Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds: Are We All Here?

Lupus Racing looked around as they approached the finish line.  In a UCI World Road Racing Team Time Trial the team's time is taken as the fourth rider crosses the line.  So those on the front of the reduced pack look back over their shoulders to make sure they have the required number tucked onto their wheel.  Most teams, including Lupus, don't manage to bring all six riders to the line together.  Some of the team will exhaust themselves and then do there best to finish in hopes that the stronger riders will achieve a winning time.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds: Gazing at Davis

Hincapie Racing Team seemed to take a moment to gaze at the monument to Jefferson Davis, the short lived President of the Confederacy.  Later in the week the UCI World road races will swing around the monument in a Champs Elysees style u-turn.  The similarity is continued to the asphalt cobbles that adorn the road surface.  While these cobbles are rough to ride, they are smooth as silk when compared to those that face the peloton on other sections of the road racing course.  At least the organizers were kind enough to avoid the Paris Roubaix level pave for the time trial racers.  Not long after the team went down the avenue, a drunk and foolish man drove his hot rod Camero on to the course nearby, apparently hoping for fame.  Fortunately no one was hurt except for his hopes of ever owning a driver's license again.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds: Laying Into the Corner

One of the more colorful kits in the Men's Elite peloton is that of the US Continental Team Jelly Belly.  Emblazoned with brightly colored jelly beans the team hit the streets of downtown Richmond with speed and skillful bike handling.  The team was setting new best times as they hit the turn onto Second Street, admittedly they were one of the earlier teams to hit the 24.1 mile course.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds: Now Go the Men

Just a couple hours after watching the best of women's cycling race through the streets of Richmond, Virginia, it was now the turn of the men to show what they could do.  Champion Systems was the first of the Men's Elite teams to storm down Lakeside Avenue in search of the Jeb Stuart Monument that swung them on to the cobbled avenue of "Second Place Trophies".  I should explain that.  Monument Avenue is punctuated with monuments to the generals and president of the Confederacy, the losing side of the American Civil War.  Richmond was the capital of the failed succession from the Union.  The newest monument on the avenue that will not be seen by any of the race courses is of Arthur Ashe, an African American tennis champion from Richmond.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds: Swing Off

Orica-AIS labored on the climb out of the city.  The rider who lead them up the relatively short climb up from the banks of the James River swung off to catch the draft from her teammates.  With catching the draft, she would also catch her breath before working her way back up to the front of the line.  To explain, each rider will take her turn riding on the front of the group, pushing through the wind while those behind shelter in the slipstream use as much as 30% less energy that the one on the front.  She will then swing off of the front and drop to the back of the group to recuperate as much as possible before breaking the wind again.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds: Outside of the City

Lizzie Armistead and Chantel Blaak were amongst those who comprised the Boels Dolman's Team Trial squad.  As they road east out of downtown Richmond they were looking fast although they had dropped a member or two.  As they headed towards the turn around point they were still chasing Velocio-SRAM but had yet to draw equal in time to those ahead of them on the road.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

Richmond 2015 UCI Worlds: Hitting Second Street

Velocio-SRAM were riding a beautiful time trial as they swept off East Broad Street and headed down 2nd winding their way to the heart of the city.  The team posted the best time as they swung through this corner,  A best time that they were able to carry all of the way to the finish, a finish that was only 3 blocks from here.  Naturally, they had quite a long way around to get the the line riding out east of the city and back in again before stopping the clock at 5th and East Broad Streets.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

UCI Worlds Richmond 2015: Storming Down Lakeside

Kathryn Bertine joined her team BMW p/b Happy Tooth Dental as they stormed down Lakeside Avenue on the Northside of Richmond, VA.  The six women were off in search of a podium position in the Women's Team Trial race that kicked of the UCI World Road Racing Championships in Richmond, VA.  This is only the second time that the races have been held in the United States and that was almost thirty years ago.

It has been a real treat for me to watch these incredible talent racers compete on roads that I have ridden for years.  In fact, the team is just about to pass a company that I have worked for on and off for over ten years.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

Richmond 2105 UCI Worlds: And It Begins

Pepper Palace was the first team to roll down the start ramp and kick off the UCI World Road Racing Championships in Richmond, VA.  I should tell you right off the bat that this is my adoptive hometown.  I have ridden each and every piece of payment that will decide all of the new World Champions.  So I am beyond excited about these races.  In addition, I am painting the races live each day of racing in the main Fanfest area located at the Richmond Convention Center located at 5th and Marshall Streets just a block from the finish line.  If you are in town, you can find me directly across from the podium as you enter the hall.

Pepper Palace left the start ramp of the Lewis Ginter gardens and hit the streets of Lakeside on their way downtown and then out the other side of town.  The course brought the racers through Battlefield Park east of the city and then back into the city for the finish line at 5th and East Broad Streets.

This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available as an original or two different size prints at the Convention Center.  Later they can be purchased through www.richmond.com.  This was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.

A Nice Article from my Alma Mater

http://www.news.vcu.edu/article/The_cycling_artist_Alumnus_illustrates_major_cycling_competitions

Although, it must be said that I never claimed nor have I ever ridden the Tour de France nor the Giro d'Italia.  I was never a strong enough rider to ever have hoped to achieve such a accomplishment.  But one can dream, can't one?

