After a while, CHP cars & motorcycles drove past, then the race referees and a whole motorcade of cars involved with the race. It was like a huge party, everyone was having fun and even the cops were really cool, letting us know when the riders were coming.
Then we saw the peloton coming up the hill, making the climbs look easy. Fabian Cancellara rode about a foot away from me as he passed, and I spotted Andy Schleck, George Hincapie and many others. That was cool. In the bright sun I took photos, but without looking through the camera so basically I was yelling like everyone else and pointing my camera and clicking as many photos as I could.
After they went by we rode a few more miles up the hill and found another place to watch that was not crowded at all. We were again treated to great action of the peleton going right by us. Then we descended the steep hill on Westlake and made our way to the finish line, which was an absolute zoo. Afterwards I got home and watched the final lap on tv.
Here are some of the photos that came out ok.
Top of Mulholland
Fabien Cancellara Frank Schleck (?) on the left
7 comments:
Um, just so you know, that's Schleck in that photo - not Cancellara. It's a good shot, though! :)
Oh I think you're right. Frank not Andy. I may have missed Cancellara in the photo because he rode so close. Thanks for noticing.
It's definitely Andy - he was the only Schleck brother riding in ToC.
I'm a nitpicker extraordinaire, though! LOL!
You have some gorgeous shots here, I must admit. I hope to get so close to a pro race sometime - my only exposure so far has been to the Giro d'Italia in 2006 when they passed through my town here in Italy.
Andy was wearing his champion of Luxemborg jersey, I remember seeing him. Amazing how skinny these guys are.
Thanks for the photo compliment, out of 57 shots these were really the only ones that came out ok.
Are you watching the Giro this year? It's a great race & seems like major shake up in the gc on almost every stage.
It *is* amazing how skinny they are, isn't it? LOL! I've joked before about tossing Cancellara over my shoulder and making a run for it, but he's so tall (and I'm so short) his head would hit the ground. ;-)
As for the photos - that's par for the course, as I understand it. A friend of mine is a photographer, and she goes through thousands of photos (literally) to get a handful of decent shots.
I've been watching the Giro when I can find it on TV (bloody Rai coverage - one of their channels doesn't even come in on my digital broadcast tv - I know they're trying to convince me to get a satellite! Heh.)! It's been a simply amazing race - and OMG! The footage on Sunday! I was exhausted just watching the guys!
Unfortunately, I had to work a good portion of the day, today, and so I missed the live coverage. I'll watch the recaps on the news tonight and look for vid footage later.
I've been rooting for Porte the whole time - I'm a SaxoFan, after all - but it's been exciting no matter who wins. Like you said, major shakeups almost every stage of the way.
The best part for me, personally, is that it shows my ideas for how the races run (in the novel I'm writing) isn't so far from reality. Truth is stranger than fiction!
Thanks for not being offended by my 'corrections' by the way. Most folks would have told me to sod off by now. :)
I know what you mean about Giro coverage, or lack of. When I can catch the live coverage, cyclingfans.com has a link to a Eurosport channel in English. Coverage is pretty good, and Sean Kelly is one of the commentators.
'Corrections' are ok. I appreciate your letting me know, actually.
The frustrating thing about the Giro coverage is that I always thought, since I live in Italy, I should be able to watch the entire race!
Nope! Not the case! Oh, well...
Always glad to help, btw. :) (Incidentally, it seems a number of AP photographers made the same error - mistaking Schleck for Cancellara.)
I'll keep watching for your new blogs, but not to make corrections. LOL! I enjoy the read! :)
Ciao for now!
K
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