“P” is for Peloton
Posted on July 22nd, 2009 – 12:13 PMBy Kay Krhin
Pelotot. We started Ben young, here he is watching the TdF in 2006.
My husband doesn’t dominate the remote year round watching football, basketball and baseball. But July? Forget it, it is all Tour de France all the time in our household. “Sorry, kids Caillou and Clifford are going to have to wait. Today’s a mountain stage.”
And, that’s fine by me. It took me a few years to catch on to the appeal. But now I marvel at the athleticism and endurance of these riders every day. It is truly awe inspiring.
Plus I love the scenery as the peloton speeds by in a colorful spandex blur through small towns, breathtaking mountain vistas and sunflower fields.
In addition to the scenery there is plenty for the kids to enjoy. They really like the stuffed lions the winner of each stage receives and are even learning a few French words like, maillot jaune (yellow jersey) and domestique (support rider). Plus all of the riders names are infinitely fun to say out loud: George Hincapie, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, I could go on and on down the list.
Ben pretends he can ride as fast as them when he’s going up and down the driveway on his trike. For that matter I think Peter does to when he’s pulling the kids in the Burley pretending our rolling neighborhood hills are switchbacks in the Alps.
Then there’s announcer Phil Liggett’s voice - so friendly and calming in the background, it lulls the children into nap time mode.
It’s a rite of summer and it is really a letdown when it’s over and we have to say “Au revoir Tour de France.”
Any other Tour de France fans out there?
I recently found the Mike and the Bike site to be a very educational website for kids about the Tour (and I learned a thing or two as well) - Check it out!
One response to "“P” is for Peloton"
It’s the same at our house! Probably the only sporting event we tune in for the whole year. But we usually watch it after our little guy is in bed, fast-forwarding through the commercials on the DVR. We wind up going to be late almost every night until it’s over. (Except the rest days of course, we can catch up on sleep!) I love it. And I like Phil Liggett, too, but Bob Roll is my favorite commentator. We’re going to have friends over for pancakes to watch the last stage live on Sunday.
Lately, we can’t even attempt to watch television when our son (almost 21 months) is awake, because it’s “Elmo? Elmo? Elmo? More? Elmo?” nonstop until we turn the TV off or give in to his requests.
The Nature Valley Grand Prix is a fun (local) bike race to watch with kids. It’s 5 stages, all in Minnesota, typically one of which is in St. Paul and one in Minneapolis. It comes around in early June each year.
