Tag Archives: tour of california

Photographs: People, Photographs: Sports

Bob Roll, Tour of California

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Bob Roll, Tour of California

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

Former professional bicycle racer and current cycling commentator Bob Roll near that Astana team van before the start of the prologue stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California in Sacramento, California.

I photographed Bob Roll as he queued up more or less with the rest of the crowd to wait for Lance Armstrong to emerge from the Astana team van to warm up before the prologue stage of the 2009 Tour of California. For those who don’t follow cycling, Roll was a professional bicycle racer back in the days of the 7/11 team, the first great American cycling team. Since that time he has become better known as a television bicycle racing announcer working on the Versus broadcasts of major cycling races.

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: People, Photographs: Sports

Floyd Landis Warms Up

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Floyd Landis Warms Up

Floyd Landis Warms Up – Tour of California 2009. Sacramento, California. February 14, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Floyd Landis warms up before the prologue time trial of the 2009 Amgen Tour of Califoria, Sacramento, California.

Floyd warms up his body – and puts on his “race face” –  before the prologue time trial of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle race in Sacramento, California.

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.

keywords: floyd, landis, ouch, bicycle, bike, racer, race, professional, stage, prologue, prolog, amgen, tour of california, trainer, warm up, spin, headphones, intense, face, portrait, sacramento, california, usa, time trial

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Cycling Week at the Blog

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The Amgen Tour of California comes to my part of the world every February, and I take advantage of the opportunity to shoot a different sort of subject than those more typically found here. So the next week or so may be a sort of “cycling week” at my blog as I post photographs of the first few stages.

Yesterday I attended the first event, the prologue time trial stage in Sacramento, California. While in some ways a time trial can be the least exciting type of cycling race given that it is purely one rider at a time against the clock, on the other hand this type of event provides tremendous opportunities to photograph the riders – and this is largely what I concentrated on yesterday. Before the race I photographed groups of riders doing their pre-race circuits of the course and then I shot a number of them as they warmed up by the team vans. Later, during the race, I picked a few good spots and photographed riders as they came into view one by one.

Today’s stage runs from Davis to Santa Rosa. The original plan was to be at the starting line in Davis and then head on over to Santa Rosa, but the weather today is just plain awful. We’re foregoing the start in Davis but we’ll try to be at the finish line in Santa Rosa when the group comes in later this afternoon.

Photographs: People, Photographs: Sports

Lance Armstrong, 2009 Tour of California

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Lance Armstrong, 2009 Tour of California

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.

keywords: lance, armstrong, astana, bicycle, bike, racing, team, race, stage, amgen, tour of california, portrait, hat, face, close up, sports, smile, sacramento, california, usa, sacramento, prolog, people, professional, livestrong