Why Mountain Biking In France Is Popular
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009One of my favourite past times is to go mountain biking down
countryside trails and travel long distances from one town to another.
For me this is an enjoyable form of keeping fit and you have the added
benefit of appreciating the scenery. Mountain biking does not
necessarily have to be enjoyed in your own home territory and one can
be involved with mountain biking abroad. Places like France, Italy,
Spain, Africa and Australia.
Mountain biking in France is more popular than any other destination
because of the smooth and challenging trails that make biking here more
fun. The French Alps is famous for holding the popular Tour de France
biking event, whereby thousands of spectators come from all over the
world and support the contenders. The Alps is also popular with skiing
holidays and professional skiing competitions, which has placed the
French Alps as one of the top destinations for activity holidays.
The Tour de France has helped to keep the Alps to maintain its
reputation for being one of the best experience mountain biking in
France as a whole. The first Tour de France event began in 1903 and is
structured so it is partaken in stages rather than one long marathon.
History will reveal that the Tour de France was largely influenced and
inspired by the popular sporting magazine in France, called Le Velo.
Like most sporting magazines, this focussed on sporting events but also
included politic and current affairs in France.
Le Velo was produced and published to symbolise the innocence of
Alfred Dreyfus, who was accused and found guilty of selling secrets to
the Germans. There was a large division between the people of France,
with one side favouring his innocence and the other believing he was
guilty. Some of the advertisers were against what Le Velo stood and
were very much against the support of Dreyfus’s innocence. Those that
withdrew their advertising later published their own rival magazine.
L’Auto was established and to promote it the Tour de France began.
This was also a publicity spectacle to rival Le Velo and their event,
Paris-Brest et retour organised by editor Pierre Gifford. Originally,
the race was discussed to be a five weeklong tour, however with only 15
entrants this was then reduced down to just 19 days. Cycling journalist
Geo Lefevre and Editor Henri Desgrange announced the event on January
19th of 1903 - thus born a new trend of mountain biking in France.
The public were caught and drawn in by the event, from the growing
number of entrants (who were offered a daily allowance) and the
entertainment attractions (some amateur and unemployed entertainers).
The tour was split into stages of riding 400km, this saw the riders
riding into the night, which captured the spectators attention. After
the event, the magazine sales went from 25,000 copies sold to 65,000.
By 1933 when the Tour had finished Desgrange had received a record of
854,000.
L’Auto magazine was not a direct predecessor to the now popular
magazine L’Equipe, but was a spiritual figure and influence to the
current organisers of the Tour. This is not directly organised by
L’Equipe but is run by its owners called Societe du Tour de France. To
this day this is an event which has grown on a massive scale over the
years. This has influenced much of France to see many holidaymakers
take part in mountain biking in places like the French Alps, but also
open up other events like the Tour such as Giro d’Italia based in Italy
and Vuelta a Espana based in Spain.
