Ok. I’ll admit it. I’m excited about the Tour de France. I know…it’s still a couple weeks away, starting June 29th, but I’m already getting ready. For one thing, I am a bicyclist. Not like the ones you see riding in the Tour….far from it. But I love the sport, so I love to watch them climb the mountains that I will never climb in my lifetime, and riding at speeds that I cruise my local roads in my car at.

That, and it’s the 100th anniversary of the Tour. Too cool.

Oh, and one other thing. I love to come home after work, and turn on the tv and see the race stage as it was run earlier that day in France. A lot of the time, I already know who has won the stage via the internet, but it doesn’t matter to me. What I look forward to is living vicariously through the riders who get to pass through some of the most gorgeous scenery and charming villages in France. Not that they would notice, but I do.

I love it when they go through towns I have been to, like St Malo and even Mont Saint Michel on this year’s Tour. It’s a kick to see the streets I have been on, only with dozens of riders in their colorful gear cramming into them. For sometimes brief seconds, I get to see a shop, or a hotel, or a view of landscape that I got to see in person, and that gives me quite a little thrill.

Someday, I am planning on being there during one of the stages of the Tour as one of the spectators wearing some crazy outfit or waving the US flag, cheering on my favorite riders. It’s on my bucket list.

But until then…..Viva le Tour!