Spring Classics

I spent most of the weekend watching the Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico bike races. It was almost too much.

I felt weird doing this when there is so much destruction in Japan. But after a few minutes, watching video of the tsunami and of computer-animated fission felt unbearably voyeuristic.

So I retreated to Versus and Universal Sports.

I don't know why I like professional cycling so much. I know the history of doping and its continuing threads into today's peloton. I like Lance Armstrong for his anti-cancer awareness raising but got tired of watching his comebacks and now I'm not even following him on Twitter.

I have no desire to ever ride 100 miles in a day, I don't look for opportunities to "eat" gels and bars instead of real food, and the idea of one of those week-long charity rides down the coast of California, carrying only as much as I can fit in a shoebox, leaves me cold.

But I can name upwards of fifty professional cyclists, I can give you a rough outline of most of the big races in the cycling season, and it is one of my dreams to go see the Paris-Roubaix race in person and be covered in the dust of those centuries-old cobblestones.

I like the day-to-day, week-to-week drama of the sport. Who is recovering well from a broken clavicle? Who is able to ignore the nasty comments made by another sprinter? Which GC contender is accused of not following one of the dozens of unwritten rules of conduct (like not speeding up when someone pulls to the side of the road to urinate)?

I also like watching the French, Italian and Spanish countryside roll by on my television screen. I feel like I've been on a slow tour through thousands of miles of Europe. From this, I know I want to go to Bruges and Brittany and Perugia. I know that the Paris suburbs are not very attractive (I probably knew that already) and I know that most of Spain looks just like Southern California so maybe I should just stick to cities when I go there.

So - Tirreno-Adriatico finished today and Milan-San Remo is Saturday. And then the Tour of Flanders is April 3, followed by Paris-Roubaix the next week. And then, in May, the Tour of California, taking place nearly in my backyard. I'm already planning where to go see it in person.