5 Ways to Recover From Post-Tour de France Syndrome

If you are like me, you are going through Tour de France withdrawal. After three weeks of non-stop, live (yeah!) coverage of the world's greatest bike race, all of a sudden there is a huge, and I mean cavernous, void left as Paris fades into the distance.

There is actually some sort of post-March Madness syndrome documented by medical experts. This is the cycling equivalent to the basketball phenomenon. Basically, it sucks! Yeah, we all live for the drama of the big mountain stages at the Tour, but let's face it, by the end of the race even the flattest stage where you know the day will end in a field sprint can raise your blood pressure by double digits.

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Ride More

What to do. What to do. Well, obviously, one thing you can do is get out there and ride your bike. If the Tour doesn't motivate you to ride and, better yet, up your game to another level, then check for a pulse. Riding the wave of the Tour (yeah, I know, bad pun) is a great way to get in shape for that summer century or charity ride.

Buy a Pro Kit

If you have a favorite team from the Tour, go out and get the jersey so you can wear it and show your support. They say the yellow jersey gives the wearer wings. Sporting your favorite team's strip (that's British for 'kit,' which is also another British term for 'jersey') can give you wings as well! OK, so it's pretty hard to confuse us with Chris Froome, but hey, those dudes look cool in their strip and you can too.

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One word of caution for those who choose to wear a team's kit: It's great to show your support for your favorite team, but lose the attitude. That's reserved for the guys who get that stuff, as well as a team bike, for free. By the way, all the pros I have ever met had no attitude though they could ride circles around me, so take note to lose the attitude.

Get a Magazine

Of course, you can relive the Tour by reading the recaps in all the cycling magazines. They usually have great photos of scenes potentially missed by the TV cameras and in-depth interviews with the key players that most likely didn't fit into a TV sound bite. The British magazines tend to go a bit overboard for the likes of Froome and Wiggins, but we all remember the big play Lance got in the US-based publications, so that's not such a big deal.

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Watch Another Race

Believe it or not, there will be more cycling on TV. Universal Sports Network (USN) will be broadcasting the Dutch Eneco Tour every August. They will also carry the last grand tour of the year, La Vuelta a Espana which starts in August and runs through September.

NBC Sports Network will be showing the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado from mid to late August. Fox Sports will be showing the Tour of Utah as well, so there are plenty of options.

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The new kid on the block, beIN Sport Network, is still finalizing its broadcast schedule. Because it shows all the Italian RCS Sport races (Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo, etc.), look for Il Lombardia on the 6th of October.

Use Your DVR Replay

If live TV isn't enough to cure your withdrawal symptoms, hopefully you have a few stages of the Tour still left on your DVR. World Cycling Productions will also have a DVD recap available sometime in the fall.

If all else fails and you don't have enough disposable income to hire Chris Froome to attend your daughter's sweet sixteenth birthday party, it really is only about 330 days until next year's Grand Depart. It's going to be a rocky road (don't say it), but you can make it.

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