The final turn of the Boston Marathon takes runners onto the straightaway of Boylston Street. It’s wide and raucous, a joyous open-air tunnel of humanity a few hundred yards from a finish line now forever changed. It’s the final iconic segment of a marathon that, while not the most difficult nor the most scenic, remains [...]
Greetings from James Raia
As a journalist since 1976, I contribute sports, business, travel and lifestyle articles to newspapers, magazines and web sites. Many examples of my work from Tour de France to my syndicated car review column The Weekly Driver to golf to lifestyle features are on this site.
I own and maintain the web sites: golftribune.com (All about golf); montereypeninsula.org (All about the Monterey Peninsula); theweeklydriver.com. (All about cars) and tourdefrancelife.com (All about the Tour de France. My articles will also appear in my Twitter and Facebook pages.
E-mail: james@byjamesraia.com
Most Recent Stories
Lance Armstrong commentary: Martyr or fraud on two wheels?
Lance Armstrong’s life has rarely been routine. Like Michael Jordan, Barry Bonds and Tiger Woods in their sports, Armstrong catapulted cycling to a new mountaintop of acceptance with talent, charisma and bravado. Sports fans who make fun of golf as overbearingly boring will watch Tiger Woods play in the Swampville Open. Sports fans who don’t [...]
Mary Whipple: The mighty mouse who roared, rowed (sort of) to OIympic gold
(Mary Whipple was the coxswain on the USA team that won the women's eight gold medal on Aug. 1 in London. This article was originally published July 13, 2011 in the Sacramento Bee.) With her high-pitched speech and diminutive stature, Mary Whipple could be mistaken as an Olympian of another kind, a gymnast perhaps. But [...]
Tour of Calfornia, 2012: Santa Rosa to Los Angeles off the bike
The Tour of California will bypass previous stops in Sacramento, Auburn, Davis and much of the rest of Northern California this year. But from Bakersfield to Beverly Hills, the nearly 750-mile trek will offer the race's most diverse route. Combine new cities, new mountain climbs and a new time trial, and even the most discerning [...]
Vladimir Efimkin: Happy with life, back in the saddle
Six years into a pro career that catapulted him to mountaintops and victory podiums around the globe, Vladimir Efimkin decided in the summer of 2010 he’d had enough. Everything right with cycling had been overshadowed by everything wrong. He grew weary of cycling’s abrupt random drug testing. He endured crashes and broken bones, the banes [...]
Tour de France, 2011: Chris Horner, battered, broken and back on the bike with Colorado on his mind
Two weeks after he left the Tour de France following a crash replete with broken bones, contusions and uncertainty, Chris Horner is preparing for his next bike race. It’s still a month away in a new seven-day race in Colorado. But even by its Aug. 22 start, the cyclist from Bend, Oregon, will likely not [...]
Tour de France, 2011: Tyler Farrar Q&A with burritos, wine
CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE, France — Six days remain in the Tour de France and Tyler Farrar is faring well. But like the rest of the weary field, the rider from Wenatchee knows the pending days in the Alps will likely be the race’s most difficult. The Tour de France is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Alps [...]
Tour de France, 2011: Podium Girls and other pretty women
SAINT-FLOUR, France — Pretty women are as much a part of the Tour de France as the yellow jersey, sunflowers and riders’ epic treks into the Alps and Pyrenees. The women who give stage winners and jersey competition leaders awards each day are called the Podium Girls, and they’re photographed hundreds of times during the [...]
Celebrating 25 Years of Americans in the Tour de France
LISIEUX, France — In slightly more than two weeks, when the Tour de France arrives in Paris for the 98th edition finale, the occasion will also mark 25 years since Greg LeMond became the first American to win the event. LeMond, who turned age 50 last month, was also victorious in the Tour de France [...]
Tour de France, 2011: Showmanship at the finish line
How a cyclist celebrates a win as he crosses the finish line can be premeditated or a split-second decision. And there are occasions in mass sprints when a photo finish determines the victor, there’s no time for showmanship. Tyler Farrar has twice in the past three weeks, including his first career stage Monday in the [...]
Topics
© 2013 James Raia · Sitemap
Website design by Jenn at Rosebud Designs.
