day two hundred and forty - vive le tour

I’ve always loved the Tour de France. I can’t get enough of it, and for the past 12 years, I’ve endeavoured to watch every pedal stroke I can. I even went so far as to drag my father down the final stretches of the race along the Champs Éleysées in Paris. Funnily enough though, being in France, it does tend to broadcast quite late here, which can be disastrous if I have any kind of decent sleep pattern.

On the first night, I have a ritual of making my “‘World Famous’ Le Tour de French Onion Soup”, polishing off the rest of a bottle of half decent french wine, gathering the cheeses and sitting down to a night of cycling (often with a glass of brandy or absinthe). Throughout the ensuing 21 days of racing, my cheese, beer, wine intake (and sleep deficit build), until the final stage racing over the cobbles at the Champs Élysées. At the end, I’m rewarded with a few extra kilos (conservatively), the sleep bank being massively in the red, and an unnervingly satisfying dent in the couch.

2020 seems to have a habit of robbing us all of what we hold dear, and initially, whilst it is an incredibly insignificant event given the context of the year, I thought it would mean an end to this year’s tour. It would make sense, however somehow they have found a way to run it. I’m conflicted about it, and a lot of other sporting events that seem to be important enough to bend and break the restrictions we all live in, but it’s so far away, and I love it so much that I’ve been able to somewhat suspend these feelings of conflict. Whilst I still feel like I’m betraying myself and my beliefs, It’s so very nice to have something to look forward to.

It starts this Saturday evening. I’m off to find some onions!

Kilt of the day - Ross Modern Hunting Tartan

Soundtrack of the day - Art vs Science - Parlez-vous français?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRZ-jLOrFfk

Link of the day - Le Tour Official Site
https://www.letour.fr/en/

P.S. That cheating rat-scum rascal Contador can go to hell!