Viva Le Tour

It's July- and you know what that means? The Tour de France is on and is all I can think about.

I never used to be a cycling fan as I thought it really was similar to watching paint dry. However, after my dedicated father and brother sat me down and explained the In's and outs of team cycling, and told me the story of Lance Armstrong, I became increasingly interested which has led me to a stage of being hooked on cycling these days.

A budding cyclist myself ( I recently took part in the 'Tour of Storms '09), I can't help but be in absolute AWE of what these streamline men do, day after day, for three weeks solid. If there is someone out there who would like to argue that this isn't the toughest sporting event in the world, then name the place and the time- I'll bring my people and you can bring yours and we'll have it out! Bring it on!

I spent the entire weekend locked onto Super Sport 5, and waited, somewhat impatiently, for 12:00pm to arrive and for the live feed of the tour to start. I know the line-up of intimately: Owen, Arnold and Andrew kick off with their SA comments- very interesting I'm finding. Then My Aussie friend takes over the mic from Europe before The Big Guns, Phil and Paul, arrive on the scene and really get the commentary tempo going. If The Tour de France could speak, it would sound like Phil Ligget!

There are many things that I love about the tour. One of them is the intricacies of how each team operates. I love the fact that they have every single detail planned out: From driving each stage before hand, to placing feeding stations along the route, to the small things that make up their snack packs. I enjoy the thought and planning that goes into it. I am fascinated by what a science it really is training for a race like this and how completely prepared they all are to ride each day.

I love how lean each cyclist is. Being clad in Lycra all day every day, you get to see exactly what is under their skin suits...( and no, I didn't mean that, get your mind out of the gutter!) Apart from losing roughly 4kg's every stage, they carry absolutely no extra weight on their bodies. In an odd way, I appreciate how unbalanced they are- with their skinny arms and white, pasty upper bodies in comparison to their powerhouse-like legs and quad muscles. Their legs drive like mechanical pistons as they climb those mountains... one can only imagine what kind of pain that must be.

This leads me to another part of the tour that I absolutely love. Being all about the power of mind and positive thought, as well as psychology, I am thrilled to watch these men accelerate, climb, break-away, chase and catch up to each other. Bearing in mind that each rider is probably in a similar physical state, the only thing that separates them is the power of their minds and their individual ability to push through the pain- it's all a means to an end for them as they dance on their peddles all the way to the top!

Lance, however, is physically built to be a cyclist. His physiological make-up is so finely tuned to be on a bike that one might argue that God is a fan of the tour too! Lance is one amazing human being. I have too much respect for him and his Livestrong project. I only hope that I can be half as driven, dedicated and passionate about what I do as he is!





One aspect of this year's tour that is dramatically different for me is the fact that I am now following all of the top cyclists on Twitter. They tweet before and after each stage, tell me what they are doing, how they are feeling and what they eat for meals. They post pictures of them on their tour bus, at a team dinner and the likes and include videos of them with celebrities such as Robin Williams and Ben Stiller who have come to France just to follow Lance and Team Astana. It is a new addition to the race that has added an incredible dynamic to everything- allowing you to understand not only what they are like on a bike, but also what they do to prepare, how they manage their stress and also shows a small window into who they all are as people when the sweat and the helmets and the cleats come off.

Thank goodness that there are still two more weeks left so that I can carry on getting my 'tour' fix! If there's one thing that will motivate me to get out onto my bike it will be this year's tour. I think that some dancing on the pedals of my own might be in order this week sometime! I just need to have a quick chat to my mate Lance to check that his strategy is all in order and we'll be good to go!


Viva le tour!


Love and Gratitude to you all x