Tour de France 2009

July 27, 2009

If you’re a kid who loves riding a bicycle, then you might be interested to learn a little about one of the world’s biggest events for biking, the Tour de France! This year, the Tour de France will be going on from July 4th – July 26th, with people watching from around the world!

Every year, cyclists from many different countries gather together in France for this enormous race. The total distance covered by people who race in the Tour de France has changed over time, but these days it’s usually about 2,000-2,500 miles! The race takes place in “stages” that are held over the course of about three weeks, which also includes a few days of full rest for the racers. (Phew!)

The first ever Tour de France was held in 1903 and it covered about 1,400 miles, which was considered quite preposterous! Although the bicycle had been around for about 70-80 years at the time, bikes weren’t built the same way they are today and riders couldn’t accomplish the same speeds on a bike as they now can. While there were bike-racing events, most of them were held inside of stadiums and did not cover nearly as much distance as the first Tour de France. To ride for that many days and over that much distance on a bicycle seemed ridiculous or impossible to many!

Nevertheless, people signed up for the race and it quickly became very popular!