Intermission: The Volta a Portugal do Futuro passed through Carris the Other Day

Intermission: The Volta a Portugal do Futuro passed through Carris the Other Day

We were chatting with Dna. Fatima, awho had just brought us some fresh vegetables, when we heard the police siren outside, 'woop, woop!' It wasn't the normal sound, so I went to find out what was going on. I could see that the roads around the nearby rotunda (roundabout) were being cordoned off and police were milling around. For the first time in quite a while we were going to have some racing cyclists pass by.

Before the Pandemic we used to get a lot of races passing through Oiã and Carris,  and I got some amazing shots of the cyclists as they passed by. Since then, the roads have been let to deteriorate a little and it's no longer safe for the high performance bicycles of the racing teams. So it was unusual for us to hear the sirens of the police motorcycles. This time, though, it looked like we were going to see some action. 

I rushed upstairs to grab the first camera that came to hand: the PanasonicLumixGF1microfour-thirdsmirrorlesscameraand20mmf1.7lens. Normally I would pick a better digital camera, or even my smartphone, but this time I wanted to try some action shots with the Panasonic setup. I found a nice area by the side of the road and waited for the racing cyclists to pass.

A small group went by, followed by some team support cars, then a long thread of cyclists sped by. Usually it feels like the group of cyclists is never ending, and with the Panasonic GF1 on single shot mode I only managed a few frames and they were gone! 

Fortunately, there was another small back making up the rear, and I figured out how to use the burst mode (which on the GF1 is simply a matter of sliding a lever near the shutter button. I grabbed a few more frames, and then they were gone. One of these days I'll be organised and be able to get some much better images.

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