I remember that last July, when The View From The Bleachers hosted its political shoot-’em-out about health care reform, I was minding my own business following coverage of the Tour de France.

Here’s a book which looks into the phenomenon of “Le Tour de France”, specifically the Tour of 2004.

The title of this book is “23 Days In July – Inside Lance Armstrong’s Record-Breaking Tour De France Victory”. It is written by John Wilcockson with photographs by Graham Watson.

After his first Tour victory Lance Armstrong said: “I want to be remembered as the first cancer survivor to win the Tour.” At that time, the only other American to have won a Tour was Greg LeMond, who had won three (1986, 1989, 1990).

As the action in this book begins, Lance Armstrong has won five consecutive Tours de France (1999-2003), and is preparing for his unprecedented sixth in a row. There are four men who had won five Tours prior to Lance Armstrong:
- Jacques Anquetil (France) 1957-1964
- Eddy Merckx (Belgium) 1969-1974
- Bernard Hinault (France) 1978-1985
- Miguel Indurain (Spain) 1991-1995

No one had ever won six Tours before Lance did it. He has currently won seven, and he will be back in 2010.

“23 Days In July” is divided into chapter a day installments. The scheduled activities for each day are listed at the beginning of the respective chapter. The author presents a historical perspective of each route, including towns and landmarks along the way. He speaks with Lance and other cyclists, journalists, as well as locals and visitors.

Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

- “Live high – train low.”

- Although daily drug tests remain a deterrent, they rarely reveal a true cheat. They’re more likely to catch out someone…who unwittingly absorbs a banned drug…”

- “There are still some idiots who dope, but if we made the decision to ban them for life, they wouldn’t be there.”

- “Even riders who don’t cheat run the risk of having a career ruined by a positive drug test for something they didn’t know they ingested. The list of banned drugs in cycling, and other Olympic sports, has become so long that if ordinary citizens were subjected to frequent drug tests they would probably come up positive more often than not.”

- “Until 1910, Tour de France pioneers saw these mountains only from afar. Then, Alphonse Steines, a sportswriter with L’Auto, suggested to his editor, Tour organizer Henri Desgrange, that a stage over the highest passes in the Pyrenees would do wonders for the race’s popularity.”
“…Desgrange and Steines had hit upon the formula that transformed their race from being merely heroic to being truly mythical.”

- “There is no need for Armstrong to win, since he already has a comfortable lead over all his rivals. But he wants to win. He wants to prove he is the best. The best climber . . . the best sprinter . . . the best leader , , , the best time trialist.”

- “Some say it was a miracle that any man could overcome life-threatening cancer, come back to his sport, and win its most prestigious and grueling event six years in a row.”
“Some say there are no miracles, just miracle drugs, and cast aspersions on a man who has always tested clean.”

“23 Days In July” was a very special book for me, because I was already following the Tour back then. I had watched each day of the 2004 Tour on TV, and so I was somewhat familiar with the players and situations described herein.

John Wilcockson (with Graham Watson’s photographs) has written an illuminating history of 23 very special days in July.

I enjoyed reading it. I couldn’t put it down.

I recommend “23 Days In July” to those familiar with bike racing and Le Tour, to those who know nothing about this subject, and to all those in between.