Lance Armstrong, 2009 Tour of California. Sacramento, California. February 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lance Armstrong greeting the crowd at the team vehicle before the prologue stage of the 2009 Tour of California, Sacramento, California.

So begins my annual adventure in photographing professional bike racing as the Amgen Tour of California passes through the area. My sons and I went to Sacramento today to watch the prolog time trial, and this gave me a chance to try out my new camera and shoot some different subjects than what I usually shoot. We spent a couple hours before the race wandering around the course and visiting the team vehicles. I happened by the Astana Team area about an hour before Armstrong was to start his race, and I thought it might be about the right time to catch him starting to warm up – so I found a decent shooting location and waited. Here he had just emerged from the team vehicle – to the joy of hundreds of fans – and was signing autographs before getting on the training stand to warm up.

(Sort of ironic that my first photography with my new 5D II was shooting a sporting event! :-)

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

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