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Friday, July 10. 2009
On Tour
As is the usual custom, at this time of year my TV is on Versus Channel for the Tour de France. It used to be the Outdoor Channel, I think, it’s been through a couple name changes in the past few years, but it’s the same network really, on the same cable channel. Doesn’t matter, as long at is has the Tour De France every July, I’m happy.It was the Tour that finally got me off the couch and down to the Trek Store to buy my Trusty Trek, that lovely piece of machinery that now gets me to and fro with the motorized aid of the San Diego Transit System. Well, the Tour and my pal Alan. For years we discussed the Tour nearly every day, wondering if Lance Armstrong would finally win a Tour de France. That’s about when I first began watching it.
Alan is a character. We both have had near death experiences and, I’ll be honest about it, I like to brag about it because, what the Hell, I survived, as he survived his. Alan, admit it, you share your near death experience because you’re proud you survived. We defied the odds and that’s worth some bragging rights.
Alan has also been riding road bikes, the same basic design used in tour-type racing, for over 20 years. We’ll keep Alan’s true age secret at this point, but he looks at least ten years younger and that feat of seeming immortality can be traced to his daily pedaling on his Trusty Trek. That and he has the beautiful young girl friend, well, she’s younger than Alan and as Hugh Hefner has made apparent, if you want to look and feel younger, date younger women.
So, for years we talked about the Tour, Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich. Those were the two main protagonists for many years, when any commentator spoke of Armstrong, you could bet Ullrich’s name would come up within two sentences. The link between Ullrich and Armstrong really took mythic proportions when, in 2001, Ullrich fell and Armstrong stopped to wait until his rival was back on his bike and pedaling. Armstrong won his third straight Tour de France that year, but he didn’t take any cheap wins from his chief rival to do so.Two years later the tables were turned when a spectator’s bag caught Armstrong’s right hand grip, sending the champion to the pavement. Ullrich slowed down, waiting for Armstrong to get back on and start riding again before beginning to race again.
Getting back to Alan: after a few years of talking about the Tour and Lance Armstrong, Alan finally talked me into buying a bike, specifically a Trek. But I wasn’t getting a road bike, nosiree! I got a mountain bike! Yeah! You’ve seen the commercials, young people zipping up and down wooded trails and grassy knolls, catching air and otherwise looking awesomely cool. That’s what I wanted!
The circumstances were, six years ago I was way over-weight, much more than now, and had developed a persistent backache. Alan insisted that riding a bicycle would relieve the pain. So, off I went to the Trek store, purchased my Trusty Trek and began riding a few times a week. Sure enough, the back pain went away. Thanks Alan!
Since then I’ve ridden many a trail here in San Diego, fantasizing being airborne at 20 miles per hour as I struggle to crest a small hill at about five miles per hour. I’ve actually zipped down rock-strewn hills at 20 MPH-plus and have paid the price in lost flesh from my legs and arms, for some strange reason, the left leg bearing most of this damage.
So every year I watch the Tour de France. Lance Armstrong has come out of retirement to win, he hopes, his eighth Yellow Jersey. Friday (today) they take on the Pyrenees Mountains, the first great challenge of the Tour. Mountains are one of Armstrong’s strong suits, that and time trials.
It’s difficult to predict Armstrong will win. His team, Astana, also has Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador, both of whom have been team leaders in the past and Contador won the tour two years ago. Both of them would rather wear the Yellow Jersey than push Armstrong to win it. Can we blame them? The point being, Armstrong not only has to compete with the other teams and their leaders, he’s competing with two of his teammates.Fabian Cancellara wore the Jersey until today, when a strong push by Team Astana wore him out. The finish at Andorre Arcalis was so close the commentators couldn’t determine who won the Yellow Jersey for over-all leader. Rinaldo Nocentini beat Contador for the Jersey by two seconds and Armstrong by less than eight seconds. With another day of mountain racing, there’s a good chance Armstrong will win the Yellow Jersey before the weekend is over.
For once a Frenchman won something in the Tour de France. The young Brice Feillu won Stage Seven, beating everyone to the finish line in Andorre Arcalis.
Scoring a Tour race is weird really. People who win stages, like Feillu did today, do not usually wear the Yellow Jersey of the over-all leader. All scoring is based on points, except for who crosses the finish line first in each stage. There are champion and over-all leader jerseys for hill climbers and sprinters and many of the riders compete to win those jerseys. On flat courses, there are stretches of race where times are recorded so the sprinters will exhaust themselves to win those races within the race and wear the Green Jersey.Whenever there is a hill large enough to be categorized, points are assigned to award hill climbers. The power riders will exhaust themselves climbing those hills to win the Polka Dot Jersey.
The strategies of the Tour are as intricate and well thought out as any in chess. At least it has been in the past. Part of the reason Cancellara lost the Yellow Jersey today is that he needed a wheel change early in the race and needed to catch up to the peloton. Maybe Team Astana would have worn him down anyway, but having to play catch-up eats up energy and in the last five kilometers (just over three miles), Cancellara didn’t have the juice.
Interesting point: Stages Six and Seven were primarily ridden in Spain. From Girone, which is on the border with France, to Barcelona for Stage Six, and then Stage Seven from Barcelona to Andorre Arcalis, literally on the French-Spanish border.
It’s an interesting Tour this year, in part due to Armstrong’s return and his team, Astana. The winner is really up in the air and that’s what makes it the most interesting Tour in years.
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