road had a sharp turn which all of us tried to make at the same time, unfortunately we all tried to take the same path. Our driver made the right hand turn as quick as possible, while trying to pull over to the side of the road, but Borrajo tried to pass us on the inside of the turn, instead of going around, and ended up crashing into the side of our car. So, what began as a "once in a lifetime opportunity", truly (I pray) was a ONCE in a lifetime event. Because it is not often that a race car and driver connect in a crash like that . . .

The crash was not to horrific, Borrajo climbed back on his bike and finished the TT, but his time was ruined. To be honest, I was more worried about our driver, who looked like she was in shock. All in all, it was an amazing trip and I would not change any of it (sorry Borrajo, but it makes the retelling so much better to reveal your crash)

That is it for now . . . I am off to catch up with editing and to catch my bus to KC for the final stage.

Brei

( I dare any other organization to provide a maore amazing experience. no really, NHL I dare you)

a bit from the road

I have to make this quick, as I am late to my cousin's wedding . . .

I just wanted to update everyone whith what's been going on this week with the Tour of Missouri. . . but, I do not have time for that so I will leave you with some pics . . .

That is all for now . . .

Just a Begining

Adam and Jess (my best friend) were married last night. I am not finished editing, but I had to share just a few pics, before I leave fot the Tour on monday.

Jessa getting ready. you can see her newly peirced nose, which reflects a peice of ancient wedding tradition of peircing a bride's nose (Ezekeil 16)

This pic is for Jess's cousin Amanda who could not make it to the wedding, because she is serving our nation in the USMC.

Jess love's her jewelry. She was very intentional about every peice.

This is during Jess and Adam's first meeting of the day.

This is my favorite, it is unedited (except a little contrast on their faces) . My flash is a bit sketch, but sometimes it does amazing things . . .

More to come soon.