Le Tour de Vie

July 26th, 2009

I have to talk about it. The one sporting event which I am passionate about: the Tour de France; the greatest cycling race, possibly the greatest race, ever created. For the minority North American cycling fans who are crazy enough to get up early to watch it live, or make sure they tape it daily to watch 2 to 3 hours every day for three weeks, they understand that this is no normal sporting event.

Although Lance Armstrong is the individual champion synonymous with the sport in the public’s minds, we know that cycling is a team sport and one filled with everything that life has to offer. Not only is it a team championship, but it is filled with strategic alliances with members of opposing teams; many generated along the road as they are pedaling together amidst the race. In addition to physical prowess, it requires unbelievable psychological endurance. In addition to science, it requires a triumph in human spirit and poetry in motion. It has drama, controversy, corruption and struggle. It has true and deadly hazards, grinding work, bitter disappointments and betrayals. But overwhelming all of that, is courage, triumph, and an amazing tide of support, loyalty, respect and unselfishness. When you see a rider stuffing seven heavy water bottles down his jersey and grinding up mountain roads in search of his thirsty teammates in a mass of bicycles, you know that everyone has to get humble. Even Lance Armstrong this year is among a team that guarded the yellow jersey of his teammate Alberto Contador as they raced on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. No one works independently of others.

The comparisons to life’s journey and our own ups and downs to this race are hard for me to miss, however, my overriding fascination is with the interconnection of it all. The fans are a part, an active part. How many sporting events are fans allowed to jump out in front of the athletes in crazy costumes and pat them on the back? At the top of the mountains, fans offer grateful riders newspapers to stuff in their jerseys to stay warm during a 60km/hour mountain descent. Now, fans Twitter back and forth with Lance Armstrong and other riders in between race stages – again I can’t think of another sport where there is that kind of access and interaction. The excellent commentators, who are our storytellers, entertainers and analysts are a part. Phil Liggett is commentating at his 34th Tour de France – well over half his life - and his passion does not wane. Two of the commentators are former racers in the Tour and all the commentators still ride bicycles and know and love the sport. The media are a part, the mountains, the countries, the farms, the animals, the towns, the spectacular scenery, the castles and architecture, and the weather are all a part. The engineers, the mechanics, the team chefs - who borrow restaurant kitchens across the country - the police, the artists, the camera operators, the pilots, the doctors, the podium girls, all create and add something. The TV viewers who share their passion for the drama are a part. Nothing and no one is missing a place in this journey. This is as life itself. The Tour de Vie. Everyone adds to it. We always think that in any journey (tour) it is the destination (the goals) that are the purpose, but in reality it is always the journey itself. Therein lies the truth and the beauty. Our daily lives have all the wonder of an epic journey, in which everyone has a part and creates the dance. Remember to honour it as it happens, with its dramas and drudgery, your own Tour de Vie.