Monday, December 07, 2009

tour de lance

it took me 27 yrs but i can finally say that i am officially a fan of a professional sport. see, when you grow up in central ohio you are born into a culture. a culture of rabid, fanatical maniacs who bleed scarlet and gray for the ohio state buckeyes. im not denying that i love the buckeyes but i often see it as being something you're just born into. i know i sure was. (have i ever mentioned my fathers secret wish that we would get married on the saturday that ohio state plays michigan and our wedding colors were scarlet and gray? FACT) so i am mildly surprised that i have actually broken off from what was perhaps indoctrinated into my DNA and found another sport to love in professional cycling. now, if im honest it is almost entirely to do with my love and admiration for lance armstrong but the fact remains that i am fanatical about a sport, and i am choosing this addiction of my own free will. odd, i never took myself for a sports fan. and yet, when i think about what the ultimate experience would be, what moment i could conjure up that would reduce me to sappy tears a lot of things come to mind. one of those would be to see the tour de france live, specifically to see lance armstrong charge up my favorite mountain alpe d'huez. in my minds eye i can see myself running next to his bike with a huge american flag, screaming and cheering and then as he rides away probably busting into tears of pride and inspiration. remember the time this summer that we made eye contact? he would love to see me there!

this video, yeah i watch it on repeat all the time


and the moment from 3:07 when beloki crashes (and ends his career sadly) from the tour 2003, and lance rides across an open field? i almost choke watching it every. single. time. a much better, more complete version of the crash/save here.

so. i am trying to be sensible and darn it i know i should be, (WILL BE, HAVE TO BE), but i am trying in vain to convince david that we should pack our bags and go see at least one week (of three) of the tour in 2010. this could be and good grief i'll be surprised if it's not! lance armstrongs last tour. the man is in fantastic shape but he is the oldest rider! (he turned 39 in september) david has said, and in my head i agree with him, that for him the price is too much for a temporary, single experience especially if i haven't been into cycling all that long. i reason that an experience is priceless, and this might be the only time when the planets align themselves for us to witness history before lance retires. there is only the most remote chance that we will go but i am silently hoping that we somehow jump and do it. but! i know it makes sense to david, and in part me too, to skip the live version and just watch it on tv. in this regard david and i are kind of different. i value emotional experiences much more than he does.

and me? running next to lance armstrong with an american flag shouting and crying? PRICELESS


bonus! if we go i will make you all watch three straight weeks of the tour trying to find me on tv bawling my eyes out!

10 comments:

nathansmart said...

well, I have a surprise for you! Open up the B-Boy Summit '97 videotape I let you borrow - there's tickets for 2 to France!!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Carly said...

I've never been a sports fan. My mother was a tom-boy and always wanted at least one of her kids to play a sport, but neither my brother, sister nor I did. THEN! I spent the past 6 months in Sri Lanka, and for the first time in my 22 years, I became a fan of a sport! CRICKET! Like you and Lance, I think my obsession began when I met a lot of the players from the Sri Lankan, New Zealand, and Pakistani teams. But hanging out with cricketers led to a genuine passion for the game. So now I'm back in the States and I'm going through withdrawals; watching the live scorecard online just isn't the same as watching the actual games!

I hope you can make it to France!

Anonymous said...

i thought you might find this interesting. ive never heard of it before maybe you have??? addent conspiracy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU&feature=player_embedded#

Anonymous said...

THAT WAS SOOOOOOOO NICE OF NATHAN TO PROVIDE YOU TWO TICKETS-GREAT FRIEND INDEED-JANEA

Anonymous said...

CA has the Amgen tour! ttp://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/#3

WAY cheaper then a trip to france! Plus, Lance will be there! :-)
And it's not nearly as crazy as france- you can actually get pretty close to the riders! My husband is a huge cycling fan, and they came through two towns away from us last year-- super exciting!

Olive said...

carly - that is awesome that you found a sport you can love! are there any resources to let you watch cricket here in the states? online maybe?

annonymous 1 - yes! i found out about and linked to that same video around christmas last year! love it!

mom - my friends are indeed awesome :)

anonymous 2 - ooh! something to consider!

Anonymous said...

i figured you would have seen it already... when i saw it i thought it was just up your ally
anon#1

Lacy said...

As always I pop in from time to time to see what's going on. I loved the video. As a marathoner, Lance is definitely on my faves list because he reported back on his first marathon and really gave us Joes the pat on the back we needed. Here he is easily the best athlete in the world and his first marathon tore him up. Very cool story. He was so humble.
Anywho... I grew up the child of a bicycle shop employee and this movie played all the time at our house. If you haven't seen it, you should. You'd love it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088707/

Lacy said...

ok, one more link about your superhero! :)
Here' the article his wife wrote after his first marathon. Hope you enjoy!
-Lacy
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-243-297--11422-0,00.html

Anonymous said...

Jenny,

I love your blog and feel compelled to comment finally! I love biking anywhere I can, and find this guy's blog pretty inspirational--

www.fatcyclist.com.

Not only is Elden really into riding, but his bike team (Team Fatty) raises money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I read your post today and figured you'd appreciate Fat Cyclist if you haven't read it already.

Take care!
Koula