Tour de Whatever

And to celebrate the Tour I've been listening to Kraftwerk's Tour de France Soundtracks album most every chance I get.

You know the one, it's hard to find, but the single is quite the epic, with the breathing syncopating with the rhythmatic beats and what-not.

I heart Kraut Rock.

I guess I don't heart the Tour as much.
Way back in '86 when I was making that transition from BMX to MTB/Road racing, my family went on a 2 week Euro tour. Wouldn't you know it, but we were actually in Paris on the final day when the first American won the bloody thing. It was neat and exciting to be in Concorde Place, and I, along with many others, took pieces of the banner. I carried that thing all around Europe, and it's up in the attic somewhere I'm pretty sure.
It was neat, but it wasn't life altering.
Used to watch it some too. Seemed like a neat thing to do w/ fellow cycling comrades, gathering around someone's TV after a hard ride or in a hotel room. Then maybe it became too much the focal point of the year, too much of a big deal.
I do have rather fond memories of doing the Tour of Monroe County, there in Woodsfield, OH, and at night or in between the day stages we'd gather around someone's hotel TV and catch up on the action. Just as we were in our own action too.
Then my interest waned even more so when it became the focal point for the racers, focusing their entire year on just that one event, like all the rest were not worthy, like it was the biggest bang for the buck (which of course it proved to be for some).
So I just stopped watching it.

I did get to meet and "ride" with Miquel I., at a promo event up in Pittsburgh in '99 or so. Now he was a horse of a man. Huge hands, huger thighs, and very soft spoken. He about dropped us all and he was just riding around in sneakers and on a bike w/ all the decals striped off. Amazing.
Strangely enough I didn't even see the Stage where my old friend Floyd L. took back all that time. Though I do think I might have seen a few other stages from that year.
Last year I don't think I saw any of them.
And this year Will F., past WVer, is in the mix and of course an old teammate Cadel E. is looking good all bandaged up and wearing the yellow right now.

I checked my i500 smartphone, and sure enough I did have some website bookmarked for Tour updates for 2006, but I think mostly it was the challenge of finding a text page that would display nicely on the phone.

Well you let me know how it plays out.
I'll be doing something else I guess.