The 2009 TOUR De FRANCE

Summer, the dog days are coming and for many in America it means a hot boring time. In Europe this was also true back in the summer of 1903. It was so hot and so slow that people in France were not buying newspapers. The paper [magazine] was L' Auto and the Editor was Henri Desgrange. He became the backer of the first Tour on July 1, 1903. His vision was a race, with daily updates, that would require the readers to buy his newspaper all through the month of July.

Today the Tour de France is a world class sports event. Like the Super Bowl, you do not need to know the details [of Bicycle Racing] to enjoy the show. It is 21 days of racing around France and the adjacent countries with an end in Paris. This year the race begins on July 4 in Monaco and will end on July 26 on the Champ Elysees in Paris. Lance Armstrong returns from retirement to race one more time in this legendary event. The entire race is covered LIVE for USA Cable viewers on Versus. Check your local listings. It starts daily about 13:00 GMT or around 5:00 AM on the West Coast. They replay the race each evening. The race covers about 100 miles per day and takes about 3 hours. The coverage is wonderful with beautiful aerial shots and roadside images of rural France. Thousands of international fans line the roads to watch.

As a kid, living in Germany, I remember the Tour de France and Rudi Altig's near win in 1962 and 1964. Nothing the Germans liked more than to beat the French at their own race. I came back to the US in 1964 and "bike riding" was not as cool in Minnesota as it was in Germany. My Dad saw the problem, and bought me my first motorcycle. What the kids in Austin called a "sickle" and I rode that to school. Still, the Tour de France as a great race, even if I had become too cool to follow it.

Along came Pam. Her affection for all things Europe and obscure led us to watching the Tour on Cable. Here is a photo of Pam and "Muffy the wonder dog" watching Lance win a stage. We promised Muffy we would go to the race....someday. In 2007 we took Meredith, Colleen, and little Jack to Europe. We rented a Mercedes Van and drove around chasing the Bicycles. It turned out to be much harder than we thought. Narrow roads that never run in straight lines. Small villages with cobble stones. Waiting for hours along the road. Then...swish. They pass at 35 miles per hour and they are gone. It's over, time to move on.

This year we will be watching from home. Take time to watch a few days if you turn on the TV and find there is "nothing on". Search around for Versus at about channel 363 and listen to Phil Ligget, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll. These guys are the very best sports broadcasters regardless of the sport. Here is a link to Versus http://www.versus.com/tdf.

Guetter le maillot jaune.