I picked a spot near the top of Cimla hill, but my last minute decision to watch the ride meant that I left most of my camera kit at home. The bright sun meant lots of contrast, and with no flash to 'fill' the faces of the riders, the photo's lacked impact. I set off to find somewhere different, there were lots of, what appeared to be, minor incidents along the route, cuts and grazes etc. I settled on a spot on a long climb near Glynneath, the sun was coming through the trees to give a dappled light, and where a tree had been felled, a spot bathed in sunlight. After a while here, I moved off again, this time to the top of the Bwlch descent, only having a few shots left on the memory card I tried (and failed!) to get some panning shots.
After watching the riders from the top of the hill for a while, I set off from home. Making my way carefully down the Bwlch (riders were over taking me!) I approached the cattle grid at the start of Abergwynfi, I could see that there was something wrong. Just past the cattle grid there was a group of people on the opposite side of the road, with maybe one or two cars backed up. I stopped the car and put on the hazard lights, I could then see that there was a rider laying on the road, having CPR. I asked a rider (who was signaling other riders to slow) if an ambulance had been called, he said yes and that there were some doctors with the rider. I tried to assist with signalling traffic to slow, shortly afterwards a steward on a motorbike arrived at the scene. I think it was one of the doctors (who were actually taking place in the ride), asked the steward if he had oxygen and that they needed the Air Ambulance. From what was said, it sounded pretty serious. I asked if my car was assisting or hindering with the traffic situation. He said that it was probably hindering at this point. Should I have stayed and taken some photo's of the Air Ambulance, maybe, maybe not. But without having actually seeing the incident, limited space to park and be out of the way of the emergency services, and without been able to help in anyway, I felt the best thing for me to do at this point was to leave and let the professionals deal with the situation. I was also genuinely concerned about he survival of the rider, and I wouldn't have felt comfortable photographing the scene should the worst have happened. I was relieved to see later that he was in hospital and was apparently OK. The photo's I did take of the Ride are in the process of been uploaded to my flickr site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14306776@N08/sets/72157634052053395/
If you'd like to purchase any of my pictures please let me know (contact details are on the flickr site). It's not my usual charrity, but I'll be donating any money from the sale of the photo's of this years Ride to the Air Ambulance.
