When I was in my late teens, I discovered the sport of cycling. I had a used blue Trek aluminum road bike, with aerodynamic wheels, clip-less pedals and aero-bars. My friend Chris and I would hit the bike trails by sunrise during our summer vacation. The Washington and Old Dominion bike trail in Northern Virginia was our home. This was before Lance Armstrong put the sport in the main stream.

Earlier this week I got to cover stage 1 of the Tour of Missouri. It was a 75-mile race that started in downtown St. Louis, and made laps through the neighborhood streets of Soulard and Lafayette Square. I had never covered racing of any kind. Watching it on TV is fun, but trying to shoot a video on the race is a challenge. For one thing, the race covers so much geography. My assignment was to shoot a feature photo good enough to be on the front page of A1 and sports, and shoot a story telling video.
It was going to be difficult to accomplish all those goals by just sitting and waiting at the finish line on Market Street near Busch Stadium.

After shooting the start of the race and waiting for one lap to come around, I packed up my gear and hoofed it. This was a 10-lap race, so I knew I had time to experiment. I think this approach really paid off. By walking the race course, backwards, I was able to find people to talk to in a more diverse St. Louis setting. My favorite spots were the corners at of Mississippi Avenue in Lafayette Square.

Huy Mach hand holding a Canon 1D Mark II, and shooting video with a Canon XHA1 propped on top of a granola bar (Photo by Chris Lee).

As the race went on, I was counting down the laps remaining until the end. It was critical that I get back to the finish line to shoot the iconic photo of the winning cyclist with this arms raised high. The problem was, I had walked two-miles to get to Lafayette Square and not sure if I had the time or energy to walk back. I had thought about bring my own bike to the assignment, but had decided against it at the last minute. Fortunately, I bumped into Post-Dispatch sports photographer Chris Lee who lives in the area. He refueled me with water, two chewy granola bars, and a ride back to the finish line.

Post-Dispatch photographer Chris Lee (bottom right).

Watch the video here or see it below