Get ready, get set, Go! The Tour de France is drawing to an end, but your knowledge of the race may not be so this week’s post revolves all around The Tour!

1. Three. The average number of chains worn out by a single rider (Armstrong goes through about one chain per week). (About.com)

2. Winner, winner chicken dinner! Last year’s Tour de France winner, Carlos Sastre, was wearing a Bell helmet! (Bell Sports)

3. The oldest person to win a Tour de France was 36-year-old Firmin Lambot in 1922. (About.com)

4. The youngest person to win the Tour de France was 20-year-old Henri Cornet in 1904. (About.com)

5. 123,900. The number of calories, on average, that are burned by a rider over the course of the Tour. (About.com)

And, a special thanks to About.com for many of these fabulous facts! What’s your knowledge of the Tour de France? You know we’d love to hear about it, so feel free to comment! Also, don’t forget to catch up on updates with this year’s Tour de France, before the race ends this Sunday!

On July 4, the 96th Le Tour de France began. To date, the three week-long cycling competition has proven to be nothing less than exhilarating. Three-time world winner, American Greg LeMond, once said of the race, “It never gets easier, you just go faster.” This year is no different.

Hundreds of the world’s top cyclists have been competing in this rigorous, yet prestigious, 21-stage race – all in hopes of coming out on top. To view a detailed map of the race, check out this one at Versus.com. And, from unforeseen leaders in the race to accidents and pullouts, this year’s tour – covering Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy – is one for the books!

So who is currently on top, you ask? Rather than just tell you (especially considering you never know when someone could swoop ahead into the first place spot, we thought we’d provide you with a few resources for finding the best information available on the race. For up-to-the-minute information about the tour, there are many places you can go. On Twitter, for instance, you can receive as-it-happens updates by following the TdFblog author, Frank Steele (@TdFblog) or Cyclingfans.com’s Peter Geyer (@cyclingfans).

American favorite Lance Armstrong also periodically tweets updates about the race from his twitter account, @lancearmstrong. By following him, we were able to find out that, as of recently, this year’s top 20 cyclists were separated by only 6 minutes. That’s extremely rare this late in a race of such high caliber.

Can’t wait for people like Lance to update you on what they’re seeing with the race? Well then, watch live video coverage of the race by heading over to Cyclingfans.com, and you’ll be able to see who is well on their way to the final stage, first!

The race is almost over, and with just five days left, you don’t want to miss out on any of the action! Thankfully for you, you should now be fully equipped with resources so that you can stay on track with the cyclists.

Considering the very prestigious Tour de France commences tomorrow, July 4, we thought we’d help kick start your holiday weekend with a few fun facts about bike racing!

1. Since 1975 the Tour de France finish has been on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Before 1975, the race finished at the Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris and at the Piste Municipale. (Wikipedia)

2. Cycling was a part of the first modern Olympic Games that took place in Athens, Greece, in 1896. (Olympic.org)

3. In 1984, Bell became the official supplier to the US Cycling Team. (Bells Sports)

4. This weekend Lance Armstrong returns from a three-year retirement from the event to come back and compete in the 2009 Tour de France. (Sports Illustrated)

5. The world’s longest bike race is called Race Across America (RAAM) and covers 3,000 miles. (thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com)

And, as if you could forget, tomorrow is also Independence Day in the U.S.A! Have some interesting plans for the 4th that you’d like to share? Send us a shout out! We always like to keep up with what our community is up to!

Wishing a fun and safe holiday weekend to you and yours!!

This weekend kicks off the 96^th Le Tour de France. Over the next three weeks, hundreds of elite cyclists will compete, by invitation only, in the oldest and most prestigious bike race. These cyclists will endure 21 different stages throughout the course — including flat, mountain, and time-trial stages — covering a distance of 3,500 kilometers. Translation: that’s about 2,175 miles of intensely competitive and grueling cycling! This year’s race is sure to offer plenty of captivating competition, with four past champions returning this year, including Carlos Sastre and cycling legend Lance Armstrong.

But you probably already knew all that.

Did you know, though, that the Le Tour de France didn’t enforce the mandatory wearing of helmets until just six years ago? In 2003, the Union Cycliste Internationale (or UCI) introduced a rule requiring elite cyclists to wear helmets, offering additional safety precautions. Prior to that, helmets had been advised, but were not compulsory.

That means now, Le Tour de France — which is already a showcase of amazing and unbelievable cycling skills — can be thought of as a showcase for new, innovative, and colorful helmets!!

We hope you check back with our blog later in July for further updates about the race. In the meantime, let us know if you’re going to be doing anything special to watch or celebrate the Tour de France in the comments section below!