The Tour de France started over the weekend and has been rolling its way through northern France with thrilling sprint finishes and gutsy performances (including a win by an American on the 4th!).
The Tour is the biggest bike race in the world and whether you like racing or not, it’s one of the few times a year when bicycling merits coverage in the sports pages and around the water cooler.
Hoping to bask in the aura of the Tour and offer a relaxing and social place to catch each day’s race, a few local establishments welcome fans with daily viewings.
The bike-friendly Apex Bar on the corner of SE Division and 12th is showing the Tour every day. Apex has plenty of bike parking, will loan you a u-lock if you ask nicely, and the owner has “a life-long passion for all things two-wheeled.”
If you’re in the mood for coffee with your Tour, roll over to Oblique Coffee Roasters at 3039 SE Stark to catch daily showings. Proprietors Heather and John Chandler say they’re playing every stage live. Also, during key mountain stages, they’ll give away bags of coffee, drinks, and schwag from Western Bike Works.
New on our list this year is Bazi Bierbrassiere. Located at 1522 SE 32nd, Bazi shows re-airs of Versus coverage each day at 5:00 and 9:00 pm. They’ll also show two stages live at 5:00 am: the legendary Alpe-d’Huez climb on Friday, July 22nd and the final stage on Sunday, July 24th.
You can catch the Tour at both St. Honoré Boulangerie locations. They’re showing nearly live coverage each morning at 7:00 am on the large screens at their Northwest Portland (2335 NW Thurman St) and Lake Oswego (315 1st St) and they replaying it throughout the day.
If you prefer to watch online, we’ve come across two recommended sites.
Steven Hill’s Steephill.tv is a great, one-stop shop for all things Tour de France. They post results very quickly, offer live streaming video, TV schedules, photos, and more.
If you’ve got a little Tour lover in your house, here’s a website for you: Musician and children’s book author Michael Ward (of “Mike and the Bike” fame) believes that, “it is the kids who imagine themselves as the next great riders who are going to save the sport and help increase the popularity of riding a bike.”
Check out the kid’s interactive guide to the Tour de France at MikeandtheBike.com.
Where are you watching the Tour? Let us know in the comments and we’ll add the location to our list.
Thanks for reading.
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Hey spectators! FYI the headwear to be seen wearing while being seen watching the TdF around town is the King of the Mountain cycling cap:
http://l-p.cc/shop/kotm
Key benefits:
– Sales Benefit the Northwest Trail Alliance
– Handmade in Portland, Oregon
– It not only makes you cuter, but makes you climb faster. 😉
I can vouch for St. Honoré Boulangerie on NW Thurman. My wife and I went there last year for the opening prologue. Good food too.
Not sure if they do it all the time, but I’ve seen Lucky Lab NW put up a projector and screen to watch races.
http://www.steephill.tv/ has great selections of video clips after each stage if you are pressed for time but still want to see a lot of the key action. Fun to listen to announcers in different languages as well.
Here’s a chance for some cross-pollination with the Bikes ‘n’ Beers thread in the Bikeportland forums. Is Hopworks Urban Brewery showing TdF? How about the Muddy Rudder or Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub?
I was at Hopworks on Williams Sunday night, and one of the TVs behind the bar was set to Versus, which was showing a replay of the morning’s TdF stage. I’m not sure if they’re doing that nightly, though.
I was at the Bikebar on Saturday night and they were also showing the TdF.
St. Honore shows it in the morning, but ~45min delayed, so that was disappointing for me.
It would be ridiculous to have a place called (Hopworks) Bike Bar and NOT show the TdF.
Perfectly said Matt w…
It’s also showing at the Western Bikeworks cafe.
Which of these places, if any, are playing the audio too? At St. Honore and at HUB, it’s on but there’s no sound. It’s just not the same without hearing Trautwig, Bobke, and (most especially) Phil Liggett.
Great question! I’d like to know too.
Blackbird Wine and Atomic Cheese, NE 44th and Fremont http://blackbirdwine.com/
FYI Blackbird Wine is not showing the Tour de France. They had a “Tour of France” sampling of French wines to honor the TdF but otherwise have no video or TV on site.
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Migration Brewing on NE 28th & Glisan are showing TdF as long as there is not a soccer game on at the same time.
In Vancouver (Downtown) – Woody’s Tacos on Columbia at Evergreen is playing it in their bar.
Happy Hour is always 16h00 to 19h00. They have some of the best Mexican food and margaritas north of the river.
I wish I could get Niche to put the tour on too…but the house has a ‘no tv policy!’ Nothing would be better than some wine cheese and bike racing!
I actually love the growing trend to throw out the flatscreen. It makes people talk. And that is awesome, IMHO.
I do love Le Tour tho…
If you’re a torrent freak you can download each stage at http://cyclingtorrents.nl (remember to give back and reseed)
I so enjoy (and prefer) Dave Harmon & Sean Kelly’s race commentary on Eurosport! Plus, you can also get it in HD, nice.
The site also has support material for the Tour.
Was just at Limelight in West Moreland and the tour was playing. Asked if they would have it every night. Server said sure and if it wasn’t on, just let her or the bartender know that’s what you want to watch and they’ll put it on.
La Musette will be back this year, showing the last 2 stages (July 23/24) while you eat 6 courses of regional French cooking. See http://www.lamusettepdx.com for details. Thanks!