The cycling artist: Alumnus illustrates major cycling competitions

The cycling artist: Alumnus illustrates major cycling competitions

By Ahmed Asraf

University Public Affairs

804-828-1231

Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015

Greig Leach is an enthusiastic cyclist and painter, and the Virginia Commonwealth University alumnus has found a way to combine his two passions. His postcard drawings depicting compelling moments in major cycling competitions have earned him fans around the world, including among the elite riders sometimes rendered in Leach’s works.
One of Leach’s next big projects will be a book on the 2015 UCI Road World Championships bike race, which will take place in Richmond Sept. 19-27, and on the races leading up to the UCI event. He presented the book idea for the event to Wilson Flohr, CEO of Richmond 2015 and an amateur painter. Flohr liked it and Leach is now the official artist for the competition.
The project is to create a book about the championships, and Leach will also have a hand in other memorabilia, including T-shirts, coffee mugs and socks, that will feature his artistic creations. Richeson Art, a company Leach has used since 1977 for art supplies, is sponsoring the project.
Leach raced bicycles on an amateur level back in the 1970s, when the sport was little known outside of Europe and the idea of an American professional cyclist seemed farfetched. He participated in bike races in major competitions such as the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia – just not as a rider, but as a painter.

Alumnus Greig Leach captures moments from major cycling competitions around the world through his paintings.
Photos by Ahmed Asraf

He attended the VCU School of the Arts in 1977, starting in commercial art but later switching to painting. By his senior year, he was married, had a son, worked full time and had seen his work featured in three solo exhibitions. In 1982, he turned his attention to working full time to support his family.
Leach remembers an illustration professor pulling him aside and urging him to pursue his interest in painting.
The professor said, “‘Look: you’re a painter, go be a painter,’” Leach said. “‘Someday your paintings will be used as illustrations.’ Almost 40 years later that’s exactly what happened.”
He likes to paint dancers, musicians, bar scenes and everyday life. He draws to relax, but also to earn a living. He draws all the time.
“I amuse myself by drawing,” Leach said. “Today, I was explaining something and found it just easier to draw it.”

“I amuse myself by drawing.”

Throughout his career, Leach has worked in restaurants and traveled to Europe. He recalls his first trip to Europe with his family, when he realized that after booking his tickets and arranging accommodations, he didn’t have enough left for daily expenses, such as food. His wife suggested buying blank postcards to draw places he visited and selling them to locals, tourists and online. He was able to support his family with the earnings from the postcards, marking the beginning of finding his artistic niche.
Locals or people who had special moments in the area requested postcard drawings of locations with special meaning to them – for instance, a street where a man proposed to his wife in Paris, or where a couple bought shoes in Rome. His clients directed him to draw places he wouldn’t have discovered on a normal visit.
“A local collector said that they preserved a bombed-out cathedral in Berlin,” Leach said. “I would have never known it existed.”
The cycling drawings started one day when he was watching the Tour de France on television and was inspired to paint scenes from the competition. Initially, he did the artwork just for himself. Then he began to sell them successfully through Facebook.
Then, in 2013, he approached the work in a more organized fashion, starting with the Giro d’Italia race. He watched the races live as an avid fan, paused the scenes he viewed as significant, painted them and posted them on his blog and Twitter to sell.
In 2014, he did the same for the Tour de France. He also established a KickStarter campaign at the outset of that race to fund a book collecting his work. The campaign was successful and at the end of the race he compiled his drawings for his “Book de Tour.”
The idea was simple. Tell the story of the tournament by combining his drawings of the tour in a book and adding blog-style annotations after each photo to explain what happened. The campaign ended at 104 percent of its goal. Three orders of the book signed by Leach and the winner of the competition sold at $500 each.
The book received a great response from cyclists, cycling fans and the media. Leach recalls when Alberto Contador crashed and broke his tibia, then got back onto the bike and rode 10 more kilometers up the mountain. Just before dropping out of the race, Contador had an interaction with a teammate and bid farewell. Leach captured the moment.
“This is significant, so I painted it,” Leach said. “When [Contador] tweeted his thanks to his fans, he used that painting as the image to go with the tweet.”
“Book de Tour” has seen different uses from multiple audiences. A copy of the book will be signed by as many featured racers as possible, and auctioned at the gallery of the United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit organization that coordinates organ transplants. All proceeds will go to the organization.

Alumnus Greig Leach captures moments from major cycling competitions around the world through his paintings.
Photos by Ahmed Asraf

In addition, Leach has a Dutch friend whose nephew wants to learn fluent English and is reading the book to improve his skills.
The wife of American cyclist Tejay van Garderen bought four pieces depicting her husband. While exchanging emails, she told Leach she and her husband use the images to tell bedtime stories to their daughter.
Leach has immense passion for painting. He believes drawing is a great way to meet people, see new places, and observe a subject in greater detail than when photographing it.
“It slows you down and makes you savor the experience,” Leach said.

Featured image up top : VCU alumnus Greig Leach holds a selection of his cycling paintings. Photo by Ahmed Asraf.