Welcome to the 2011 Tour

I'm back again this year, trying to help people get the most out of the Tour de France on the web.

This weblog got started by accident. I had posted a guide to the Tour on my personal weblog in 2003 (here's the 2009 version), and a couple of posts noting who had won the day's stage, or what was on tap for the next day's stage. One morning, I woke up and went into my office, and realized the drive on the (AMD K6-2 350) Linux box that served my weblog was really laboring.

A few minutes later, I could see why the server was under load. Google's top result when you searched for "Tour de France update" was my weblog. I had been looking for a reason to try out the new hosted Moveable Type service at TypePad, so I spent about 45 minutes setting up a dedicated Tour weblog, and started publishing.

In the 9 Tours since, the cycling landscape on the web has shifted tremendously for the better. In the early years, I was pointing out just about everything of any value about the Tour on the web. Today, that idea seems preposterous. The websites that existed then, like VeloNews and CyclingNews have expanded tremendously, and been joined by fan-driven sites like PodiumCafe and literally dozens of enthusiastic fan weblogs. Average fans can go out and make terrific photos and videos, then share them on Flickr and other sharing sites, and the growth of Twitter means it's easy to find like-minded fans and trade snark while the race progresses.

So, this year, as in the last couple of years, I'll be very active on Twitter, and pointing out the best of the Tour de France web there and here on the weblog.