Written by: Maestro 7/2/2010 9:06 AM
Here is a link for those of you who want to follow the race with me. Crickets chirping........................the sound of a stiff breeze and tumbleweeds blowing by......................someone snoring peacefully in the background. As a past poster of the week likes to say SAVE IT!!!!! I love the Tour. LOVE it. It is something that I hope to see with my own eyes someday (darn you BigDawgs). The sound of Sherwen, Liggett and Roll calling the race makes my heart beat faster and my adrenaline kick in. It makes me want to go run, or ride, or swim, or challenge myself physically like I never have before. Watching the Peloton trek across the rolling hills of France is hardly my favorite part of the race, but it is nonetheless impressive to see. The pack moving together like a swarm of bees with a tremendous amount of activity occurring within that pack. Motorcycles, team cars, domestiques getting food and water for teammates, elbows, conversations, and of course crashes. A sprint finish has to be one of the most exciting things to witness in the world of sports. Men riding bikes as if they are literally extensions of their bodies at higher speeds than most hybrid cars can reach. Utterly exposed and at the mercy of the group unless you are the leader of the pack. Intensity and fear and acceleration and power and the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. A time trial epitomizes the sport at its true core. Man and machine versus the road and the elements. No one to draft behind, no team to protect you, no one to get you a water bottle, no help. The truest test of cycling skill. All the technology in the world can't make you pedal the bike any faster and if you don't do it the fastest the competition will eat you alive. Then there are the mountain stages. Oh the mountain stages. By far my favorite. Raw and relentless. Gut wrenching and painful. Throngs of people parting like the Red Sea before the Israelites as the racers struggle with each turn of the crank slowly making their way to the summits of the Alps and the Pyrenees. And then the descents. Talk about being exposed. Traveling down these mountains on an inch wide tire at speeds that break laws everywhere except the Autobahn. Literally risking their lives as the riders throw themselves back to flat terrain. I invite you to pay attention. This is Armstrong's last hurrah at this race. Really it is this time. At 38 he will attempt to beat Alberto Contador (yes he is the villain that you can direct all your ill will toward) and ride off into the sunset. In all honesty a podium place would be a great finish for Lance. I will be pulling for him the entire 2,200+ miles. Come along for the ride with me.