Le peloton est regroupé (Tour de Nauru, Tour de Nauru)Camarades et amitié (Tour de Nauru, Tour de Nauru)
Like any great country, Nauru also has its own Tour cycle race à la the Tour de France, which ran its 108th edition this year. Once the flash of humour I produced, observing the Nauruans' anatopistic use of the French proposition de, had passed, a second topical concern came over my mind: the size of the place. Yes, at roughly 30,500 times the size, France is much more suited to a multi-staged, long-distance cycling event than the 21 square kilometre island in the middle of the Pacific. In any case, the Tour - which might well be running its course as I write this very blog post - is a much smaller affair, consisting in a single lap of the island, which I estimate to be just under 17 kilometres' worth. No doubt, this new (?) race is part of a number of anti-obesity measures the Nauruan government have, logic dictating, introduced, given the poor state of the nation's health, post contact with western capitalism.
One day, I may visit Nauru. That is, if I should later find the leisure to do so, and climate catastrophe has not sufficiently merited that one should not travel to one's antipodes. I should enjoy cycling round the island, as it would match the rough duration of my own escapades into the local countryside, at some 40 minutes. That is a sensible cycle time, I think, unlike the Tour de France's gruelling day-long tortures. 40 minutes, though, is the rough duration of an Olympic road cycling time trial. The distance covered, however, is two and a half Tours de Nauru.
