It is an understatement to say that I am enjoying this year’s Tour de France as those around me might consider that I am just the tiniest bit OBSESSED with the 3-plus weeklong cycling competition.
In the past, I would watch a bit of the cycling race simply to see the spectacular views of the French countryside: Mostly because I did not know much, if anything, about the sport of professional cycling. But this year, two documentaries, several hours of internet searching and nearly 60 hours of watching (12 stages as of this writing) later, I now consider myself a more educated cycling fan!
In planning my Tour de France watching schedule, I thought that I would fast forward through the beginning parts or boring middle parts of each stage so that I wasn’t glued to my TV for 5-plus hours. But truth be told, the beginning is almost more exciting than the end as riders try to establish a breakaway group. And the middle parts are far from boring as they are often filled with steep climbs, fast descents or amazing maneuvers for individual points accumulations. And the end of each stage usually begins more than 20 kilometers back and so skipping or missing or fast forwarding through even one minute of competition feels like I am cheating myself.
However, at a recent lunch outing, I realized that I was talking (quite fervently) to my companions all about my favorite cyclists and teams and strategies and stages …  and that my lunch companions did not seem to share my enthusiasm about the subject. This caused me to wonder what it is about THIS year’s Tour de France that is so captivating to me?
In considering my answer, three things that have attracted me to this sport: The first reason is that the cyclists, themselves, are AMAZING athletes. They ride hard and with risk for hundreds of kilometers, up and down mountains and hills and around bending curves and by fans who wave or spray things in their faces. They cycle for many kilometers (sometimes 10) just to reach the START. They cycle to cool down and they cycle when they have a rest day. They cycle while they eat or pee and, most importantly, they KEEP cycling when they are tired or hurting or hot or have a mechanical issue… until they reach the finish line.
The second reason for my love of this sport is the strategy that is involved in trying to procure a win or a jersey color. There is an overall winner (yellow jersey), but there are also winners of each stage, or of the sprint points (green jersey) or of king of the mountain points (polka dots jersey) and getting these wins (or points) requires intense strategy.
And the third reason for considering cycling my new favorite sport is perhaps, the most important! I am in total and utter awe at how much of a team sport professional cycling is. Never have I witnessed how completely selfless athletes can be for the purpose of propelling an individual teammate to receive the glory. Watching the professional cyclers in the Tour de France is the apex of watching an event that is all about…
TEAMWORK!  TEAMWORK!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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