Like many thousands of Australians my sleep patterns are being transformed in the next three weeks by the Tour de France.
During the first three stages of the Tour I have enjoyed watching a Specialized video.
I think it is a great example of what Roger Caillois called ‘mimicry’. In his discussion of Caillois’ work, Calvin Ashmore observes:
Mimicry is about developing and participating in an imaginary universe. … Mimicry is about becoming another, to participate within this illusory world. Mimicry is about becoming another character and behaving as that character, temporarily shedding one’s actual identity. … Human mimicry is found in ritual and performance, as well as in make-believe. The simulated nature of make believe is the essence of spectacle, and lives on in the eyes of the witnesses in addition to the players.
The video puts me in the pavé story and I am confident the young rider will hold off Tom Boonen! It takes me back to my first racing bike and gears (1963).
