Tag Archives: 2010

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sports

Francesco Chicchi of Team Liquigas

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Francesco Chicchi of Team Liquigas
Francesco Chicchi of Team Liquigas

Francesco Chicchi of Team Liquigas. Nevada City, California. May 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Francesco Chicchi of team Liquigas in the team area before the start of stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California in Nevada City.

Another pre-race photograph from stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle stage race. (This year, all of my photographs from the Tour will almost certainly come from stage one. Ah, well!) In past years I’ve managed to have my son along – and he is a real cycling fan who recognizes many of the riders. This has helped as he has been my “spotter,” pointing out riders that I didn’t recognize. This time he wasn’t with me, so in addition to shooting the riders that I did recognize I also photographed any who looked like the might be important, hoping to get his help later on with identifications. We finally had a chance to look through the images together today, and he identified this rider for me. Coincidentally, on this same day (May 19) Chicchi was the winner of stage four!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 310mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500 second

keywords: amgen, tour, of, california, stage, one, 2010, bicycle, road, race, pro, professional, usa, north america, sports, nevada, city, francesco, chicchi, liquigas, team, area, winner, stage, sprint, four, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sports

George Hincapie, Post-Crash

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George Hincapie, Post-Crash
George Hincapie, Post-Crash

George Hincapie, Post-Crash. Sacramento, California. May 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

BMC team rider George Hincapie makes his way to the finish line after crashing near the end of stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle race.

In the companion post to this photograph I mentioned the cycling concept of “suffering” – something that cyclists say that serious riders must come to know intimately. The suffering can take many forms: climbing a hill until the legs burn and the rider can’t see straight; pushing for long periods into strong headwinds; getting dropped and chasing to catch the group; crashing.

The other photograph I posted of Hincapie was shot on this same day, but hours earlier and over 100 miles away… before the start of the race. Here, Hincapie has just gotten up from a fairly serious crash on the final lap of the stage in Sacramento – I hear that he went down on his back and hit his head. After the lead group had crossed the finish line he slowly approached the end of the race, riding next to the medical support car and having a conversation with the occupants. The road dirt and ripped clothing from the crash are visible. For a moment he stopped. Then he started again, staring blankly ahead as he barely turned the pedals enough to move the bike slowly toward the finish line, but clearly determined to finish the stage so that he could continue the next day.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 800, f/11, 1/320 second

keywords: bicycle, bike, pro, professional, road, stage, race, california, usa, north america, sports, amgen, tour, of, 2010, george, hincapie, bmc, team, crash, struggle, perseverence, athlete, sacremento, finish, rider, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sports

George Hincapie, Pre-Race

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George Hincapie, Pre-Race
George Hincapie, Pre-Race

George Hincapie, Pre-Race. Nevada City, California. May 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

George Hincapie of Team BMC rides to the starting line for stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle stage race.

Looking fresh before the first stage of the week-long 2010 Amgen Tour of California, BMC rider George Hincapie heads from the team area to the starting line in Nevada City, California. At this point, most of the riders look fresh and ready to go, especially on the first day of the tour before the stresses of a week of very long and very hard cycling days begin to take their toll.

And speaking of that toll, a few hours and a bit more than 100 miles later the peloton rolled into Sacramento, California to do four laps of a downtown loop around the Capitol grounds. There was a crash on the last lap and many riders went down, including Hincapie. I think that the contrast between Hincapie’s appearance in this photograph and in the one that follows is striking and illustrate what people are talking about when they describe the role of “suffering” in professional bike racing. (If you are seeing this at my blog, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see the second photo.)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2500 second

keywords: amgen, tour, of, california, stage, one, 2010, bicycle, road, race, pro, professional, usa, north america, sports, nevada, city, george, hincapie, team, bmc, ride, to, starting, line, pre race, stock

Commentary

“We interrupt our regular programming…”

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… for photographs from the 2010 Amgen Tour of California.

I know that at least a few visitors to this site might wonder where the natural and urban landscapes and related photographs that I normally post every day have gone, and what the heck is going on with all the bicycle racing photographs. A few thoughts about this follow:

I’ll continue to post photographs from the Tour during while the tour is underway. It ends this coming weekend in Southern California. (No, I won’t be there, but I still have a good number of photographs from northern California to post.)

If you are looking for landscape, urban landscape, nature and other more typical subjects at this web site, you can still find these subjects. Today there are still a few lower down on the home page, and you can click the navigation buttons at the bottom of the page to find such photographs that were posted recently. In addition you can find them using the text search box or by visiting the gallery via the link in the sidebar. And once the Tour ends, even though I’ll still have more cycling photographs to share, the main subjects at this blog will once again be those that visitors may be more familiar with.

Every time I photograph the Tour I am reminded that sports and landscape and nature photography are not completely separate and independent worlds. The day before I photographed the first stage of the Tour I went to the California coast and photographed pelicans and other shorebirds in flight. I can hardly imagine a better way to tune up my vision and technique for tracking and photographing moving cyclists! And, though I wasn’t at the Tour on that day, the peloton passed by the very spots where I photographed those pelicans just a couple days later. As I watched the broadcast coverage of the Tour that afternoon, I was surprised but very pleased to see that that the cameras in the peloton turned away from the riders… and toward this very landscape that I shoot so often.