Gateway Cup Day 3: Giro della Montagna on The Hill

Another beautiful day in St. Louis and hundreds came out to watch all levels of cyclists compete for some cash prize money racing in the streets.

I’m trying another video site that looks to have better quality than YouTube. In this short video you’ll see the afternoon take off of the category 3 mens race, the same race rounding a corner and finally the pro-level womens race. In the second part where the men race around the corner the sound gets messed up — that is from the wind off the riders rushing past me and the camera.

Monday, Labor Day, the racers move to the county — barely. They will be racing in the Loop just east of the Lions in University City. Click here for races details.

– Steve

Gateway Cup Day 2: Downtown Loft District (Video)

Day two of the annual Gateway Cup bike races held in the St. Louis was in a new venue this year: the downtown west neighborhood.

The large old commercial buildings turned retail and living spaces set a dramatic stage for the races. The scale of the buildings combined with the narrow streets gave a wonderful feel to the races — a quite different feel than rest of the venues although the Loop comes close. I love the races in Lafayette Square, The Hill (Sunday) and The Loop (Monday) but downtown was tops. The route was Washington Ave, 20th St, Locust and 14th, counter-clockwise.

For photos from the event check out my day 2 set on Flickr.

I’m continuing my experimentation with video and I’ve compiled a few clips together for you from a couple of races, one earlier in the day and then the final mens in the early evening. Don’t look for any fancy transitions, this is raw video at its finest (well, finest for me):

Tomorrow is the Giro della Montagna in St. Louis’ classic Italian neighborhood, The Hill.

– Steve

Grand Opening, 8 More Miles of St. Louis’ MetroLink Light Rail System

Metro & elected officials kicked off a series of ribbon cuttings this morning at the Forest Park Station in the City of St. Louis. This station was part of the original 1993 alignment but it was completely rebuilt to serve as a transfer station where the line now splits off to the airport vs. Shrewsbury.

I managed to stay ahead of the train and make it to a number of station openings: Forsyth, Brentwood and Shrewsbury. Below are videos taken at these openings. Interviews with a number of officials look and sound great but unfortunately they are not sync’d with each other (I can’t complain as YouTube is free). Many thanks to Pete at ArchCafe for giving me guidance on converting the clips from the camera format to Apple’s Quicktime Format (mp4) so the sound is sync’d.

You can also look at my photos from the opening on Flickr.

As you will learn in the videos this corridor has been held for more than a decade, awaiting this use. Also, the ribbon cutting was not done by a big pair of scissors but at each station they had ribbon that broke away as the train pulled in.

Arriving at Forsyth Station in University City

This is the big circular hole in the ground and yes, this is University City — barely! A local band was playing before and after the train arrived, keeping the crowd entertained. A number of vendors set up on the sidewalk just outside the station. One managed to block the artsy bike rack.

… Continue Reading

Come for the Pesto, Stay for the Documentary

September 16th is a very interesting sounding event, Pesto Feast! There are few things that I like better than a nice plate of fresh pesto but what interests me about the event is the documentary film, Ivory Perry: Pioneer in the Struggle Against Lead Poisoning.

Civil rights activist Ivory Perry grabbed S.t Louis headlines in the 1960s for his daring acts of civil disobediance, such as lying down in the street to stop traffic for the cause. He was shocked to discover that lead poisoning was ruining childrens’ health. By starting a movement to eradicate this silent killer, he was one of the first to call for environmental justice.

All the details are on the image at right. If you click on the image you’ll be taken to the event website which has even more information on the pesto and Mr. Perry.

– Steve

Metro’s CEO Discusses New MetroLink Light Rail Line

Today was the first chance for the public to ride the new 8-mile extension of St. Louis’ popular light rail system, MetroLink. I caught up with Metro CEO Larry Salci on the ride and asked him to share his thoughts on the extension.

His concluding words, “I think people will see it was well worth the wait.” More video from this inaugural ride to come soon!

[Note – the sound is not in sync with the video, something happened in the uploading process. Sorry, I’m not Antonio French…]

– Steve