Wannabe Bike Girl

Seriously, is this for real? This being the Tour of America. It’s going to be put on (in theory at least) by Aqu Sports. The route is here.

I have to say, there are no stages in Michigan, that’s really disappointing. We have some kick as roads here, and if the race were to bring an economic windfall to the host towns and those along the route (I’m trying not to laugh as I write that), Michigan really, really needs it. The closets to Michigan it gets is Southern Michigan (which, sure, is something like five hours away — well within driving distance to see it. But still, it’s rather disappointing that it’s so far South.

That being said, I hope this is for real. It could be really awesome, but I doubt we’d see many (any?) European based teams racing in it. It’s be fun, but as has been shown with tennis and golf, it’s really really hard to keep fit and overcome jet lag to race/play in Europe and then over here in the States. Tennis, I think, does it right, having part of the season in Australia, part of it in Europe and the end of it in the US. I feel that cycling could do this, but would that mean that one of the other Grand Tours should go? It’s a hard sell. Perhaps teams could send riders to the Vuelta and the US tour (I’m blatantly crossing my fingers now).

Only time will tell, which seems to be the theme of all sports I follow.

Francis Mourey in Switzerland (12/09/07),
originally uploaded by singlestoph.

My favorite cyclocross rider proved himself tough competition again. After ruining his chances at the World Cup race in Milan, he came back with a win in Switzerland. Mourey beat the mud and 27 other riders to take the win at the GP Wetzikon.

Francis Mourey at the 2006 Cyclo-cross
World Cup in Igorre, Spain,
originally uploaded by itxaspe.

Tomorrow, Francis and the rest of the elite cyclo-cross riders will face off in Igorre, Spain. I’m excited, though I haven’t decided if I’m going to pay to watch it or just sleep in and wait for the results.

More info here.