OLN and Cycling...or lack thereof

One of the things that I love to do the most, other than cycling, is watching professional cycling on television. Every year, I can't wait for July to roll around, when the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) brings Canada daily coverage of the Tour de France. For my American readers, what you now know as Versus is still called OLN in Canada.

OLNs coverage of the Tour is fantastic, mostly because they broadcast the Versus feed of the Tour de France, with live race coverage in the mornings and then a shortend taped version of the day's race that same evening. I never miss a stage, much to my family's chagrin. Unfortunately though, that's pretty much where the similarity between Canada's OLN and the US's Versus ends.

While Versus provides its American audience with coverage of many of the high profile stops on the professional cycling tour, the Tour de France is all we get. No Liege-Bastogne. No Fleche Wallone. No Veulta a Espana. Nada. Just the Tour de France. To be honest, I'm not even sure if OLN is carrying the tour in Canada in 2009. A quick visit to the OLN website, and all I can find is a brief report on the 2008 tour. There's nothing in their schedule to indicate any planned coverage of this year's race.

OLN does however now show 'Dog The Bounty Hunter'. Now there's a show that just screams outdoor life. I guess because Dog and his posse of nitwits spend most of their time chasing criminals through backyards and down the street, that counts as outdoor activity. Anyway, I digress.

I just can't help be curious as to why OLN doesn't carry more of Versus' cycling feeds. I think I'll email OLN and ask that very question. In fact, if we all emailed them, maybe they'd at least think about carrying more cycling events (and hopefully less 'Dog'). If you'd like to help out, you can email them at info@oln.ca.