It was an unforgiving 95 degrees Fahrenheit in eastern France last week. Rain had fallen nearly every day of the week prior to Stage 16, Wednesday, July 21, making for a very steamy road up the face of one of the most unforgiving mountain rides a cyclist can make in the course of his or her riding career. Nearly one million people lined the narrow mountain road leading to the peak of L'Alpe D'Huez to watch a one man, Lance Armstrong, in the time trial of his life. This seemingly immortal man had survived cancer to make this climb his top achievement leading him to victory five times previously. Could Lance pull off an unprecedented sixth win? He rehearsed this scene time after time over the course of the previous year in preparation for such a time as this. That preparation paid off. He climbed this mountain in exactly 61 seconds faster than any of his nearly 200 competitors. One million people in a less than 20 mile stretch of road all to watch a bicycle race. But this was no normal race, this was, after all, The Tour de France. Considered to be the most physically unremitting sporting event known to man, this mere bicycle race has a history richer than many nations in and of themselves. Over a hundred years ago, in a turbulent, at best, France, two men found their way into a personal disagreement. The results of which, over a century later would still draw spectators by the thousands to the hillsides of France for what would become the greatest continuing nationalist and sporting spectacle of that country.
The best place to start a story of such grand a scale is at the very beginning. The year was 1893. France had just imposed a tax on a relatively new transportation device, the bicycle. Millions of citizens...
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...20 on some future late July Sunday, the world will again see the nationalist vigor of that country that has not been seen since the beginning years of the Tour a century ago. France will again unite and the only thing that will matter is the Tour and the yellow being brought back to where it all started.
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Mulholland, Owen. Unnamed author. "Torelli's History of the Tour de France or,
All They Wanted To Do Was to Sell a Few More Newspapers."
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Spectators of Interference and Quit." New York Times. July 23, 1937.
Sports.
The passage, Hawaii Ironman: An Irongirl’s Story, is about Greta, a triathlete. The passage explains what her journey to qualifying and then competing in the Hawaiian triathlon was like. The passage informs us on all of the training, determination, and perseverance Greta had. The passage then explained what running the Hawaiian Ironman was like. A race that consisted of swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles all in the hot, Hawaiian heat. The author uses details from the journey she went through in order to qualify for the race, her thoughts and feelings while competing in the race, and Greta’s feeling and mindset when she finishes the race to develop the theme that to finish is to win.
Terry knew that aches and pains are common in athlete’s lives. At the end of his first year of university there was a new pain in his knee. One morning Terry woke up to see that he could no longer stand up. A week later Terry found out that it was not just an ache he had a malignant tumor; his leg would have to be cut off six inches above the knee. Terry’s doctor told him that he had a chance of living but the odds were fifty to seventy percent. He also said that he should be glad it happened now fore just 2 years ago the chance of living was fifteen percent. The night before his operation a former coach brought Terry a magazine featuring a man who ran a marathon after a similar operation. Terry didn’t want to do something small if he was going to do something he was going to do it big. "I am competitive" Terry said, "I’m a dreamer. I like challenges. I don’t give up. When I decided to do it, I knew it was going to be all out. There was no in between Terry’s sixteen month follow up he saw all the young people suffering and getting weak by the disease. He never forgot what he saw and felt burdened to thoughts that died to run this marathon. He was one of the lucky one in three people to survive in the cancer clinics. Terry wrote asking for sponsorship " I could not leave knowing that these faces and feelings would still be here even though I would be set free of mine, s...
In this year Henry Ford created the first affordable, combustion engine car called the Model-T. The creation of the Model-T changed the lives of every American. Vehicles were looked at as a way of freedom and excitement. Soon after, every household in America had a car. The demand for vehicles sparked a whole new industry, creating jobs, more revenues and improving the American economy in every way. With so many vehicles on the roads, roads needed to become bigger and better which spawned a nation wide road construction. This also created more jobs and strengthened the economy even further. (Inventions: Car)
There are many cumulative events that have influenced Western Civilization reflective in today’s modern world, but the most impactful was the French Revolution. Western Civilization has many historic milestones building to the world as we know it, but none set such broad themes that are felt in our everyday life. Many of these themes have become so ingrained into the way we live that we can’t understand a world without them. For this reason, the effects of the French Revolution molded the westernized world more so than any other event. I consider the French Revolution the catalyst to how our world is shaped today. It’s ideas and events continue to echo through our lives century after century.
