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I posted this over on the Fuji site as well so apologies to anyone who sees this as a duplicate post here. I brought the X100S along to the opening weekend of the local CX series here in Northeastern Ohio, put on by the team I race for. The DSLR did the vast majority of the heavy lifting image wise since the AF of the X100S just can't keep up, but I did get some decent shots by prefocusing or using manual focus (basically the same way I shot the CX worlds with my m43 gear). Here are a few that I liked:

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BlueSky13-001 by ericarthur, on Flickr
a teammate on the longest run up of the day

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BlueSky13-002 by ericarthur, on Flickr

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BlueSky13-003 by ericarthur, on Flickr
this was a split second before she launched headfirst over the bars and somersaulted to the ground after her front tire stuck in that rut she's in. She flew from where she is in the photo and landed about 2 ft in front of me. The girl is one seriously tough cookie - she got up a little shaken and we checked her bike over (the rear brake was wedged closed on the rim so she shouldered it and ran it the remainder of the lap I think). She apparently got it fixed though because she came flying by me a couple laps later and was all smiles running up the stairs (where I was able to snap another photo, albeit with the 5DII).

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BlueSky13-028 by ericarthur, on Flickr
Not necessarily 'on two wheels' but seeing as its at a bike race I'm using some creative license in posting it.
 
One risk per day thinking perhaps?
Not good to ride around a leaking factory but the photo is very nice!

These guys are really serious... I just didnt get why they would have a race in the most polluted and lung-offensive part of Newcastle. They are riding laps around a bunch of chemical factories... one of which leaked that very afternoon (Orica FYI, third time in 12 months). I think there were maybe 50-60 competitors.
 
These guys are really serious... I just didnt get why they would have a race in the most polluted and lung-offensive part of Newcastle. They are riding laps around a bunch of chemical factories... one of which leaked that very afternoon (Orica FYI, third time in 12 months)
.

The irony of course being that Orica, itself, is the title sponsor of a pro cycling team. They probably have the race there because it isn't heavily trafficked which helps in getting the roads closed.
 
Car free sunday morning in Madrid:
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AWESOME! I love those. Popularized in Columbia under former mayor Penalosa (hope I spelled that right), and being adopted in more places all the time. Cambridge here does it on memorial Drive along the river every sunday for most of the day, and the place swarms with happy families and picnic'ers.
 
A couple of messengers taking a break - everytime I walk by here during the week I see a bunch of them gathered. Can't imagine how long this is gonna be a viable industry with the state of electronic communication, but it's something I used to romanticize back in my hard-core riding days. I loved riding a fixie in urban areas and that's how a lot of those guys make a living...

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Philly G7X-173-Edit by ramboorider1, on Flickr

-Ray
 
In dense cities (like here), the most reliably fast way to get anything smaller than a cinder block anywhere across town is a bike with a motivated rider. Cabs can get places quickly, but they have to break a lot of laws to do it, and once they arrive, there is NOwhere for them to park to drop anything off. They still offer the service, of course, but cyclists have a big advantage.
 
In dense cities (like here), the most reliably fast way to get anything smaller than a cinder block anywhere across town is a bike with a motivated rider. Cabs can get places quickly, but they have to break a lot of laws to do it, and once they arrive, there is NOwhere for them to park to drop anything off. They still offer the service, of course, but cyclists have a big advantage.

Oh yeah, I fully get the speed advantage of bikes in urban areas, having done my share of fixie riding in Philly, some of it work related. So to the extent there's still a need to move paper around in urban areas, I realize it's still the fastest way to do it. I just wonder how much need remains for moving paper around urban areas given what can be done online now. There are so few documents that can't be sent, discussed, edited, signed, and returned, all electronically. Even architectural drawings and some of the larger packages can often be sent electronically just as well.

I've gotta figure there are a LOT fewer messengers around today than 20-30 years ago - I sure don't see nearly as many. And at some point I'd bet the demand will be so low it might be tough to support one small company, let alone a few competing messenger companies... Even in a place like Philly or Boston or NYC.

-Ray
 
I never thought about it being paper they're primarily moving, but I suppose that's true.

Yeah, they're usually carrying documents from some office to another. Lots of lawyers and bankers and accountants. And you used to see them with rolls of architectural plans and stuff too. There will likely be SOME places that will require stuff to be filed in triplicate by some certain deadline for the foreseeable future, but there's a LOT less of that now and it'll be gone in not too many more years. Then what are they gonna deliver? The cyclists delivering food from restaurants are in no danger, but the messengers are a different breed and I wonder about them...

-Ray
 
I spoke with a couple of pedi-cab drivers one night a few weeks back, just killing time after my buddy and I left a bar in Boston. I learned a lot, including that a lot of those guys are also messengers, and that they rent the bike cabs from the owning company and decide to go wherever they want to get work each day / night. They all cooperate (within each of the two companies in town, but not between the two companies.) Then we rode to a Sox game, and afterwards we saw the same pedi cab guy again and had a good drive-by "hey man what's up!" as we biked past.
 
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