UCI World Championships - Around town

It was interesting to see how the town prepared for such a huge worldwide event happening in Yorkshire.

Shops were specially decorated...

And there was a special fan zone set up near the finish line.

We walked through the fan zone, but didn't linger. There were food stalls, merchandise, and entertainment.

Elsewhere in town, things were eerily quiet due to the road closures.

At the end of the week, there was a special light installation celebrating the town's spa heritage. This was my favorite part of the whole celebration.

While spirits seemed high during the racing, many locals were left with a bad taste in their mouth afterward. Large parts of our beautiful 200 acre Stray were left destroyed from the combination of the busy fan zone and heavy rains. Months later, there are still huge grassless patches. Also, many businesses in the town centre waited around for foot traffic that never came. I believe that some restaurants did well, but retail shops had heavy losses. The town council maintains that the exposure our town received will bring benefits well into the future, but only time will tell. I don't want to end on a negative note, but it seems that it largely matches the opinions of the residents. I predict much resistance if anyone suggests an event of this caliber again soon.

UCI World Championships - The races

This fall, the UCI World Championship cycling races were held in Yorkshire. We don't follow cycling at all, but since everything was on our doorstep we thought we would watch some of it.

Having such a huge event in town did have its drawbacks.

Many of our town's roads were closed on and off throughout the entire week (!) of races. We were lucky to be able to walk to and from school each day, but some parents kept their kids home because it was inconvenient or impossible to get there at times. Had we been told earlier that this was an option, I would have happily booked an off peak holiday for the family. Since we were around, though, we decided to try to make the best of it.

We saw cycling all around town...

Walking home from school

Races also went right past the house, which made for easy watching.

Pointing at a helicopter

Naturally the UK weather made for difficult riding conditions some days. I saw a few compilations online of cyclists wiping out in puddles.

But the fans were out, rain or shine.

It was cool to experience (once) but I would definitely book a vacation if it came to the area again. I did like the opportunity to practice more with the good camera, and am pleased with some of the photos I took. I think mainly I was just glad when it was over.

New Camera - Trip to the Park

A couple of months ago, Matt surprised me with a new camera- my first "real" camera. It's a Nikon D3500, and I'm slowly learning about it. Of course, I am having a great time practicing with it, and here are some of the first photos I took with the kids at the park.

I was just trying out the auto settings this day. The kids were happy to let me capture their play.

This spinny seat made Miles dizzy.

Oh, this face. 💓

As the youngest of three, Clara thinks she can do everything the bigger kids do. And to her credit, she does well keeping up.

All three kids love the zipline, and these are some of my favorite photos from the day.

We had such a nice time, and I look forward to learning more about how the camera works.