Wednesday, May 26, 2010

May 16 - Tour of California (METoC Day 3)


Here comes the peloton!

Day 3 was focused on finding a good spot to watch stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California. We picked this area because it was a hill climb and it featured the tallest bridge in California. However, aside from a four-man breakaway lead group, the peloton was intact and flew by us like it was nothing. I guess an 8% uphill grade is nothing to these guys.

I'm far from happy with the photos I got of the race today. The plan was to get a nice shot of the cyclists with the bridge in the background, then switch to closeups. I failed on the former and the problem with the latter is that I have no idea who most of these guys are. The real disappointment for me is that I didn't get any shots of Lance. (Actually, I do see him behind a bunch of other riders in one of my shots).

In any case, it was a fun day. Watching these bike races in person is a lot of time and effort for about 30 seconds of action. I'd probably do it again though.


2 comments:

  1. The Shacktus!! After reviewing all my shots, Lance is nowhere to be found in any frame from that day. So weird. Your bridge one is better than anything I got. I completely left that out. Fail.

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  2. Now that I think about it, the bridge shot completely captures the anticipation of that day. "Here comes the peloton!" And before you know it, "There goes the peloton."

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