Domestique

Despite the fact that here in Philadelphia we are on our fifth heat wave of the season and the calendar says summer began June 21, for me, the true start of summer began yesterday. This year, July 3 marks the start of the 97th Tour de France. For many, this cycling race is the only one they pay attention to, but not in this house. Here, cycling is followed all year long, each and every day. The off season team moves and rumors, the Tour of Qatar, the Tour Down Under and the Tour of California, giving way to the Spring Classics sprinkled throughout Europe, the Giro, all these races leading up to the twenty stages of The Tour, the climax of the season, this year starting off the excitement in Rotterdam before heading south to France. From now until the laps on the Champs Élysées, our lives will be non-stop cycling -- online, on television, in magazines and in conversation, cycling, cycling, cycling.

Cycling is my husband's die hard hobby but I'm a fan in my own way, doing my best to keep up with the excitement of the race leaders, teams, sprints, mountains, road rash, flat tires, trash talking and, unfortunately but invariably, doping allegations. Perhaps best of all, I love the views the Tour provides of back roads of France, as the peleton snakes between villages, flanked with towering plane trees and thousands of fans.

Vive le Tour!