Peloton

On Sunday, we drove south about a half an hour to Liege, Belgium where one stage of the Tour de France took place.  It's always an exciting annual event and every other year, the race begins outside of France.  So this year it started in Belgium.

A really patriotic American, I presume, with his flag on what looked like a super long cane pole.  Believe me, seeing someone carrying an American flag around is not common.

The Tour de France has 20 teams of 9 men (that's right - no women) for a total of 180 racers.  The last American to win this race was Lance Armstrong in 2005.

If you think you're in shape and a pretty good biker and also think you could compete in this race, consider this . . .

- the race lasts for 3 weeks with 2 rest days

- they travel a total of 3,430 kilometers through flat, curvy, hilly, mountainous terrain 


- 3,430 km?  That's over 2,000 miles


- how far is that?  About like riding your bike from Los Angeles to Atlanta


- each stage is about 125 miles per day - for 3 weeks


 - how far is that? About like riding your bike from Ruston to Longview - every day


- their average speed is around 25 mph


The word grueling comes to mind.

There must be at least one auto escort per racer with enough bikes for him to switch out about 10 times a day because there are a lot of these cars with bikes on top.

Thanks to Jim for filming this video and to Ross for editing it.

Oh, and what's a peloton?  You'll see it in slow motion at the one minute spot in this video.