Tour de Fleece

Spinners are ingenious in their quest for challenging themselves.  When I first started spinning, I had heard of the Tour de Fleece but it did not register in my universe at the time.


I guess now it finally hit with some weight as I have just recently signed up for the Tour with two different groups - Team Footloose and Team Schacht (for my two wheels - the Matchless and the mSpinner).


Here are the rules from the Ravelry Tour group:


Welcome to our group for participants in the annual Tour de Fleece spin-along during the Tour de France. The concept is simple, They spin, we spin. A real spinning themed spin-along.

This year, the Tour de Fleece starts Saturday July 2nd and runs until Sunday July 24th, 2011.

Guidelines (NOT RULES):

1. Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 2nd through Sunday July 24th. Days of rest: Monday July 11th, Monday July 18st. (Just like the actual tour)
2. Spin something challenging Friday July 22nd. (The Tour’s toughest mountain stage over the Col du Galibier for the second time, and finishing up on Alpe d’Huez.)
3. Take a button if you want one. Then we can use the button on our blogs in show of solidarity. Take it from here or grab a clean one from the flickr pool. Come join the flickr pool!
4. Wear yellow on Sunday July 24th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour - but here we are all ‘race leaders’)
5. Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter - think FAST), Polka-dot (climber - as in uphill), and white (rookie)

Teams: Join one, or many, or none.

• Rookies (first years)
• Sprinters (fast and/or high mileage like lace)
• Climbers (conquer mountains, big personal challenges)
• Breakaway (Art yarns)
• Peloton (The main group. Everyone is in the peloton at some point)
• Lantern rouge (You will participate as much as possible but you may skip days here and there. Cheerleaders welcome.)
• Wildcards (This is for people who want to form their own team. This includes sponsored teams, like those affiliated with a specific fiber shop or people who live in the same town, etc.)

The teams are inspired by the actual Tour de France.

Prizes:

Prizes are awarded in a few different ways:

1. Random draw thread - just for fun
2. Each of the main teams (not wild card teams though, more on that later!) will have a prize awarded at the end of the tour. We’ll start a thread for voting and people will enter their yarns they spun and we’ll all vote with love clicks. The rookies will enter their rookie yarn, the breakaways will enter their art yarns, and so on. You can enter as many categories as you want.
3. There will be other categories done this way, like spindle spinning, most creative, most impressive, etc. Keep your eyes out for the threads at the end of the tour.
4. We’ll have some nominations as well, for people or yarns that slipped through the radar. We’ll post those at the end of the tour too.
5. Some prizes will be awarded during the tour. For example, challenge day, time trial days, etc.
6. Some surprises are in store - we’re not telling you about ALL of the prizes, because we like it that way.

Start training… NOW!

The purpose of the Tour is a challenge. The purpose of this group is to share your Tour experience.

Now I need to figure out what I'm going to be doing and lay out my goals for the challenge.  I'm excited!