A photo-essay on what to do with
Sunglasses on an HC (beyond-category, which means really
nasty) climb in the Tour de France, the Col d' Aubisque on July 19,
2005. On February 16, 2008, we added the always-stylish David Millar
to our collection during the Tour of California.
Here we find David Millar discussing a major issue with a
team mate. That issue?
It seems that his new eyewear (Giro) doesn't fit nicely into his
(Giro) helmet. He was literally trying every way possible; as you
can see, his team mate finds that even upside-down isn't working.
The irony is that his prior eyewear (Oakley) fit quite nicely
into his Giro helmet.
Apparently, the only thing worse than having unstylishly-stuffed
eyewear is to have someone half-jokingly suggest that you look fat.
Bobby Julich, on the
right, as well as the other two riders with him, are all wearing
their shades, trying to look like climbing is easy. It's all about
appearances. If you look cool, you are cool. This is France,
after all.
George Hincapie,
probably the most-readily identifiable rider in the Peloton (nobody
else wears big white sunglasses!), makes not wearing them stylish.
Heck, George makes just about anything stylish.
Pain. But this isn't
about pain, it's about the shades. While George places them on the
front, in the lowest slots, here we find Paolo Salvodelli notching
things up a bit, higher up on the helmet than George.
More pain. Did we tell
you how steep the Col d'Aubisque is? Still, is that any excuse for
just shoving them into place as Fabian Wegmann has done? No class
here, no class at all.
Is this really Matty
White, looking like the poster child for how not to look cool?
Especially compared to the guy behind him, whose shades are
perfectly perched on the helmet. Yuck!
Pavel Padrnos
(Discovery) being checked out by an unknown Robobank rider, admiring
Pavel's perfectly-positioned upside-down shades. This is what it's
all about. Intimidation through class. Wear 'em proud.
Daniele
Nardello doing the upside-down thing, and rather well (Thanks
to B Martin for identifying him; Telekom doesn't put numbers on
their bikes).
Laurent Brochard, being
ever-so-cool by wearing them backwards, on the ears, as if there's
another set of eyes in the back of his head.
Somebody just had to be
different. This guy just stuffs 'em into his jersey pockets.
Practical, sure, but I didn't catch anybody else doing it.
Andrei Grivko,
demonstrating how to dramatically add tension to the race by having
that "On my gosh, his glasses are about to fall off" look. Adds to
the illusion of speed too.
Joseba Beloki probably
would have done better had he either been wearing shades or stashing
'em. Get a clue. It's all about the shades. A pair of Oakleys and
he's podium material.
Here Cofidis defines
good & really, really, really poor taste in one photo! I
know, you really didn't need to see this photo, did you? (Thierry
Marichal is the "drooling" rider, with Frédéric Bessy to his left)
How this page came about- I've
traveled to the Tour de France six times now, always looking for
that perfect photo that captures a special moment in time. Once in a
while I get it (http://www.chainreaction.com/tdf03oldmanyoungboy.htm
or
http://www.chainreaction.com/france03racephotos.htm#tourmalet)
but often you not only don't get the shot, but also miss out on
whatever it was that made the event so special, because you made the
decision to focus on taking photos rather than experience the
event.
So once again I'm in France, doing my usual follow-the-Tour de
France thing, hauling 12 pounds of camera gear up the Col d'Aubisque
(by bicycle), hoping for just the right picture. I didn't get it (of
course not, particularly when you've borrowed your brother's
L-series 70-200 lens that you've never used before and really don't
have a clue how to use), but looking over the photos later on, I start thinking
of how you can make lemonade out of the lemons I took. And there it
was. Eyewear. Do you wear your shades up the hill, or remove 'em?
And if you remove 'em, where do you put them?
Out of that came this web page.
(The things you do on a long flight back from Europe...) --Mike--
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