Bike Racing

In case you’ve failed to notice, a bike race is on in France at the moment.

As on previous years I’m not going to attempt to report on the race or offer any real analysis as invariably the situation will change in between writing this and you reading it. I only bring it up in fact is that you will find that if you express any interest in cycling you will almost inevitably find yourself being asked questions and talked to about the Tour at some point in the next few weeks. If this happens it is good to be prepared.

You have two real choices if this happens.

Either you can keep to the subjects that everybody has heard of and go through a dull, but socially lubricating conversation that will probably cover doping, Lance Armstrong, maybe the celebrity of cyclists and probably end up with the Olympics and Team Sky, or you can go deeper.

The risk in going into more depth is that you may well find yourself alone at the event (after a suitably polite amount of time, which is dependent on how well you know the person talking to you), but it might just be more interesting. You might crash and burn, but you might get someone interested in tainted meat, wayward spectators, and outspoken sprinters. If you do really well you might just make it into tactics and team work and the chances of the major riders.

There won’t be another opportunity to be a cycling fan like this until next year, so I say make the most of it. If you falter bear in mind the endless football conversations you’ve heard over the years (and then feel free to mention that thee players in that sport only have to work in bursts over 90 minutes on the flat, not a sustained several hours in the mountains). Enjoy it.

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