le Tour de France is well underway now and they just completed Stage 3 today. I have really been getting into watching le Tour (I usually record it and watch it when I get a chance) although I have not yet seen Stage 3, which will air later tonight. I would definitely recommend watching this event to anyone that is into cycling (even if you are not into racing).
le Tour de France is on now!
Personally, I am just amazed at the condition of the riders in le Tour de France and how they can average around 25 mph for over 100 miles and do that for 3 weeks straight! And don’t forget racing up the mountains! Even if you do not get caught up in the race itself, there is still some beautiful scenery and the fanatical spectators can be an interesting show also.
The TDF is being broadcast on the NBS Sports channel and has been aired throughout the day until today. They are now playing some of the Olympics events throughout the day also although they still have the TDF on in the morning and early evening so there are still plenty of times to catch a stage or two.
I have only ridden over 100 miles in a day one time myself. That took most of the day and I was too tired to ride the next day so I just can’t imagine doing a ride like that in around 3 hours and then doing it again almost everyday for 3 weeks. I also stopped for breaks and to have snacks and a meal at my turnaround point. Last night I noticed that the TDF riders grab a “feed bag” from people on the sidelines as they continue riding.
Since I put so much time and effort into this cycling website, I am also very in-tune to the cycling related stories and commercials. Aside from the car and beer commercials I noticed that Cannondale, Trek and Proform had a pretty major presence.
The Cannondale commercial, that I’ve seen, advertises the Cannondale Supersix Evo as “The worlds best bike”. Well, I do like Cannondale and I think they make excellent bikes but this really should be qualified since the “best bike” for anyone is going to be the bike that fits your own particular riding style the best. I am sure that the Supersix Evo is one of the best road/racing bikes (in the world) but it would not be much use to a mountain biker.
Anyway, the Supersix bikes are Cannondale’s top of the line bikes in their Elite Road Bike category. Which is just above the Cannondale CAAD10 bikes, which I have reviewed and rated (highly) on this site. Another nice thing about Cannondale Bikes, aside from their high quality, is that you can actually order them online. They are still only sold through authorized Cannondale dealers but you can find a good selection online, order online and then pick your bike up at a local store (see the link above for more on this).
Trek also makes some very high quality bikes (along with mid-range models) although I don’t know of anyplace (at least not any national merchant) where you can order Trek bikes online.
And finally, I noticed that they are now referring to the Proform TDF Gen2 model (exercise bike) as the “2012” Proform TDF Indoor Cycle and they have a new commercial this year. Actually I think that I liked last year’s commercial better.
OK, back the the actual TDF, I just read that Peter Sagan of Slovakia won the “crash-marred” third stage of the Tour de France although Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland is still the overall leader (who will continue to wear the yellow jersey). I don’t normally like to look ahead at the TDF news until after I have watched the day’s race but I had to look-up a few things today and saw that story.
The “crash-marred” third stage does not sound good. I saw a few crashes on the first few stages this year but it did not look like there were any serious injuries. Of course, any crash is serious for these riders who have obviously trained hard for years to get to the TDF. I just hope that there are no serious or permanent injuries.
The TDF can be exciting to watch but it can also be very dangerous. I still remember the crash from last year when the TV car clipped a rider (Juan Antonio Flecha) and knocked him down into the pavement and consequently knocked another rider (Johnny Hoogerland) down and threw him into a barbed wire fence. That looked nasty. It also looked like the car did it on purpose to me. 😐
Well I hope that you will get a chance to catch at least some of this year’s Tour de France. I’m sure there will be a lot more exciting stuff and interesting scenes and information for all cyclists.