The hardest sporting event on the planet is its final countdown this week. With more than 2,000 miles of gut-wrenching speed, leg-pounding climbs, and 70 mile per hour descents, the Tour de France is undoubtedly the epitome of extreme sports.

Does anyone in Western North Carolina care about this super-human event happening half way around the globe? According to local bike merchants, racers, cycling enthusiasts, and non-biking Lance fans, “absolutely.”

Dave Molin, owner of Motion Makers bicycle shop in Sylva, has to be quick to stop eager fans who enter the store gabbing about the race from spilling who won the stage for the day. Each day of the three-week race is like its own mini-race. Times from each stage are tallied to determine the overall cumulative winner.

But with the results of each stage becoming more and more important as the bike race progresses, the suspense becomes harder to endure over the course of the workday. Like many other working folks, Molin and his employees have to wait for the re-airing of the 2005 Tour de France each night at home. Talk inevitably turns to the tour whenever people gather in the local bike shop, however, just without giving away the ending.

Some local shops have daily events centering around the Tour de France. Bio-Wheels of Asheville has a fantasy team competition among customers and the local racing team, akin to a sports pool more commonly associated with the NBA playoffs.

Before the first stage of the tour, each pool participant picked riders to win each stage of the three-week race. At the end of the Tour, the person with the most winners, or at least closest to the stage victory each day, wins.

“We often have a group meet at someone’s house after work to watch some of the stages, particularly the mountain stages,” said Eric Krauss, co-owner of Bio-Wheels of Asheville.

Road cycling has seen an upswing in popularity since the Armstrong phenomenon began. Krauss says one of the biggest things about the Tour over the last few years has been the “Lance-effect.”

“While out on your road bike people sometimes honk and yell ‘go Lance!’” Krauss said.

The man, the machine, and his competitors

What can one say to describe the machine disguised as a human — Lance Armstrong — that hasn’t already been repeated over and over by journalists, scientists, cancer survivors and bike racers around the world?

Black, deadly cancer consuming a part of the world champion bike racer’s lungs and brain couldn’t stop him. Could any mortal cyclist defeat him?

The big story this year: Lance’s retirement. Could this July really be the ride into the sunset that other bike racers have waited for? With the record-breaking sixth consecutive Tour de France victory last year, would the Texan be motivated enough to win a seventh Tour?

Armstrong silenced all doubters with a scorching second place finish in the opening time trial on July 2. The winner of opening time trial was another American, Dave Zabriskie, a 26-year-old time trial specialist from Utah. Zabriskie set the fastest individual time trial in Tour history, besting Armstrong by only two seconds.

Perhaps the biggest surprise about opening day was Armstrong catching his biggest rival, Jan Ullrich, and passing him, even though Ullrich started a minute earlier than Armstrong.

Dave Zabriskie carried the two-second lead through the first few days as Armstrong’s Discovery Channel team allowed Zabriskie’s CSC cycling team to the “policing of the peloton,” ensuring that no riders break away and take the coveted yellow jersey. The yellow jersey is an honor that goes to the overall leader after each stage, but pushing too hard in early stages of the race uses up vital energy needed in the final stages.

So Armstrong and his team simply followed CSC and finished with the same time, while conserving energy for the tougher stages to come. An unfortunate crash involing CSC’s Zabriskie in Stage 4 was ultimately a victory for Discovery, forcing one of its main competitors to abandon the race.

Still questions lingered about the 33-year-old Armstrong, however, particularly since three of his other main rivals — Jan Ullrich, Andreas Kloden and Alexander Vinokourov — are on the same German team, a cycling juggernaut sponsored by T-Mobile. Would they use a three-pronged threat to attack Armstrong in the mountains? Would the Discovery Cycling team be able to fend off the massive German threat?

The first big day of the Alps hit on a warm July day — stage 10 of the race — for a climb up to the ski resort of Courchevel. The Discovery team clicked perfectly, shedding the opposing riders with a relentless pace, leading Armstrong to the giant climb.

As Armstrong and a select few of the tour’s climbing specialists flew up the huge mountain, the mighty T-Mobile squad saw its chances crumble as Kloden, Vinokourov, and even Ullrich all lost serious amounts of time in the wake of Armstrong’s incredible pace.

At a stage-watching party that night at Eric Krauss’ house, members of the Bio-Wheels race team watched the climb up to Courchavel in awe. “That was freakin’ incredible!,” exclaimed Krauss.

Despite the set backs, T-Mobile, CSC, and others vowed to continue fighting until the final stage into Paris on July 24.

Vinokourov did attack the very next day and even took the stage victory, but after losing over five minutes on the climb to Courvachel, it might be a little too late.

Armstrong proved to be as formidable as ever in the Alps and the rugged climbs of the Pyrenees. Now, with Armstrong clinging to the yellow jersey and his fiercest rivals still within striking distance, comes the last week along the undulating roads leading into Paris.

The Tour has always been hard, but in in 2005 it has been even harder. With an average speed for the entire first week of more than 30 mph, 2005 is the fastest race to date. Sure, 30 mph doesn’t seem like fast when compared to a sports car, but try pedaling over one hundred miles a day at that speed and it becomes amazing.

Can Lance Armstrong and his Discovery Channel teammates hold on to the lead until the final leg into Paris on July 24? Will T-Mobile or CSC regroup and make a comeback? Or will someone else like former USPS teammates Levi Leipheimer or Floyd Landis emerge as threats to Armstrong’s reign?

If you find out before the bike shops do, just don’t give it away.

(Jamie Arnold is a racer on the Bio-Wheels racing team and a resident of Haywood County)