Calling all amateur photographers! With the tireless help of our own Nikki, the Podium Cafe is embarking on a community project to gather pictures of top riders, races and scenery from the sport of cycling. As you know, it is our policy to respect the property of others, particularly photographers trying to make a living covering the sport we love, so we try to avoid posting copyrighted work at all times. SBNation supplies some photo resources, but cyclists rarely appear there. Nevertheless, many of us have gone and snapped pictures of our heroes and the great roads of the sport, often generously sharing them here.

From the collected work of the PdC community, I would now like to compile a photo library for use at the Podium Cafe. The idea is simply to have pictures available to add to a post or comment, whenever a Podium Cafe member feels like a picture would help. I therefore invite you to submit any photos that you feel comfortable sharing and seeing posted on the blog (by you or others). By submitting these photos it is not the intention of the Podium Cafe that we become the owners of the image; rather, we would like to simply ask you to share your work here. [Full disclosure: the law might not recognize this distinction, but the chances of legal issues are close to nil.] And some caveats:

• Please only submit your work or work you have permission to use (pictures by a close friend or family member)
• Please only submit pictures of cyclists, races, or scenes related to cycling (e.g., marmottes, the San Luca, Mont Ventoux on a quiet afternoon, etc.) -- Interpret this broadly, just don't go completely off topic
• Please do not submit any photos that would be considered not safe for work.

And that's about all I can think of. To take part, read on...

Are you already on Flickr?

If so, just go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/podiumcafe/  Try this instead: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1300461@N22/ From this link you can see what's on there. To join the fun, click on Add Podium Cafe As A Contact, which will start the process by which you can add stuff, once Nikki or I approves the contact.

Not already on Flickr?

Signing up is free. If you're amenable to signing up, do so and follow the above instructions. If you don't wish to do this but still want to submit pictures, email them to PodiumCafePix@yahoo.com and we will upload them on your behalf. In this case we can add notes to the pictures, so include in your email whatever instructions or name you would like to add to the picture.

As always, thank you for taking part in this project. There is no hurry to joining, and we will make sure this post is available in one of the sidebars so you can submit photos later as the mood strikes you.