One summer tradition I have adopted since becoming a stay-at-home- dad is the watching of the Tour De France.
My fascination with cycling goes way back to when I was a little grasshopper. But while BMX and mountain biking has figured prominently in my life over the years, ever since I saw the move Breaking Away in the late '70s I have had a soft spot for road racing.
By the '80s, I was a full-on fan of Greg LeMond who was the first American to win the Tour. I remember reading a story in Sports Illustrated (?) about how LeMond would put his body through Herculean demands, one time riding while in the throes of a diarrheea attack.
I've also been intrigued by the story of Marco Pantani so much so that I wrote a song about the guy.
Then there was Lance Armstrong and his amazing story that if you don't know at least part of then you'd been living under a rock for the last decade. He's the only man to win the race seven times... in a row. Calling that one of sport's greatest achievements is an understatement at best.
In recent years the Tour has been plagued by a host of controversies but yet I still find it to be a joy to watch.
This year I'm pulling for Cadel Evans as well as George Hincapie and Christian Vandevelde and hope to see the coveted yellow jersey on one of them.
The return of Phil Liggett's voice to daily sports television is definitely a good thing.
ReplyDeleteVersus and Golf Channel share an HD channel on TWC in W-S. Versus takes over at night when they re-broadcast the stage of the day.
Why can't I watch that stage live? Because the Golf Channel has an infomercial to run, that's why.
Aggravating.