july the 5th - for many just another day on earth - but for cyclists around the world and especially for almost every french man, woman, and child this is the day of all days . . . the beginning of the tour de france. as a high school student i dreamed of riding in the tour (as it is affectionately and more simply termed) at a time when there simply were no north americans in the hunt. my hero was the incredible belgian rider eddy merckx. this was at a time when magazines were scarce (and i had no money for them) and the internet was non-existent so all that i knew about the tour and especially about eddy came through books. by incredible fortune i had a father who drove me to the public library every saturday at which time i had to sign out six books and have them all read by the following saturday. this was later modified by myself to also include two records (vinyl recordings for those of you who are only familiar with cds). this particular branch had an excellent and very current cycling section and so i was able to follow the races through “annuals” and biographies.
today the race is available through the televsion and also the internet and so i have watched and closely followed most of the last eight races in the company of my own high-school son who harbours none of the dreams and ambitions i had (related to cycling), but loves the atmosphere, the gear, and the hero worship that he sees unfolding on the little screen.
readers who would like to follow the race on the “even-smaller” screen aka the computer can watch videos, see illustrated maps of the route, read and listen to interviews with the riders, and track their favourite teams at the tour de france website.
the beginnings of this event are predictably colourful. the original idea emerged from the mind of géo lefèvre, a journalist with l’auto magazine at the time. his idea (as were so many of the crazy yet memorable sporting events that were spawned in the twentieth century) had to do with circulation - not his, but that of the newspaper for whom he worked! his plan was for a five-week tour, however, this proved too daunting, attracting only 15 entrants, so the length was cut to 19 days, and the riders were offered a daily allowance. this attracted 60 entrants, including amateurs, some unemployed, and some simply adventurous. It was these entrants that helped catch the public imagination.
the average length of the six stages was 400km (i have not yet ridden a 100km in one ride - also called "a century" -although i plan to this summer - and i can tell you that it is a good long ride and i have a relatively comfortable, lightweight, well equipped bike compared to some of the contraptions ridden for this event!) and the riders were sometimes expected to ride into the night.
this year’s race (the 95th running) runs from july 5th to july 27th 2008, and will be made up of 21 stages covering a total distance of 3,500 kilometres following this route . . .
. you will see scenes like this . . .
with incredibly fit young men riding bikes like these . . .
it is an incredible feat of human endurance, skill, and honest good luck. men have died on the tour, many many riders have succumbed to injury and a select few have risen above it all to be crowned champion and wear the coveted yellow jersey of the leader and eventual winner. here's one of lance armstrong's many yellow jerseys . . .
go here to learn more about the significance of the other jerseys that can be won during the tour.
No comments:
Post a Comment