Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2023/09/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]But this is precisely why I go to see the race in the mountains where you get to see the action for far longer than a few seconds. Last year I went to the small town of Tibi, also at the top of a hard climb. The time between the leading cyclist and the last one was something like 45 minutes. Yesterday it was less, but still 15-20 minutes. There is no real peloton at this point in a stage, rather several groups of varying sizes. And as you can see in my photos, if you pick a point where they are going uphill, then the speed is such that you can easily capture their expressions etc. What I like about cycling (besides the fact that I do it myself) is that you can get closer to the action than in any other sport (sometimes too close, as we have seen on a few occasions recently). And it is free. Yesterday, I arrived at my chosen spot, this particular bar where I always stop for a drink when I am climbing the Carrasqueta mountain pass, about 1.5 hours before the race arrived there. This meant that I had no trouble parking my car, and knowing that I would have to wait, I brought a book with me and just sat and read at a picnic table while enjoying a couple of beers. Hardly a hardship :-) Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman photo at frozenlight.eu http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.frozenlight.eu ????? ???????! ?????? ?????! > On 3 Sep 2023, at 04:28, Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG <lug at > leica-users.org> wrote: > > I cannot fathom, for the life of me, why people brave the conditions for > hours to watch a bunch of cyclists in colourful clothes whizzing past for a > few seconds. It makes watching a cricket match for 6 hours a day, for 5 > days, with no winner at the end of it, very rational in comparison. ? > > Cheers > Jayanand > > On Sun, Sep 3, 2023 at 1:20?AM Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> > wrote: > >> There are 3 grand tours in professional cycling?the Giro d?Italia in the >> spring, the Tour de France in July, and the Vuelta a Espa?a in >> August/September. Today, the 8th stage of the Vuelta passed through what >> I >> call ?my playground?, the mountains in the interior of Alicante province. >> As usual, I picked a spot to watch the race that would allow for good >> photo >> opportunities: going uphill (meaning relatively slow speed) and late in >> the >> stage, so that the peloton would be broken up into several groups. I drove >> to a bar 6 km from the penultimate mountain pass of the stage, a place >> which I visit on two wheels myself, and things worked out great. I had a >> nice vantage point and took a lot of photos. These are the initial serving >> that I particularly liked: >> >> https://www.greatpix.eu/Vuelta-a-Espa%C3%B1a-2023/ >> >> Tomorrow, I will climb the Carrasqueta on bicycle (unless it is >> raining?cycling uphill on wet roads is OK but descending on wet curvy >> roads >> is not OK). >> >> Cheers, >> Nathan >> >> Nathan Wajsman >> photo at frozenlight.eu >> >> http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws >> http://www.greatpix.eu >> http://www.frozenlight.eu >> >> ????? ???????! ?????? ?????! >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information