Confessions of a Tour de France junkie

I first became interested in the Tour de France during the Greg LeMond era.  My interest, okay obsession, evolved during the Lance Armstrong years.  Lance played only a small part of this escalation, however.  I had started road biking by then, but more importantly I had become best friends with a fellow rider and TDF devotee, Tony McShane.  Nothing stirs the pot of fandom more than having a bromance with someone similarly obsessed.

Here comes the confession part.  For at least the seven Armstrong Tours, three midsummer weeks for me would go like this:   I would arrive at my office in the morning, immediately power up my computer, and log on to www.letour.fr.  Given the seven hour time difference, the riders were already on the course.  I would check the website in between patient appointments, pretty much every appointment. With any significant race developments I was in touch with Tony, either by phone or text, often as many as a half dozen times a day.  Thankfully, the stage would finish late morning (5 PM French time) and so, finally, some work could get done.

Being here is a spectacle.  Today's Herald Tribune headline says it pretty well.

Last night I learned that Tony and I are amateurs in the TDF-geek world. At dinner I started talking to two guys in our group who put us to shame. They are both physicians. One of them has two small kids. They are seemingly normal appearing guys. They do not get drunk or rowdy. This is their third TDF. And here is a picture of them;

Chewbacca and The Naked Cowboy.
They haul these costumes here from home. The Chewy costume weighs 30lbs. They don these outfits, wait by the side of the road and then run alongside the riders when they arrive. They have been on European TV. Der Spiegel interviewed them this week. Apparently they brought along other costumes.

Clearly Tony and I have our work cut out for us.