We were proud to be part of the content crew covering the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge.  Our responsibilities included producing daily pre and post race video interviews and features for VeloNews.com.  Personal favorite places included Crested Butte, which looked like a Tour de France finish town, Steamboat Springs and the finish in Aspen.  Here are some of the videos that were produced and broadcast on VeloNews.com during the race:

2011 marked the 6th year we have produced daily online video content at the Tour de France.  This year was a little different in that we only attended the 1st half of the race with the VeloNews crew. After the start of stage 11 we headed to the train station on route to Paris and flew back to Colorado the following day.  All told it was a very exciting first 10 stages of racing.  Much of the content we shot and edited can be found on the VeloNews site  – http://velonews.competitor.com/category/tour-de-france  Here are a few videos from our daily list, which included a daily diary with HTC – Highroad rider Bernie Eisel and a post race wrap with Ben and Andy:

3x Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington was in attendance in Boulder, CO as the official race starter. She also participated with the 10-year old Mini-Muddy Buddy field for a trip through the mud pit:

True to tradition was the costume contest, which takes place in the early morning before the official race start. Here are the best costumes from the Boulder event:

Mini-Muddy Buddy allows kids of all ages a chance to test their skills on an obstacle course and trip through the mud pit:

Charity is a major part of the Columbia Muddy Buddy events. Here is a video talking about the Challenged Athletes Foundation:

2009 Muddy Buddy

2008 Muddy Buddy

The 2010 Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race took place on August 14 under clear blue skies with over 1500 racers taking the start.  We were contracted to provide video support for Singletrack.com.  The idea going into the race was to provide “near real time” video throughout the race.  The Singletrack team provided race updates via via CoveritLive for web and mobile viewers.  you can view the replay here – http://singletrack.competitor.com/live

As for our workflow, video was gathered from the field at various spots along the course, brought back to the press room, quickly edited, compressed and uploaded to the site and then broadcast to the audience following the race via the text updates.  We were able to get out and back a few times and the overall experience was successful.  Since there was no live streaming option, this was as close to real time as we could deliver during the event.

Here is a link to a 9+ minute highlight from the race that was edited the day after the event:
http://www.vimeo.com/14219982

The 2010 Tour de France marked our 5th year covering the event for VeloNews.  This year the video content was showcased on a new endurance portal called Competitor TV.  We were hired for field production duties and to work a daily routine of recording pre and post race rider interviews during each stage of the race.  We were excited to be producing a Chris Horner daily diary again, and an added feature dubbed “the morning minute”, which featured Neal Rogers and Andy Hood discussing a single topic, usually decided on moments before recording began.  Our workflow consisted of recording and then encoding the usable video and sending  the files to the Competitor studios in San Diego for inclusion in the highlight and extras shows.  You can see all of the content produced for VeloCenter during the 2010 Tour de France here – 2010 TdF VeloCenter

Stage 1 Highlights

Stage 2 Highlights

Stage 3 Highlights

Stage 4 Highlights

Stage 5 Highlights

The 2009 Colorado State Cyclocross Championships were held on December 5th at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada, CO.  This is the third year in a row OnSight Media has covered the event for televised broadcast.  This year we raised the bar by premiering the show on Altitude with a 6-show run.  The program will then move to Comcast CET after January 13th for a minimum of 20 additional airings.

The Altitude schedule is as follows:

Thursday, December 17, 2009 7:00 PM
Sunday, December 20, 2009 1:00 PM
Friday, December 25, 2009 4:00 PM
Sunday, December 27, 2009 2:30 AM
Monday, December 28, 2009 1:00 PM
Thursday, December 31, 2009 2:30 PM
Saturday, January 02, 2010 2:30 PM
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 4:30 PM

A big shout out to our sponsors who made this production possible.  Please support these folks when you can.
Old Chicago
Boulder Running Company
Retul
Rotor
Boulder Cycle Sport
Centurion Cycling

Here is the trailer

A week ahead of the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, FL, we produced an interview with race favorite Matt Reed.  The content was used as part of the TriCenter show and can be seen on Competitor’s Triathlon website.  Special thanks to BoulderVibe for help with the studio location and production.

click here to view the video

Two UCI races came through town the first weekend in November and we captured the action in a series of online videos broadcast on the VeloNews TV channel.  Here are the links:
Blue Sky Velo Cup men’s race
Blue Sky Velo Cup women’s race
Post race with men’s winner – Tim Johnson
Post race with women’s winner – Katie Compton
Boulder Cup men’s race
Boulder Cup women’s race
Post race with men’s winner – Tim Johnson
Post race with women’s winner – Katie Compton
Post race with Powers & Driscoll
Adam Snyder bunny-hops the barriers

We also put together a video documenting the 35+ Open category from the Blue Sky Velo Cup.  The race conditions were some of the best Colorado has seen this year.

Fans on the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard climb in Italy

2009 seemed to be the tipping point in online video coverage of the Tour de France. Looking at the following link shows the vast number of outlets for live (over 30 live video feeds) and archived video featuring everything and anything Tour related.  http://www.steephill.tv/tour-de-france

VeloNews TV raised the bar for the 2009 edition and produced a daily show highlighting each stage.  VeloCenter, which was hatched in February at the Tour of California, had grown from a small team on location to a two pronged approach with field production at the race and a desk show, editing and publishing being handled in Denver, CO.  Futuristic Films provided an additional location camera crew and handled all of the post production in their Denver studio.  The workflow hinged on being able to deliver video assets via FTP from France to Denver in a timely manner.

Post race production and editing

The first week was all about learning and perfecting the workflow while managing the constant logistical mess that is the Tour.  Our motto became “nothing is guaranteed until your head hits the pillow”.  By the second week everything was coming together and VeloCenter blossomed with its tight format of race highlights, rider interviews, analysis and in show features.  Here is an examples of a show feature that was produced by the team on location during the race:

One of the most impressive accomplishments was John Wilcockson’s award for covering 40 Tours de France.  The 2009 event was actually his 41st Tour, but organizers presented him his 40-year award this year before the start of stage 10 in Limoges:

By the end of the race the video team had produced 24 episodes of VeloCenter.  The following episode from stage 17 represents the capability and effort of everyone involved in the project: