Saturday, July 14, 2007

Tour de France: Mountains

Today's stage of le Tour encounters the mountains for the first time, the first of three consecutive stages in the alps. This is where the contenders for the overall victory usually start to show their true colors. Expect other's dreams to be mercilessly crushed... Today is the national holiday of France as well, always a big motivator for the french riders.

Mustache was a must for all serious bikers back then...

Biking in mountainous areas is not a new thing, the picture above was taken in Norway by swedish photographer Axel Lindahl in the late 19th century, preceding the first tour de France. He was a very active photographer, after 12 years after starting up his business in Norway he had 3500 photographic plates, mainly taken in the field. Remember, this was when the negatives were big (24 x 18 cm), heavy and made of glass.

/O.K.
(Listening to while posting: La Marseillaise, playing on the radio)

4 comments:

LS said...

I can't believe they played Marseljasen on the radio while you blogged this. That is too much of a coincidence to be true. Or maybe you were sitting there waiting for a suitable song for hours and finally could hit PUBLISH when the song started. Of course, the radio could have played only French songs all day or you could have been listening to a French radio station, didn't think about that.

I can't even bike up our mountain, 400 ft high. I admire these guys, but I also think they are crazy. Riding up would be easier.

O.K. said...

"If you try to tell that to young people today, they won't believe you!" :P

Well, they did play it while I was writing the post. Why is that so unlikely? I had to deal with the dead mac before I pasted and published the text, so don't try to nail me on the exact time. SR haven't updated their online playlists yet, so I can't prove to you what they played. I guess you just have to trust me... :)

H came in and commented "I hear you are listening to REAL music for a change" with more than just a little irony.

LS said...

Maybe H is right - most music you post I have never heard of :)

LS said...

PS. I meant riding up on a horse would be easier, in my previous comment.