Thursday at Pikes Peak with Jamey Price

Back to the summit of Pikes Peak we go. After a warm-up round on Tuesday morning on Pike’s Peak’s highest elevations, we returned for one final high altitude practice on Thursday morning. With breezy and crisp conditions and ambient temperatures cold enough to freeze water, the riders made their way through the winding, high speed, and very bumpy alpine section.

I, however, have never been the biggest fan of the top 3rd of the mountain. It’s more like shooting on the moon. There is lots to do, but you had better bring your “A” game and a ton of energy to hike yourself around in the low-oxygen environment. It’s grueling.

I was much more conformable at altitude today than I was on Tuesday though….but it doesn’t make it any easier. Despite that, at the end of the session I had come to really enjoy the summit section. I shot in places I had never been before, and enjoyed watching the riders really start to push themselves and the bikes to the limit.

Tomorrow, we go qualifying at the bottom! Day off on Saturday, and Sunday is race day!

27-year-old Jamey Price is an award winning motorsport photojournalist based in Charlotte, North Carolina. His work has been published around the globe by Road & Track, RACER magazine, Autosport, F1 Racing magazine, Motorsport Magazine, F1i magazine, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, SPEEDTV, Southern Living, QC Exclusive, the Washington Post, The Charlotte Observer, and now Asphalt & Rubber.

Jamey continues to do freelance work for some of the most respected sports imagery wire services, and for commercial clients including Ducati, Audi, Lamborghini, Mitsubishi, Red Bull and many others covering a diverse range of sporting assignments from Horse Racing to Formula One and everything in between. You can find more of his work on his website, as well as follow him on Twitter and Instagram.