\nWe arrived about 1 hour before the race was expected to pass. Lots of people were waiting around already, but it was still easy to park on a side road. The Guardia Civil were waiting and trying to kill time just like everyone else:
\n
![\"L1002449\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAlternate 1<\/em> Alternate 2<\/em> Alternate 3<\/em> Alternate 4<\/em> Alternate 5<\/em> Alternate 6<\/em> Alternate 7<\/em> Alternate 8<\/em> Alternate 9<\/em> Alternate 10<\/em> Alternate 11<\/em> Alternate 12<\/em> Alternate 13<\/em> The remaining pictures are from my life here in Alicante.<\/p>\n Alternate 14<\/em> Alternate 15<\/em> Alternate 16<\/em> Alternate 17<\/em> Alternate 18<\/em> Alternate 19<\/em> Alternate 20<\/em> Alternate 21<\/em> Alternate 22<\/em> Alternate 23<\/em> This week was the second week of the Vuelta a Espa\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00b1a. The race had started in Seville the Sunday before, but now it arrived in the mountains surrounding Alicante; these are not the Pyrenees, as they rise to only 1500 metres or so, but they do provide for many nasty climbs. On Sunday 5th September […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":329,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/427"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/427\/revisions\/429"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAlternates<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
\nThe real early birds had nice seating spots:
\n![\"L1002456\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nFriendly conversation:
\n![\"L1002464\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nTwo women getting ready:
\n![\"L1002460\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nTwo children getting ready:
\n![\"L1002455\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nA member of one of the support crews prepares drink bottles and energy bars to refill the support car that follows the cyclists:
\n![\"L1002466\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nBecause this is a popular spot to watch the Vuelta, this fast food vendor was doing good business. But now it was time to assume his viewing position:
\n![\"L1002468\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt6.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nFinally, the first rider goes through the pass, Gonzalo Rabu\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00b1al. At this point he was in a solo escape, but finished 8th in the end:
\n![\"L1002470\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nDavid L\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00b3pez, the eventual winner of the stage:
\n![\"L1002471\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt8.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nThe main peleton passing by. I placed myself just beyond the barrier to get as close to the action as possible:
\n![\"L1002480\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nGetting some unauthorized help:
\n![\"L1002486\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt10.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nOne of the stragglers behind the pack, clearly suffering:
\n![\"L1002489\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt11.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nPierre Roland, who abandoned the race later in this stage:
\n![\"L1002490\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt12.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nOn the way home, we drove back towards the coast on beautiful mountain roads, with views like this:
\n![\"L1002498\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt13.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nIn my local bike shop, a beautifully restored vintage racing bike, converted to single-speed. It belongs to one of the employees:
\n![\"_1020304\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt14.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nA bit more bike porn:
\n![\"_1020306\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt15.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nA construction site on our street. The workers put up the flag during the World Cup, and for obvious reasons, it has not come down since:
\n![\"_1020308\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt16.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nWe sometimes see threatening clouds, but most of the time the threat is empty and they just disappear. This is what happened with this one:
\n![\"_1020311\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt17.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nIsla Marina is a posh seaside bar in Alicante, a favourite spot for celebrations. I was there Thursday afternoon\/evening for a colleague’s 40th birthday. Of course, I looked at some of the other bar patrons:
\n![\"_1020334\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt18.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nA couple enjoys the evening light:
\n![\"_1020331\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt19.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nSame couple:
\n![\"_1020338\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt20.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nMy boss for another couple of weeks, the outgoing President of our agency, Wubbo de Boer. His second 5-year mandate is ending on 30th September:
\n![\"_1020343\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt21.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nWe actually had a semi-official photographer at the event:
\n![\"_1020354\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt22.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nFinally, a picture taken while walking the dog Saturday evening. A local bar intelligently put a big screen TV in the window so that people could watch the Barcelona-Hercules game while sitting outside in the warm evening. Hercules is the local team here in Alicante, newly promoted to the Primera Liga, and they scored a huge upset by beating Barcelona 2-0 at the Nou Camp:
\n![\"_1020389\"](\"uploads\/2010\/36alt23.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"