Anyone who has read this blog knows that I really enjoy le Tour de France and I have been watching it this year since it started on 6/30. I am always a little behind because, first of all I am in the U.S. so they are usually playing the previous days race when I get to seeing it and sometimes I am not able to see it until late in the day.

Although I am currently working on another local bike trail article (the North Branch Trail), there are some things that I have seen on le TDF recently that I just had to make some comments on.

You can get all of the latest news, stats and current standings on the TDF on the major news websites or the TDF website so I for this blog post I’d just like to comment on some things that I’ve noticed and that seem interesting to me.

First of all, we have just been getting into some major mountain stages of the TDF and it blows me away how the TDF riders can race up these incredible inclines (I’ve heard them refer to 17% to 20%  inclines recently) for fairly long distances and at speeds that would be pushing my limits on the flat lands! 🙂

If you haven’t been watching the Tour de France, this is a great time to tune in. They were in the mountains of France yesterday (which is actually 2 days ago since I am watching this after the fact) and will be in the Swiss Alps today (OK, yesterday). Regardless of the delay the scenery is beautiful and the mountain rides are exciting and fun to watch. The crowds swarm around the riders cheering them on on the steep inclines and these guys fly down the mountains at 50 to 60mph or so! BTW, they are broadcasting the TDF on the NBS Sports channel here in the U.S.

A few days ago I heard one of the announcers talking about how the riders were getting a nice little break on a 4% incline. Nice break on a 4% incline?! That doesn’t seem like a break to me! I have been much more aware of the exact percentage of inclines since my new bike GPS computer has a barometric altimeter.

OK, I live in the flatlands of the Chicagoland area and I’ve noticed that most of the steep inclines on the rides that I have been on around here have been around 4% to 6% and usually for a fairly short distance (especially compared to the TDF mountain stages). I don’t know what kind of shape you are in but a 4% incline is pretty difficult for me and it gets my heart beating pretty fast. Once again, this just shows what kind of athletes the TDF riders are.

Another thing that I have noticed (speaking of bike computers) is that it looks like most of the TDF cyclists have some kind of bike computers. I don’t really know what kinds they use and it looks like some riders choose not to have one but I see many riders reaching down to their handlebars at the end of each stage to (presumably) turn off their bike computer ride recording.

I know what it is like now to have all of this incredible ride data available (from a GPS bike computer) after your ride is over review and analyze and it  does not surprise me at all that the pros would be totally into this technology. They also showed one of the riders changing his jersey during one of the stages (still riding, of course) and I noticed the familiar heart-rate monitor chest strap. So it seems like this would be common among the pros too.

I have also noticed a lot of references to the Tour of California (along with references to the other grand tours in Europe) this year and I’m glad to see that we have a major event like this here in the U.S. (although I have never followed the TOC. Maybe next year). I have also seen a couple of commercials (local, I’m sure) for the Tour of Elk Grove, which is a professional, international race right here in the Chicagoland area. This takes place August 3rd through August 5th of this year. I wanted to mention this now since I heard about it last year right after it was over.

I was also glad to see Thomas Voeckler win a stage last night. It reminded me a little bit of last year when he wore the Yellow Jersey for so many stages and really got the French people into it (he’s French, of course).

Well, there is probably a lot more to write about and there is a lot more Tour de France action to come but I need to get some more work done (on that trail article) so I can sit down and watch tonight’s recording of le Tour de France!