Tour de Jo, I Mean France

Okay now that the true poop is out and old news about Lance Armstrong (stripped of 7 years-worth of Tour de France titles for doping) I am finally ready to admit I am a little intrigued by the actual Tour de France. I also got an email on my phone about mapping my own bike rides and a contest having to do with logging 100 miles by bike too (another nudge), but I knew the official Tour is much longer than that. Maybe part of my interest stems from a visit to Paris my husband and I took in 1999. We were there in July but not for the race. I remember Wimbledon (we went to England too) and the French Open (my Mom loved tennis) but there wasn't any hype about the Tour while we were there then. Needless to say though, the Tour de France in a nutshell is a multiple stage bicycle race held mostly in France and some neighboring countries each July. The first of these prestigious events (considered by many to be the most prestigious in the cycling world) was held in 1903. The race takes place over 23 days and is a series of 21 day long segments totaling 2,200 miles. (After doing the math it appears to me that the racers cycle about 100 miles each day.) The route changes every year with lots of laps around France including rides through the Pyrenees and the Alps and a finish on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Teams compete for the fastest times and the actual race leader gets to don the coveted yellow jersey. I don’t have an actual yellow jersey or t-shirt but I do have a neon green singlet (better day-glo than dead for when I’m out and about jogging, my husband always says) and I’m planning to put it on, hop on my bike, and begin my very own Tour de Jo right after I post this!