Photos - For the People, By the People

My friend writes, "I love cycling photography, but its scope tends to be a bit narrow: pro racers riding fast on bikes; heroic suffering; the peloton gliding through beautiful scenery - and so on. But that's not what cycling is like for most ordinary cyclists - it's far more modest than that. It's about chatting in cafes, repairing punctures by the side of the road, cleaning your bike, drying your wet shoes on the radiator, waiting to start a time trial on a cold March morning, falling into a grass verge, finishing in the peloton in a cat 3 race, milling about bike shops, commuting to work, hacking through the woods on your mountain bike while a bit drunk, the club dinner dance, marshalling the club road race, putting on numbers for the first time, learning to ride with cleats - and so on and so on. It's all these small things we associate with riding that collectively make up cycling culture for the majority of us. That's what I want to capture."

If you're interested in contributing to the effort, go here: http://thefixedfactor.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/bike-life-vol-1-2/.

Alberto Contador's Stage 18 Special Specialized

Alexandre Gordeyev, the world's preeminent authority on photographing the Astana team at the Tour de France, snapped an amazing series of images detailing the "special" Specialized bicycle that Alberto Contador abortively piloted through some of the 18th stage of this year's Tour de France. Gordeyev contribute the photos to the thriving Astanafans.com website, which celebrates the eponymous professional cycling team.

Hopefully Gordeyev doesn't mind if we reproduce some of the images here - they are simply spectacular:

But strangely for a manufacturer as adept at PR as Specialized, their "Signature" edition hardly merited discussion in the coverage of that day's race, perhaps owing to the fact that Contador abandoned it midway through the day, and reverted back to his primary machine. Cyclingnews.com hosts the only picture I could find of the actual bike change: 

Given the lack of copy, we'll revert to Gordeyev's own notes from that day, and his reference to Specialized's "War-Horse"!!!

"Wakening and breakfast was as usual according to the schedule.

Technicians woke up earlier this morning. Specialized requested Alberto to use new frame bike on this stage. War-horse is seldom changed during the race , only Frenchmen could afford themselves to change frames, but Astana had serious task , and horses are not to be changed during the race. The request of bikes’ suppliers couldn’t be ignored so thus the technicians prepared the bike.

The frame was unusual with its painting. There were names of people who paid 30 Euro for placing of their names on the frame. This is what I’ve got from my conversation with a technician. The conversation was “with fingers” as we spoke different languages."

Bravo, Alexandre!

Photos (c) 2010 Alexandre Gordeyev 

Nevertheless, for as "different" a bike as the Signature edition was, we must not lose sight of the fact that it was a mere curiosity compared to a truly majestic steed: Vino's Golden Eagle (pictured above).

While Vino races aboard a bicycle adorned with a solitary bird of prey, the quiet Kazakh is a fiercely loyal teammate, dedicated to maintaining the unity and focus of his squad. So perhaps its fitting that the final image that Gordeyev would shoot that night was an after-dinner portrait of Vino at the head of a round table (lol), surrounded by his teammates, minus Contador, who was conspicuous by his absence.

Photos: Rolling Stock

Help Identify this Rider, Please!

Pappillon is asking its readers to help identify the rider in the following photo, for cycling photographer and archivist Hugo T. in Belgium. If you know the identity of the mystery cyclist (ex-Trek/Livestrong 2009?), would you please enlighten us and leave the info in a comment? Thanks!

Connie Carpenter-Phinney

Will anyone confirm that this photo is of Connie Carpenter-Phinney?

2009 Vuelta a España - Reprised

I just posted a slew of awesome photos from the 2009 edition of the Vuelta a España. Follow this link to view them (there are nearly 60 in the album). A few examples follow.

2009 Vuelta a España overall GC Results

Pos. Nº Name Nat. Équ. Time

1 51 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 087:22:37

2 1 SÁNCHEZ, Samuel ESP EUS a 55
3 161 EVANS, Cadel AUS SIL a 01:32
4 131 BASSO, Ivan ITA LIQ a 02:12
5 211 MOSQUERA, Ezequiel ESP XAC a 04:27
6 154 GESINK, Robert NED RAB a 06:40
7 58 RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin ESP GCE a 09:08
8 128 TIRALONGO, Paolo ITA LAM a 09:11
9 62 DEIGNAN, Philip IRL CTT a 11:08
10 101 COBO, Juan José ESP FUJ a 11:27

Doh! Alejandro Valverde 2009 Vuelta a España

Best Crash Photo Sequence EVER

Took this screen cap of what is by far the most amazing series of photos captured of a pile-up in a field sprint. Marvel at the ability of the neophyte racer to crash himself when not even remotely close to the action!

UPDATED: Boonen Caption Contest

The best caption for this photo wins a pair of summer cycling gloves or something else from my kit bag (which, you'd be well advised to note, contains nothing on the WADA banned list!). Regardless of quality, if anyone submits an entry, I'll publish it below the "entry form," below. lol

I got a good laugh from:

And:

Totally Politically-Incorrect, but...

Keep 'em coming!

Spring is in the Air

(c) Peter Volpe

Daily Distractions 2

Thanks to a Pappillon reader for sharing with us these interesting, unique images. May we point out the eyes in the first image? Wow!

UPDATED: Daily Distractions

So you're rooting for Quick Step this year, right? UPDATE: Moving on, here is a photo of another D2 submitted by a Pappillon reader:

Two Cool Photos Grabbed with SnagIt

Cuba Photos

Cuba Ingenuity: lost en route, there was no faceplate for my Deda Newton stem when I arrived in Havana one spring, and my $5000 Ti/carbon SRM-equipped wonder-bike was neutered. Cuban mechanics stepped in, however, and for $2.00 forged a new face plate made of iron and steel (lol) that I used for the next two weeks. Coño!

Following Photos (c) Chris Milliman - Reproduction Strictly Prohibited. Please respect the artist's rights.

Thanks to Chris Milliman for the photos he provided. And thanks to those amazing Cuba mechanics for saving my ass with their great metalworking skills! More Cuba images to come in the next few days.