happy 100th birthday!

Tour de France fun fact of the day:

It's the 100th edition of Le Tour this year!

(it wasn't held during WWI or WWII)

vive le tour!

Today is the first day of Le Tour de France 2013.

Here's your Tour de France fun fact of the day:

In a flat stage finish, sprinter, Mark Cavendish travels 75 kph (46.6 mph) for the last 150 meters to the finish.

send him victorious!

via NBC Sports Live Coverage

Congratulations to Bradley Wiggins on a job well done. The first Brit to ever win the Tour. What an honor! Three cheers for you! And congratulations to Chris Froome in 2nd and Vincenzo Nibali in 3rd.

image found here

Congratulations to Mark Cavendish on the stage win. (And to Bradley Wiggins and the rest of Team Sky for the fabulous lead out.) Fantastic sprint. Just perfect. 

via NBC Sports Live Coverage

Congratulations to Peter Sagan for winning the green jersey, to Thomas Voeckler for winning the polka dot jersey, and to Tejay Van Garderen for being the best young rider. As the commentators would say, "You're all crack riders."

via NBC Sports Live Coverage

It was a fantastically beautiful Tour with an equally as beautiful send off for who is perhaps my favorite rider: the phenomenal George Hincapie. He's ridden in a record breaking 17 Tours, and is retiring in a few months. I even got a little teary-eyed as the peloton ushered him to the front to be the first onto the avenue to lead the group onto the Champs-Élysées. A very special honor for a very deserving rider.

image found here

And finally, to Phil, Paul, Bob: you've done it again. Thank you for a most excellent commentary over these past three weeks. It has been a pleasure, indeed, listening to you each morning. Until next year.

Vive le Tour.

brought to you by bob roll.

"During this year’s Tour, cycling fans world wide will be regaled with spectacular exploits produced by the world’s most gifted athletes set against a backdrop of glorious and epic scenery fought out in the most stupefying stadium in all of sports. If you miss this year’s Tour De France I am sure there is a nearby insane asylum where you must check in posthaste."

oh, Bobke, how we love you.

it's the most wonderful time of the year (again)

image found here.

The countdown begins! Well, it officially began at the end of last year's tour, but to save you the grief of reading things like, "Only seven months, two weeks, and four days until the Tour!", I've waited until now to announce it. We've got one week and one day, people! That's right; the best three weeks of the year begin next Saturday. I can hardly wait to spend my mornings watching the drama unfold while listening to the best sports commentators on the planet who say things like 'car park', 'he's a crack descender', and 'schloops+schmangies'. Get ready for the crazed fangirl version of me who isn't going to shut up about cycling for the next three weeks. Maybe I'll even put up a picture of me in the yellow Tour hat I wear while I watch. The magic begins in eight days. Get excited.

vive le tour

all pictures via versus.com tour all access

the 2011 tour was everything i anticipated it would be. suspense. heartache. victory. huzzahs. congratulations to mark cavendish for the phenomenal stage win today. congratulations to the schleck brothers for their courageous efforts that got them to the podium. and a most heartfelt congratulations to cadel evans for a well-deserved win. you rode beautifully. to phil and paul: it's been a pleasure listening to you every day. until next year, boys. my highest respects to every single rider who finished the race, and for those who had to bow out early. i admire you all. can hardly wait until next year.

just a day in the life of le tour

170 kilometers traveled

nearly an eleven percent gradient on one of the climbs

a rider riding into a car park on the descent to avoid crashing

ten minutes later, the yellow jersey goes into the same car park

crashes going around corners

a bike stuck in the underbrush

commentators saying things like "he's a crack descender"

(love you phil&paul)

the spectators lining the roads

and as dear bobke would say:

"It'll be a virtual schmegelfest of subhumanoids. That is just another way of saying the fans are going crazy. Fans get a little carried away on the mountainsides."

and the fans on today's mountainsides did not disappoint

 

bikes. lots of bikes.

Perhaps I've been slightly MIA for the past few days. I've just been so caught up watching Le Tour. It's fantastic, phenomenal, and altogether a joy to watch. Just take a look at these pictures.

 all photos via Tour de France All-Access on Versus.com

one - riding through the beautiful countryside
two - spectators. yes, the Tour has the best of all.
three - moo cows are adorable. end of.
four - pure magic. brittany welcomes the Tour with balloons.

vive le tour!

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

No, no. Christmas didn't come early. It's been prime cycling season for a while now, and the sport's biggest event begins on Saturday.

and although lance is retired now, and this add is old, you get the picture.

this race is epic.

starting saturday i'll be glued to the screen for three weeks straight.

and maybe wearing my yellow Tour hat while i watch too.

many many cycling fan-girl-freak-out posts to come.

you have been warned.

Remembering Wouter.

I'm not a huge sports person. I enjoy the Olympics (but who doesn't?) and I do get into college football some (only if Carolina is playing) but the one sport I really really love is professional cycling. I've been watching Le Tour de France (amongst other races) for as long as I can remember. I love everything about the sport. Although sometimes people forget how dangerous cycling really is. They hurtle down mountain roads and take those sharp turns at highway speeds. Yesterday, the cycling world got a sobering reminder of just how dangerous the sport really is. In the 3rd stage of the Giro d'Italia, Wouter Weylandt crashed on a high-speed descent. The crash killed him. He was twenty-six years old, survived by his girlfriend who is expecting their first child in September. Johan Bruyneel's blog post about the accident is both a poignant and touching tribute to Wouter.

read it here.