Carbon Addiction

Last December I was lucky enough to spend a weekend riding in the Victorian High Country with a small group of passionate rolleurs – and an extraordinarily talented photographer named Marcus who goes by the stage name of Beardy McBeard. Most Sydney club racers will know him, as he’s rather hard to miss with his Ned Kellyesque whiskers even when the rest of him is hidden away under layers of lycra and his aero helmet.

Anyone who’s ever tried to take a good action shot will tell you it’s significantly harder than it may seem. But Beardy clearly has quite a knack. He took hundreds of superb shots following us around, first by car (a Jaguar, no less) and then on his bike. Check out his instagram account and you’ll quickly see his portfolio is bursting with quality and creativity.

But this week he has truly outdone himself. This shot, captured on the Stelvio during the epic-bordering-at-times-apocalyptic Giro stage 16, is quite simply one of the finest cycling photographs I’ve ever seen. And it doesn’t even show a bike.

Chapeau Beardy.