Giro della Montagna

clanthar · Sep 5, 2011

Labor Day weekend in St. Louis is cycle racing. Four days of races bring competitors from across the country. The showcase race is the Giro della Montagna which takes place in my neighborhood. I'm no sports photographer, but once a year I get over to the bike race and grab some photos. They are the most phenomenal athletes -- an amazing event to watch!

So I'm sitting here all morning sorting through yesterday's photos. Time for a break, here's three so far that you may enjoy.

Joe

gsgary · Sep 5, 2011

They are very good at balancing, very little movement in the wheels i would have shot them at about 1/125

tirediron · Sep 5, 2011

Good images; this would have been a spectacular opportunity to try some panning!

gsgary · Sep 5, 2011

You could also try some second curtain sinc for something a bit different

clanthar · Sep 5, 2011

tirediron said:
Good images; this would have been a spectacular opportunity to try some panning!

Thanks -- glad you like them.

Yep, I've tried some of that stuff (panning, slow shutter) over the years, but the return is so meager for the investment. As I said I'm no sports photographer and in the case of this event taking photos for me is lower priority. It's kinda of a would you bring a camera to your daughter's wedding thing. This is the singular big event of the year for my neighborhood. We're very proud of it and we plan all year for it and when the time comes we block off half the neighborhood and throw one big party. I wouldn't dare miss it. One year (2007) I went without a camera so I could concentrate on the races, beer, salciccia and good times. That didn't feel right so I went back to taking a camera, but I try not to let the camera become work -- camera in one hand beer in the other.

The racers just astonish me! They pedal up hill at 30 mph! The lower category racers run 30 minutes plus 5 laps, the pros run an hour plus 5 laps! These have to be the most physically fit people on the planet! So here's another from yesterday.

Joe

P.S. Oh yeah -- in the pro races there can be nearly 1/2 million dollars worth of bikes going around the track at one time!

Infinite_Day · Sep 6, 2011

It's nothing for a pro level bike to run $15K. I used to ride - I was in decent shape but still quite slow and I'd love to get back into it but it's either ride or photography unless I win the lottery. It's absurd how physically fit those guys are. Lance Armstrong had a resting heart rate of 32 beats per minute - the average RHR is ~75 BPM. Do you know how strong you heart has to be to be able to move enough blood per beat so that it only needs to beat every other second? Nice shots - some motion would have been nice but I agree that it's probably more enjoyable to just take in the atmosphere in that situation rather than trying to get perfect shots. I am jealous.

clanthar · Sep 6, 2011

Infinite_Day said:
It's nothing for a pro level bike to run $15K. I used to ride - I was in decent shape but still quite slow and I'd love to get back into it but it's either ride or photography unless I win the lottery. It's absurd how physically fit those guys are. Lance Armstrong had a resting heart rate of 32 beats per minute - the average RHR is ~75 BPM. Do you know how strong you heart has to be to be able to move enough blood per beat so that it only needs to beat every other second? Nice shots - some motion would have been nice but I agree that it's probably more enjoyable to just take in the atmosphere in that situation rather than trying to get perfect shots. I am jealous.

Thanks. I am in absolute awe over these people. Sunday after the cat 3 mens' race they were taking a couple cool down laps and I watched two of the racers ride UP the hill side by side. They had slowed to probably 15 mph. They were sitting straight up on the bikes and having a normal conversation. I've tried to ride a bike up that hill -- damn! I always come away from the event speechless in admiration.

There's a dark side to this though. Every year a couple of these guys get hauled off in ambulances. They hit 40 mph. on the downhill and when they reach the turn, if one of them goes down it just turns into a mass of tumbling bloody bodies and twisted bikes. There was one bad crash Sunday that stopped the race and took a couple ambulances to take away the wounded. When I do take some photos I always head for the turn at the top of the hill -- slows them down some and they're less likely to crash and tumble over me.

Here's a question; do these guys still have working knees when they reach my age (60)?

I'm still sorting through the photos, here's another one:

Joe