A time of bibs, peletons, chainring tattoos, drafting, pulling and clipping in!

Friends, family and longtime followers know that I’ve been a big fan of professional cycling since my high school days. Well, it’s that time of year again – the Spring Classics, the Grand Tours and the whole Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) season… great fun!

Aside from a short stint while Greg LeMond was winning the Tour de France and a longer stretch when Lance Armstrong was giving American cycling the most historic of black eyes, there hasn’t been much coverage in the States. Thanks however, to the growth of broadband internet and an app for everything, there is now a great resource for cycling fans in the United States – NBC Sports Gold.

This marks the second year I’ve used the app and gladly paid the $19.99 annual subscription. It brings me so much cycling that I can’t even watch it all. I can watch on my phone, iPad, Roku or cast to a TV using Chromecast. It is an absolute steal for all that content (link below)

Next up is one of the true classic races – Paris-Nice <pah/ree neess>.  I can’t wait!

In the meantime, I am watching some of the ones I missed from last year like the Vuelta Espana (Tour of Spain) and this years Tour Down Under (Australia.)

What am I looking for in the 2017 cycling season? I am not going to do any predictions until I see the form of the racers in some of the early classics. What I can say now is that I will be looking for Peter Sagan (my current favorite,) Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet, Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana and others to provide a lot of great cycling action this season. And of course, Paul Sherwen!

The best part of cycling season?  It really makes me want to ride so my personal mileage starts to increase and I get in better shape.  Color me weird for being a cycling fan in the US, but watching the NFL doesn’t encourage me to get out of my office and move around.

by Chris Doelle