tour of missouri III

Some of you will remember the photos I posted a year ago of the Tour of Missouri bike race as it cruised past our subdivision on Hwy. DD in O'Fallon, Mo... (Who am I kidding? I remember the photos, but I don't think that even Becca remembers them, so why would anyone else??!!!) I specifically remember them because at that time, I was having trouble getting the color of our photos to look vibrant and accurate on the Web. (Thank goodness we got that all taken care of... [Whew.])

Anyway, it rolled through today -- this time in Downtown STL -- and my dad and I and, according to KSDK and KSDK.com, 74998 other people, took advantage of the holiday and hit the streets of St. Louie on the 7.5 mile Tour of Missouri stage 1 circuit. And, like last year, it was well worth the outing!

What I learned: 1. Watch out for riders. They will come as close to the curb as humanly possible, so be familiar with the length of your lens! 2. Be ready with a wide selection of lenses. 50mm f/1.8 is good, but 100mm f/1.8 or 85mm f/1.8 would be better. Better yet? 300mm or 400mm fixed focals. 3. Carry water, and lots of it, if you plan to shoot from different points on the course. 4. People like to grill, drink, and do all sorts of other weird stuff on the side of the road. (Yup... I saw some guy loading up his charcoal grill into the 1990s white Dodge Caravan after the race was over. Strange.)

Update: the STL Post-Dispatch is considering publishing the first in the series (top left). See it online at their reader-submitted section HERE.