Lanterne rouge

Whats this ‘Lanterne Rouge’ mean then, a friend of mine asked me a while back?  This literally translated means ‘red light’ and is the title given to the last man in the overall classification to finish the Tour de France each year. The French almost hold as much respect for the last man crossing the finish line in Paris as the first man. Why not? he’s done the same distance, probably gone through more pain to get there and effectively been on the bike the longest.

I guess when I was younger there was that dream of being the ‘best‘ at something, normally sport, running, football, boxing, cycling, the list goes on. Of all of these cycling has been the one constant, so if I could have been the best cyclist around I suppose winning the Tour de France would have put me pretty close. Well the years role by and prioroties change and so hence now I think like the old cliché  – ‘its the taking part which counts’, yeah we’d all love to win the tour but just to have competed and finished would be more than enough, hence Lantern Rouge!

Lanterne Rouge is primarily about cycling, but other things are included as there about 160 hours a week when i’m not on the bike, then I’m just thinking about cycling! Well for those who may be interested, friends, family this is a little about what I’m doing and life in France.

Question – Guess who designed this shirt, look closely?

Answer: Paul Smith – OK not me, but along with the same name we both share a love of cycling.