Truly great cycling photographers are as rare as the winners of Paris-Roubaix. Their ability to distill the energy of a race, of a racer, into a single frozen moment is what separates their work from just another snapshot.

Greg Page of Page 1 Studio is one such photographer. While he is primarily known for his studio work, Page is also known in Southern California as a stellar race photographer and videographer. He made the trip to Kansas City for the 2008 Cyclocross National Championships.

Page shot for two days, capturing the weekend’s energy in an unusual way. In addition to finding the occasional descriptive bit of action, he chose to define the racing through a series of select moments. The book alternates between these broader presentations of action and montages of frozen movement.

Ultimately, the book makes a lasting statement about cyclocross. Because he chose not to focus on this year’s ‘cross gods, the weekend of racing represents not the pinnacle of a single season, but rather the pinnacle of ‘cross fitness, the sport performed as we see it in our mind’s eye.

In a world of shrinking resources, Page elected to produce the book via print-on-demand (POD) technology with Blurb. The quality of the paper, the color balance (given there was no proofing) and the binding is exceptional. This is what we wish magazines look like.

The softcover runs $27.95, while the hardbound with dustjacket goes for $39.95; a casebound (cover art printed on the hardcover—think textbook) is available for $44.95. Purchase Visions of Cyclocross through Blurb.