A couple of weeks ago the 108th edition of the Paris-Roubaix bike race was held. This is one of the best bike races of the year because of the extreme conditions that the riders have to race through. If you’re into watching bike racers suffer (which I am) this is the race for you. This race is an amazing sight to see.
In the days leading up to this race I was in despair because I knew I was tied up for most the day so I wouldn’t be able to watch it. As I ate breakfast before heading out for the day the thought occurred to me that I might be able to watch 15 minutes of the race on the internet. I quickly sat down at our computer and searched for a live feed of the race. Magically, I found a live feed and I was in business. I could almost hear the hallelujah chorus as I watched Fabian Cancellara punish the rest of the field. After a couple of minutes of sheer joy I noticed something strange. The feed that I was watching was in Italian. The funny thing is it didn’t bother me at all. Was I losing it? Was I the only weird American watching an Italian feed of Paris-Roubaix? No way, in addition to the video feed there was also a chat window to the side of it and everyone who was chatting was speaking English. I joined in on the chat to figure out where big George Hincapie was and sadly he wasn’t in contention.
After my 15 minutes of cycling joy I had to shut the computer down to head out for the day. As I drove down the road heading to my destination I realized I had just added another item to my list of You Know You’re A Cyclist If list.
You know you’re a cyclist if you watch the Paris-Roubaix at 6:45am on a Sunday morning in Italian AND LIKE IT.
1 comment:
I just happened to flip over to Versus in time to see Cancellara take off and it was a sight to see. On a tour in SD a few years ago there was a section of rough gravel that we had to ride for about a mile due to road construction. Organizers called it the Paris-Roubaix section. :)
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