2007 Tour de France Route Announced

"PARIS (AFP)--A rarely used Pyrenean climb has been included in the 2007 Tour de France route which has been unveiled here by race director Chistian Prudhomme. The July 7 to 29, 3,547km, 20-stage race, which starts in London, takes a clockwise route around the country and includes a summit finish at Aubisque, one of the mythical climbs in the mountains which straddle France and Spain, it was announced Thursday."

Bike racing ain't bike commuting. It's like comparing NASCAR to the traffic on the Bay Bridge. However, in recent years, success by American cyclists in the world's greatest bike race has helped to raise awareness of bicycling in the U.S. I had an opportunity to discuss the tour and bicycling recently with my friend Douglas Everett, on his excellent radio program, Radio Parallax. You can download the interview here. Fortunately, good editing made me sound almost intelligent.

Usually when bicycling is discussed in the U.S. media, it's because some bicyclist, or more correctly, a person on a bike has been killed by a motorist. It's always a good thing for American bike commuters when the media has lots of positive bicycling coverage. Watch out for those urine tests!

Image: Web capture. (I wish I'd been there!)