I call it, “Ride the Tour”

Just too late for our June-July issue, which covers the Le Tour, this letter to the editor deserves an audience.

I have an idea for a national campaign to get more people riding through the toughest weeks of winter. I call it, “Ride the Tour”.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ur4U5UekTM]We all know how the Tour de France is a shot in the arm for all bike lovers the world over. We also know that the middle weeks of winter, when the Tour is on, are some of the hardest weeks to get on the bike for the daily commute. So why not put the challenge out there to “Ride the Tour”?
To complete the tour would be to commit to commuting by bike to work for the three weeks of work-days of the tour (starting Monday 4th July). Week one is a tough five day affair from Passage du Gois La Barre de Monts to Châteauroux. Week two starts with a Monday sleep in (it’s a tour rest day) and then heads from Aurillac on Tuesday to Lourdes. Week three again starts on Tuesday (after a Monday rest day) from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to finish at the epic and fitting conclusion on Friday (22 July) at the summit of Alpe-d’Huez.
How good would it feel to sit back on the couch over the final weekend, knowing that you’d just come to the end of your own riding achievement?
That’s a commitment to ride 13 days (two rest days) of the middle three weeks of winter. Just long enough perhaps to get people to figure out their clothing, lights and winter route such that they might even continue riding till Spring, and then Summer, and then – who knows – the next Tour?
Seriously, the Tour de France is a gift to the southern hemisphere to get us back on our bikes during the tough days of winter. Why not get a national campaign around it and get more people riding in winter more often?
Simon Angus
Middle Park VIC

Simon, you must have read our minds. Our June riding challenge was also a campaign to keep us all riding through this dark and challenging season. Thanks for your suggestion.

 

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