January 2007

TRAVEL JOURNAL

Is Going to The Tour Passé?

Passé, as in out of style; no longer fashionable, old news, etc. Well, since the famous L.A. retired I have wondered what would happen to road cycling in the USA. And, like all things in the USA, styles come and go. I knew well back in 2004 that we had reached the pinnacle of the L.A. era since it was record breaking time and the interest was "exuberant"! Was it irrational? Perhaps. And I play with the words because it is a similar thing to the fashion of stock investing in another bubble time. During those hay days, it was easy to sell TDF tours because everyone who rode a bike even occassionally wanted to be there. They wanted to be part of the big sports story, and the fashion of the hoopla around L.A.

Those times are gone, but going to the Tour is not passé. In fact, all this is about Americans at the Tour. World wide passion for the Tour has not changed, and if anything has increased. Our bookings last year were more than 60% non-American attendees. In 2004 our bookings were 95% American. If anyone reading this was at the Tour last summer, as I was, it would be hard to notice any change at all in the attendance! The retirement of one L.A. did take the interest in the TDF down a notch for Americans and then Floyd Landis brought it down quite a few more notches with his current problems. However, the feeling I get from talking with long time followers and roadies is; this is good news!

Now to them, going to the Tour is for "pure" followers of the sport. Longtime passionate fans who used to tune their TV's in to catch the once a week 30 minute network hack job of Tour coverage, can now go and experience the tour as it always was. Something for the masses, open to a bunch of hardworking athletes, etc, etc. I would argue though that the recent doping scandals left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans - weekend warriors and purists. That will affect the attendance and interest in the TDF and other Grand Tours to a certain point, but not much. Cynicism is at an all time high among fans, and who can blame them?! There are still however, the routes of the Tour!

In the most recent couple years at the TDF we gave up on the idea of chasing the peloton from day to day - it was a killer in terms of travel. People were exhausted. We also came to realize that watching on TV is actually the best vantage point. The French cameramen are wizards! So, the Tours became about the routes, with a little overlap of the live race, but not too much to complicate an otherwise utopian cyclist vacation.

In the Cycling Classics TDF tours, we spend our time on the bikes as much as possible each day now conquering great rides and recalling the pictures of legends who traveled over the same routes. We can recall amazing scenes from the Tour as we pass: Tom Simpson memorial, L.A. falling on Luz Ardiden, Eddy Merckx, Greg Lemond, Raymond Poulidor, Jacques Anquitil, and on. How many have climbed Alpe d'Huez, Ventoux, Tourmalet, the others? All of them! The routes remain pure and inspiring, and awesome, and like it is for a marathoner crossing the tape, so it is for a passionate fan of cycling to summit any of these legendary climbs. I DID IT! Just like Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, L.A....And THAT will never go out of style!

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Added side notes:

for anyone interested in knowing why we refer to the TDF and French Grand Tour, have a look at our blog entry discussing the license requirements by the Tour organizers...click here

Fashionably Late! Not only was ASO (Tour organizer) late to their own party with their licensing scheme, but even the French Government Tourist began a promotion in 2006 to Win a Trip to Le Tour!