[Leica] IMG: La Vuelta in Jijona

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

Douglas,
My observation was not so much about cycling per se - I can understand the
attractions, but the intensity of the fan, who has a mere 30 seconds of
gratification for his/her troubles. You would definitely have a wee bit
more time with your heroes! Incidentally, I would not go to see the
photographers unless I have the opportunity to spend time interacting with
them, I have got spoiled in that respect - in which case I might even go
and meet a professional cyclist!

Cheers
Jayanand

On Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 2:16 AM Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote:

> Definitely you are missing something, Jayanand, but I think interest in
> cycling is fostered by actually doing it, or having some connection to
> it through either a family hero or a local or national hero. I had
> little interest in it until I (a reasonable runner at the time) was
> persuaded in 1983 to do a charity triathlon for the Irish Cancer Society
> which involved a swim in the west of Ireland, a cycle across Ireland to
> Dublin and then the Dublin City Marathon. It seemed a reasonable
> undertaking, as I had swum competitively, run competitively, and sure
> hadn't I cycled a fair bit as a kid, so no real problem then?
>
> I soon found out that running, no matter how quick I was normally, was a
> totally different issue after a hard cycle: my legs were like jelly
> after getting off the bike, and the only solution is like most things -
> practice and better equipment (think photography). Bikes are as
> addictive as cameras (and probably heroin, but I haven't tried it) so
> you now know what I mean. There is nothing as seductive as a nice piece
> of equipment in your hands - or between your legs. I'm a fan of cycling
> ever since, and have several bikes.
>
> So going out in the baking heat to watch your heroes is perfectly
> logical to me, just like I'd go out to see Martin Parr, Steve McCurry,
> Salgado, etc if they were doing a shoot in Dublin. I might even cycle.
>
> Douglas
>
>
> On 22/08/2021 03:43, Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG wrote:
> > Nice. I was watching this yesterday on cable (yes, we get it, live),
> while
> > waiting for a PL football game to start, and I was wondering why people
> > spend a few hours baking in the sun to see their heroes flash by. The
> whole
> > spectacle seems to be over in 30 seconds. I admit I do not understand
> much
> > about these long distance, week/month long cycling races, so am I missing
> > something?
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> > On Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 6:36 PM Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu>
> wrote:
> >
> >> The Vuelta a España bicycle race started last weekend. After a series of
> >> relatively flat stages, yesterday things got serious. Stage 7 contained
> six
> >> mountain passes over 152 km, finishing in the mountains near Tibi, one
> of
> >> my cycling destinations. So I took the afternoon off to go and see the
> >> race. I planned to cycle to Tibi and catch the Vuelta at the top of the
> >> penultimate mountain pass of the stage. But the climb to Tibi is very
> >> tough, and inland temperatures were going to hit 40C during the
> afternoon.
> >> Driving was not an option (you go to see a bicycle race on a bicycle, or
> >> else you stay home and watch on TV). So instead, I cycled to Jijona,
> about
> >> 24 km away, and found a great spot with shade, shared with a nice local
> >> family. It was on a steep uphill, so the speed of the cyclists would be
> >> moderate (all relatively speaking, of course), and at that point the
> >> cyclists would have 120-125 km and four passes in their legs, so I knew
> the
> >> peleton would be nicely spread out, and it would take 20-30 minutes for
> >> everyone to pass. And so it was.
> >>
> >> What I like about cycling from a spectator’s point of view is that in no
> >> other professional sport can you get so close to the competitors. I
> could
> >> have touched the cyclists if I had wanted to. But I settled for photos,
> and
> >> a small gallery of 29 images is now uploaded. Some of the images are not
> >> technically perfect but I included them anyway because they show the
> effort
> >> and suffering of the cyclists. Where I could identify the cyclists, I
> have
> >> done so in the captions. It’s all here:
> >>
> >> https://www.greatpix.eu/La-Vuelta-in-Jijona/ <
> >> https://www.greatpix.eu/La-Vuelta-in-Jijona/>
> >>
> >> As always, comments and critique are welcome and appreciated.
> >>
> >> Nathan
> >>
> >> Nathan Wajsman
> >>
> >> Alicante, Spain
> >> http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
> >> http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
> >> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws <
> >> http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
> <
> >> http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>
> >>
> >> Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator <
> >> http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>
> >>
> >> YNWA
> >>
> >> "I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right"
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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