Why Cycle?

The new revelations of blood doping at the 2007 Tour de France might lead someone to question the root motivations around cycling. If professionals at the sport's highest level are bolstering performance in ways not related to training or natural ability, doesn't the inspiration derived by non-professionals wane, and the domino effect lead to a diminution of cycling motivation and meaning?

Hardly. In fact, it leads me to think about the bright line separating sport and entertainment. Sport, as an ideal, is about attaining fitness, enjoying health, and competing fairly. In this regard, despite its lack of corporate or "big time" success, soccer is a huge success in the United States already. Millions of children play it as a sport. Will it ever turn into huge corporate-infested entertainment, designed to separate people from their wallets? That is the goal of the LA Galaxy and MLS currently. If their ploy succeeds, will the sport of soccer in America be better or worse? I can conceptualize it actually deteriorating, as more pressure is placed on young athletes, as competition becomes infected with team partisanship trickling down from the professional ranks, and as money brings the corruption it inevitably delivers.

For cycling, the sport -- from cyclosportif events, amateur races, charity rides, and personal fitness training -- is in great shape in America currently. There are more people riding, and there is momentum for this to continue. The cycling community is robust and fun to be a part of. These trends seems independent of the travails of the professional ranks, and in fact the sport may improve as the entertainment convulses. Imagine local team and ride jerseys instead of Rabobank and T-Mobile jerseys on riders; local sponsorship and event management; and strong regional rides for amateurs. It is already happening.

Great stage races like the Tour and the Giro can be inspiring and awesome. They entertain and, when the competition burst beyond the limited boundaries imposed by the conceits of entertainment, they can still inspire. Levi Leipheimer in this year's Tour de France was a perfect example of a sportsman propelling himself beyond the boundaries of the event. But these grand entertainments, with their roadside clowns, corporate sponsors, and television coverage, are not equivalent to the sport of cycling amateurs enjoy. Doing our best, improving year after year, beating out a friend in a sprint, suffering stoically on climbs, and losing the townline sprint gracefully -- these will remain the heart of the sport of cycling. The challenge for professionals is to return to the wellspring of the sport and remember . . .

Tour de Fiance

When the 2007 Tour de France began, cynicism and shame enveloped cycling. Doping scandals, admissions of dark secrets a decade old, and old battles between journalists, authorities, teams, and riders cast a cold shadow across the enthusiasm of cycling fans. Could the great race of the year boil away the fog and reveal a grand exercise of athleticism and competition again?

The first moment of television coverage revealed the answer -- a glorious day in London, nearly a million spectators lining the time trial course, and an amazing sequence of rides capped by the world time-trial champion eviscerating the field (and nearly overtaking the race motorcycles on one curve). The Tour de France was back, with defiance.

Each of the first four days -- the prologue and the first three stages -- has been magnificent, from Robbie McEwen's phoenix-like performance rising from the road and flying through the peloton to mysteriously grab a sprint victory to Fabian Cancellara's amazing tactical sense and strength to catch a breakaway and then hold off a surging sprint, it has been amazing.

The crowds lining the roads, the scenery, and the sportsmanship have all been exemplary. The Tour de France lives on as the world's premiere sporting event.