When's That Tour de France Thing, Anyway!

A buddy of mine wonders how I can stand to watch Pro Cycling and the Tour de France. He likens it to watching paint dry. (I have to admit, those cyclists wear colorful jerseys.)

To which I ask him how he can stand watching baseball on TV? Zzzzzzzzzzz....

(Before any Hot Moms hit snooze, here's some Lance Armstrong eye candy.)

In case you've been sleeping through it, please know the 2009 Tour de France is going on right now. And Lance Armstrong is doing extremely well in his comeback. The guy hasn't cycled in Le Tour in four years (after winning seven in a row). Midway through this year's three-week long race, he was in third place, just seconds off the lead.

For the uninitiated, road cycling is a sport of gods. It may seem like nothing more than pedaling bikes, but Tour cycling requires strength, endurance, team tactics, and individual smarts. No fat guys standing out in left field, waiting for something to happen. No one sitting on the bench, chewing tobacco and waiting to go in. These cyclists pedal their butts off each day. If there's a crash, they get back on the bike and keep going. Rules state they must finish each day within a certain time after the first guy crosses the line, or they get booted from the race. Most fight hard to just remain in the race, and would only leave the Tour if they broke a bone. Even then, they'd go kicking and screaming.

Imagine cycling 100+ miles, eating, sleeping, then doing it again the next day - and repeating this pattern for 21 stages over the course of 23 days. (The first stage is usually a shorter distance.) I cycle 50 miles and it's a long ride for me.

The Tour de France has no substitutions. Only two days rest in three weeks. These guys are studs.

My kids and I have watched the Tour of California in person a few times, and even gotten some autographs from George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, and others (making all the road trip planning even more worth it.)

And now we are watching Tour de France coverage together on TV. (Family time, Tivo style.)

We revel in the beauty of the French countryside and the architecture in its towns. We marvel at the peloton's changing shape, from fat blob to thin stretched line as riders whip up the pace. We oooh and ahhh when a cyclist wipes out and goes flying.

As for Lance Armstrong? From reading his book, "It's Not About the Bike", I sort of figured he was an egotistical bastard. (Compare his writing to his ex-wife Kristen Armstrong's blog at Runners World. She is grounded, self aware, compassionate, evolved.)

In previous Tours, I always rooted for someone, anyone else to win - Jan Ullrich, Andreas Kloeden, Carlos Sastre. Anyone but the man who acted like the world revolved around him.

But then I read somewhere that Lance, during grueling training rides and races in Australia and California, realized how much work the domestiques do for their team leader. Apparently he wondered if maybe this Tour de France was meant to teach him something else. Maybe it was his turn to ride in support of others and give selflessly to the team.

Yeah, right. Beautiful sentiment, but clearly from watching the first half of this year's Tour, he wants to win. He's been kicking ass so far. (Lance tweets about it, too.)

And for once, I've been cheering him along. Why my change in heart? Who knows - Lance Armstrong is older, wiser, nicer, but he still has that competitive fire.

Or maybe I'm older, wiser, nicer, and not so judgmental. (Then again, maybe it's simply the fact that for a brief few seconds, Lance and I appeared together on TV. Gotta love my fifteen frames of fame!)

Go Lance! Win the Tour.

Flickr photo by Ricardo Horsham, Some rights reserved (CC BY-ND 2.0)