Beginning in mid-1789, and lasting until late-1799, the French Revolution vastly changed the nation of France throughout its ten years. From the storming of the Bastille, the ousting of the royal family, the Reign of Terror, and all the way to the Napoleonic period, France changed vastly during this time. But, for the better part of the last 200 years, the effects that the French Revolution had on the nation, have been vigorously debated by historian and other experts. Aspects of debate have focused around how much change the revolution really caused, and the type of change, as well as whether the changes that it brought about should be looked at as positive or negative. Furthermore, many debate whether the Revolutions excesses and shortcomings can be justified by the gains that the revolution brought throughout the country. Over time, historians’ views on these questions have changed continually, leading many to question the different interpretations and theories behind the Revolutions effectiveness at shaping France and the rest of the world.
Szostak, R. 1991. Role of transportation in the industrial revolution : A comparison of england and france. Montreal, QC, CAN: McGill-Queen's University Press.
...his has resulted in many cyclists being banned from the sport most notably Lance Armstrong in 2012.
Cross country runners spend weeks to months training for that one moment, the moment they will lean across the finish line. Crossing the finish line only lasts for only a split second, but the impact is significant. People often ask why, why spend so much time training for that one moment? Well for me it’s simple. The feeling I have when I cross that finish line is like no other I’ve ever had; it is a unique combination of pride, pain, relief, and an indescribable sense of accomplishment. After reading Into Thin Air, I realized how similar climbing a mountain actually is to running a race. Climbers, just like runners, spend months training for those few glorious minutes on top.
In the nine months leading up to that fatal day, tragedies no man can fathom happened starting with the first few months in which the turmoil began. March 9th and 10th of 1792, the king of France at the time, Louis the 16th formed a monarchy government, but most citizens were forcing a government change since 1789 (Brown). However, other citizens and prisoners of France disagreed with his choice and began to rebelle. As soon as April came along Paris went to war with Austria (World Book Ink, “Encyclopedia” 414). This happened because Paris was trying to go back to the former government solely based on agriculture even though they agreed they would keep it as it was with the new monarchy government. Later, on April 20th 1792 Prussia joined sides with Austria in the war against France (Brown). After a large amount ...
Major inequities, inflation and lack of food, very minimal reforms, rising aspirations of middle classes -bourgeoise. Among 23 million Frenchmen, there were 400,000 who formed the nobility -and army officers and clergy.
The 1936 Berlin Olympics was one of the most difficult, yet most memorable of all the Olympics. Even with the Great Depression and tough conditions some athletes still managed to be victorious. This was not an easy task with a Holocaust raging in the background. However, if there was ever a time that people needed to feel victorious it was within this time period when people’s spirits felt squashed by the heavy hand of Hitler. There, in Berlin, people were able to rise above Hitler and show that no matter race or religion-one could be victorious.
I picked The Longest Ride as my movie to show examples of Luke Collins and Sophia Danko in relationship stages because I recently watched the movie and remembered it having a good story, building up a relationship, but also having problems and breaking up. This movie does an excellent job showing the first four stages: initiating, experimenting, intensifying, and integration. On the other hand the last four stage: differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, and terminating, was a little more challenging, in account of them experiencing a break up and then eventually getting back together quickly.
Drastic overspending by the government of King Louis XVI left the treasury depleted of funds, and with little revenue coming in from taxes, France was experiencing the beginnings of a revolution. With the Se...
Johnson, Douglas. “A Concise History of France”. New York, NY: The Viking Press, Inc., 1971. Print.
The French Revolution began in 1789 and ended in 1792, though certain people include Napoleon’s reign as part of the revolution, stating it ended in 1804. It was a time of confusion, disorder, and bloodshed. The commoners of France decided that they were being treated unjustly and planned to overthrow their king. The French Revolution was a long and terrible war, which promoted democracy and equality for the people of France and resulted, not only in the death of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, but with France becoming a more liberal country. This essay will investigate causes of the French Revolution such as enlightenment ideas, taxation and economical problems, and the political system of the time. It will be shown that there is not a single direct cause for the occurrence of the French Revolution, but many different reasons of varying importance.