Tour de France
Tour snapshot: Spectacular in almost every way

By Mark Akins
Seattle Times staff

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Want to go to the Tour de France? You've got options.

Many organized tours handle all the details, including food and lodging. Some bike-tour companies, like Marty Jemison's, are run by former Tour de France competitors. You can ride part of the Tour route in the morning, watch the peloton spin past in the afternoon, then meet race personalities over a glass of wine at night. But it'll cost you. Group tours can be up to $300 or $400 a day.

Going on your own is cheaper, but less certain to deliver you to prime viewing spots.

Either way, brace yourself for a spectacle every bit as big as the Super Bowl, World Cup and Olympics. The energy and bicycling passion of hundreds of thousands of fans from dozens of countries is staggering.

Nike CEO Phil Knight was a guest of the U.S. Postal Service team for a 2001 mountain stage. He called it "the single greatest day in sport that I have ever seen," according to Lance Armstrong's book, "Every Second Counts."

Bob Roll, author, TV broadcaster and four-time Tour competitor, calls the Tour de France "a whopping, three-week-long tailgate party that puts any single-day U.S. event to shame ... "

So you want to go to the Tour?

Better start planning. It's only 49 weeks away.

Mark Akins: 206-464-8994 or makins@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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