The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Tour of Britain Cycle Race Stage 1

I must confess that I've never watched cycle racing, but I do know that it's quite popular in some circles - notably among fit people, in my experience. The Tour of Britain race, while not perhaps as prestigious as the Tour de France, is still, apparently, something of an event.

Now while it would not usually interest me enough to check the TV schedule, the finishing line of Stage 1 happens to be 100m from our house.

So leaning out of the window I was able to take the following photos (you can click on them for larger versions)


The leaders, Martin Pedersen and Mathew Goss, are shooting past, just under my children's bedroom window


50m to go with Luis Pasamontes right there with them


The winner crosses the line and the other 2 are obscured by the 50m sign


Zoom in on the winner.

According to the PA system the winner of this stage is Martin Pedersen

If anyone would like a copy of any of these in their original size (4048 x 3040 pixels) just send me an email. I'm led to believe that some people are interested in this sort of thing.

UPDATE
Being relevant and up to the moment, I sent the top photo off to the BBC Sport website and they've used it both for their news page on the event:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/5294618.stm

and photo number 6 on their Photo of the Day page:

Forget writing, maybe I should be a photographer.

Then again, not every sports event will be easily viewable from my kids' bedroom window.

18 comments

Dr Maroon said...

coool.
It's a good photo AND they give you a credit on the BBC website.

Pedersen is a big name in cycling. Good turn out too. I've only seen city stages of the TOB when it was in Glasgow (twice now) But the old Milk Race used to come through Perth.

Weel done.

iLL Man said...

I think it started in Glasgow this year. I forgot all about it. First I knew about it was in today's Evening Times. I was thinking of taking the day off and getting some photos.....

Great shots Kim, and well done on getting your shot on the BBC site. Damn! I'm jealous as hell.............=D

Stella said...

Coooool Kim. Great photo (wouldn't be interested in cycling myself, not being a fit person, but if was passing my house, yes). And yes BBC gave to you credit - way cool - does that make up for the halloween costume competition and writing competition?

Sancho Pawnza said...

Kim,
View this as a sign and start riding your bike!
Excellent photos btw!
It's hard as heck to even keep those guys in the frame sometimes, yet alone
get a really good composition.

Keep up the good work!

sarah said...

heh, that's too true.

congrats though man, it's very cool that BBC used your photo.

i used to watch the tour de france religiously when i was in high school. that's been over ten years ago now. i think that was before lance.

kats said...

Great photos Kim. I used to have the RAC Rally past my house years ago and it drove me mental. Alot noisier than bikes though.

Kats

BStrong said...

Nice pics Kim. Pretty cool thing with the photo of the day and all. Maybe you should take up photography. You should have sold your kids bedroom for the event to some crazy spectator. You could have called it a luxury box and received good money for it:)

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of cycling either, but many of my friends are.

Kim Ayres said...

Dr Maroon - It was a bit cool wasn't it? Even my son thought so, which was an extremely rare thing

Ill Man - all the TV coverage mentioned on this morning's news was of the Glasgow set off, becasue that's where Scottish TV crews are based. Nobody bothered to send a camera team down to this rural corner of Scotland

Stella - yes it does make up for it. I feel a bit of self respect coming back :)

SP - I keep toying with the idea of getting a bike. I've not ridden one for many years, although they say you don't forget. Maybe one day.

Sarah - is Lance the Michael Schumacher of the bike world?

Kats - I guess these days it's speed boat racing you have to worry about!

BStrong - now there's an idea- maybe next year I can make a bit of cash :)

Anonymous said...

i was never into Lance. my friend Corinna (gusgreeper.com) loves him. and so does my brother-in-law.

iLL Man said...

I'm a Michael Rassmussen chick myself.............

Dr Maroon said...

Sarah's right. Lance Armstrong is THE cyclist. Winner of the TdF 85 times in a row.
He is a physical phenonmenon.
a resting pulse of 34 or 37 I can never remember, lung capacity to body mass index of the fittest cheatah. After his surgery and treatment for testicular cancer, his capacity for oxygen absorption had increased and he went on to win the tour for the next five times.
Having said that he was perfect in his training and timed himself to peak at 2/3 of the way through the tour while others were collapsing. He like the others lost a stone in body mass through the tour. They just can't replace it quick enough. They are the IRON men

Miguel Indurain (Spanish) was always my hero. But Lance was IS up there. Second favourite equal with Eddie Merckx, the Belgian Cannibal.

Bstrong's right! Nice little earner. You coulda taken bits of the boy's bike and sold them as real parts from the time lance crashed at the finnish line.
In Finland, obviously.
no, finish line.

Dr Maroon said...

Here Sarah and Illman, do either of you remember 'The Pirate' an Italian rider from a few years back? Can't remember his real name now (bit pissed) but he had panache. He was done for drugs I think, and the poor bugger died either last year or the year before. He won stages esp in the mountains. I liked him. I remember seeing him have a pee on channel 4 as he freewheeled down from a summit.

Foot Eater said...

Congratulations, Kim. You didn't happen to take any photos of Dr Maroon when you met him earlier this year, did you? I don't belive he looks like his Blunt Cogs avatar.

Nikki said...

Wow Kim, that's something to tell your grandchildren about.

jotcr2 said...

That is fantastic. They are great pics. Cycling is very popular in our household. For the TDF this year I won $50 for betting on a win by Floyd Landis by 60 sec and he won by 59 sec. Thankfully I claimed my winnings before the positive drug test.

Kim Ayres said...

Sarah - I know it's such a shallow thing, but I have difficulty in getting excited by anyone dressed in lycra

Ill Man - I am none the wiser

Dr Maroon - so do you think we could all be greater athletes if we chop our balls off? Try it out and let me know how the experiment goes.

Foot Eater - well I did, but he yanked the camera out of my hands, smashed it on the floor, removed the memory card and ate it, and warned me that if I ever tried something like that again he'd write me out of Gothic...

Nikki - to be honest, as they're only one and a half and two and a half years old, I don't think they'd be that interested

Jo - the drinks are on you then!

SafeTinspector said...

Those are really cool shots! I'm not a cycle fan, and in fact lost a friend to the cycling bug (the bastard talks about nothing else these days. And he was such a nice, sluglike, cartoon junky...).
But you have to admire the look of the thing.
Totally cool that your photos were used and acknowledged by the BBC. How much does that contribute to your running total of 15 minutes of fame?

As for photography, sports photography is my favorite kind.

iLL Man said...

Dr M, his name was Marco Pantani.

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