Ken Saxon in France

A 63-year-old, unemployed and forced into early retirement, now drawing Social Security and one other even smaller retirement check, and living cheaply on the French Riviera, eating great food, drinking superb but inexpensive wines, losing weight, getting healthy, soaking up some sun, learning a new word a day in French, going to wonderful jazz and blues concerts, meeting new French friends, and wondering why Bacillus francophobus is so virulent in the United States.


Sport Italian Charms

Mountain Bike
Mountain Bike
Are you a serious bicycle fan or just enjoy riding it for fun? A charm to make any warrior's eyes light up. Help yourself muster the mountain or curly road with a Quality Mountain Bike. Enjoy our new model presented on a shiny stainless steel base and rendered in white and gold enamel. The link is affordable in medium size and is compatible with all 9 mm Italian charms. Find a wide range of other models among our sport Italian charms at prices you like.


Mountain Biker Laser
Mountain Biker Laser
Now you can have your favorite sport charm on the bracelet. This great and beautiful Mountain Biker Laser Italian Charm is perfectly clear and very original. The picture is engraved with laser on a shiny stainless steel link. This is perfectly quality charm for all collection.


Basketball Italian Charm
Basketball Italian Charm
This nice and color Basketball Italian Charm is great piece for all basketball players and fans. The ball is painted in brown and gold enamel on a shiny stainless steel base. This marvelous charm is wonderful gift for your teammates of your special basketball pro.


Bowling Laser
Bowling Laser
Now you can have your favorite sport charm on the bracelet. This great and beautiful Bowling Laser Italian Charm is perfectly clear and very original. The picture is engraved with laser on a shiny stainless steel link. This is perfectly quality charm for all collection.


And more Sport Italian Charms at Italian Charms Market .Com

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Le Tour De France

Le Tour de France was raced for the first time in 1903. One hundred plus years after its inauguration, it is the world's largest bicycle race. Each year, for 23 days in July, hundreds of cyclists pedal their way across France. Typically, the race covers more than 3,500 kilometers or 2,200 miles.

The race itself consists of 21 separately scored stages. At the end of the race, whoever has the lowest combined time over the 21 separate stages is declared the winner. During the race, the leader wears the Maillot Jaune, the yellow jersey. The stages run from one town to another. The route covers a circuit that goes across most of the regions of France. Sometimes the course even goes into parts of neighboring countries like Switzerland and Spain.

With the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, le Tour de France is one of the three biggest, most prestigious stage races. It is also the longest race of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) calendar. Unlike the other two big races which are known well in Europe, the Tour de France has long been a household sporting name around the globe. It's so well known that even those not interested in cycling know of it. Even the UCI World Cycling Championship is familiar only to cycling enthusiasts.

In most cycling races, competitors enter as part of a team. The same holds true for the Tour de France. The Tour de France's field is made up of 20 to 22 teams each with nine riders. Traditionally, entry is by invitation only. The invitations are handed out only to the best of the professional teams. Recently, the organizers of the race have utilized UCI points to determine which teams gain automatic entry into the tour. They typically have reserved 2-4 slots to large teams or French teams not able to race based on their individual team results.

The teams are all known by the name of their sponsors. Everyone has a distinctive jersey. For example, Lance Armstrong was on the USPS team and then the Discovery Channel team when he won his tours. During the race, each team has access to a shared team car. These team cars are like pit crews in car racing except they're mobile.

The 2008 Tour de France is set to begin on July 5th in Brest in Brittany. The race, as is tradition, will end on the Champs Élysées in Paris on July 27th. This year's race course has 10 flat stages, 5 mountain stages, 4 medium mountain stages, and 2 individual time-trial stages.

For more information on all things bike related, please visit http://www.bike-locks.com

Joseph Devine