By Roger Rilling

Roger Rilling was inspired by just two things in the 2012 Tour de France. But boy, were they inspiring.

I wish the title of this post was “10 Great Things about The 2012 Tour”.

Sadly, I just could not think of that many things to praise the Tour for. Sure, there are a few things that stood out along the race; most notable to me as a fan and believer in the emerging American talent was the performance of Tejay VanGarderen. With the right team, Tejay will win the Tour within 5 years and will have plenty of time to win several more races before he is even 30 years old. But, did Tejay make me want to get up at 4:30 in the morning to watch the Tour though, nope!

I want to be moved by the Tour, inspired, I expect my training miles to double in July based off of pure desire alone (this is not what should lead to increased miles but it usually does); I expect my dreams to be filled with epic racing battles usually followed by me tearfully pulling on the Yellow Jersey and kissing a podium girl. I want to at least once utter the words “maybe, I’m not too old to race again”. A good Tour will bring all of the above situations to fruition for me, but the 2012 Tour brought none of them!

Wiggins had a great Tour and I cannot try to take any credit from him for racing the way he did, but I just wish we would have seen more fireworks. So, what are the 2 great things about this year’s Tour? Well, honestly, they are 2 great things that came about during the 2012 Tour.

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Here we go:

Great Item # 1 The Jens Voigt Soundboard: The manliest app ever

One of the saddest things about this year’s Tour is the fact that it might be the last time we see Jens attack relentlessly through the race like a mad man. To help ease the pain, you should all install the Jens Voigt Soundboard so you can relive his great quotes. The app also serves as a bit of inspiration for days when you find the need to tell your body to shut up! http://teamjva.com/jens-voigt-soundboard/

Great item # 2 The Tour of Francis: An average man takes on the Tour

I came across this the other day and it gave me the inspiration I was hoping to gain from the Tour. The Tour of Francis is all about taking a regular guy “Francis” and putting him onto some of the classic stages of the Tour de France. Through the video you see what the Tour is all about: human struggle and human triumph. The video reminded me just how important the Tour can be in not just inspiring cyclists to push themselves, but how it can inspire the masses to push themselves to do something new, a little harder and a bit crazy. Enjoy.

* This essay comes courtesy the The Good Men Project.