130 - Vive le Tour (Long Live the Tour!), 1962, France. Dir. Louis Malle.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

130 - Vive le Tour (Long Live the Tour!), 1962, France. Dir. Louis Malle.

"Now let's talk about doping.  In cycling slang, doping is called 'the charge,' and 'the charge' is killing this profession.  Now every time someone quits, he's under suspicion.

This racer told us he must have eaten some bad fish.  That same day, ten racers quit, and each said he'd eaten bad fish.

Contrary to popular belief, doping doesn't give you extra strength.  It simply suppresses the pain.  The doped-up athlete no longer knows his limits.  He's nothing more than a pedaling machine."

Those words were written in 1962.

Nine years before Lance Armstrong was born.

42 years before he won his first Tour.

Do you think he started the problem?

Or was he born into it?

Louis Malle has made a documentary about the Tour de France.

And it is delightful.

It looks and feels like a film you may have seen at a Disney park when you were a child.

Or a film you saw in the cafeteria in the fourth grade.

The haircuts.  The clothing.  The film stock.

These racers are tremendous athletes.  There is nothing about watching this film that makes you think they were less competitive than the racers of today.  They are fierce.

They reach speeds of 37 mph and maintain it.

The racers climb from an altitude of 600 feet to an altitude of 6,000 feet.  They descend to 800.  Then they climb to 9,000.

They experience extreme changes in temperature and air pressure.

They eat, drink, urinate, and even sleep while racing.

The film features Rick Van Looy and Federico Bahamontes.  King of the Mountains.

It makes you want to get out and exercise.

To compete.

To turn your own body into a racing machine.

Long live the Tour.