By Colleen Kane
Enquirer staff writer

Lance Armstrong's history-making Tour de France ride spans a total of 23 days, but if you're a Cincinnatian without satellite TV, so far you've been able to witness only two hours of it, plus a news clip here and there.

Local Time Warner Cable does not carry the Outdoor Life Network, the Tour's primary source of coverage. And CBS Sports offers just three one-hour segments of coverage, the last coming from 2-3 p.m. today, the Tour's finale when Armstrong is expected to win his record sixth title.

LANCE

Immerse yourself TV coverage: • Outdoor Life Network: Live - 9 a.m.-noon. Taped - pre-race show, 8:30-9 p.m.; expanded coverage, 9-11:30 p.m. • CBS, 2-3 p.m. • Time Warner Digital Cable, Channel 1000, highlights on demand, free of charge. Read it: Several books on/by Armstrong are available, including: It's not about the Bike: My Journey Back to Life (Armstrong, Jenkins, 2000); Every Second Counts (Armstrong, Jenkins, 2003); Images of a Champion: Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France (Armstrong, Watson, 2004). Bars and bikes: Try Buffalo Wild Wings to catch the Tour. According to Norwood assistant general manager Heather Preffler, her branch's satellite dishes always pick it up. All you have to do is ask. Go to their Web site to find a location. Web casts and more: Visit www.olntv.com/tdf04 and listen live or catch daily videos; go to www.espn.com and click on Tour Tracker; or visit the local store's Web site for live play-by-play coverage. Get involved The Sunflower Revolution • Who: Davis Phinney, one of the winningest cyclists in U.S. history, was the first American to win a road stage of the Tour de France in 1986. He also won a stage in 1987. He'll come to Cincinnati to raise money for his Davis Phinney Foundation, a new fund at the University of Cincinnati's Center for Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders. Other high-profile cyclists also are expected. • What: A fund-raising event Friday and Saturday that organizer Kathy Krumme calls a "celebration of the Tour de France." Friday evening features a dinner/auction - with items such as a bike signed and donated by actor Robin Williams, a cyclist and Lance Armstrong fan - and a concert by Jo Dee Messina. Saturday morning is a 62-mile or 25-mile bike ride. • Where: The Westin Hotel, downtown • Cost: $150 • Go to: Davis Phinney Foundation Web site

But local cycling enthusiasts have found ways to get their Tour and Lance fixes in the past month.

"It's so crazy I can't get it (on local TV)," said Montgomery Cyclery employee Patrick Clark, who watched the Tour last year from his hometown of Atlanta. "What I pay for cable, and I can't get it."

Clark even tried calling the cable company, with no luck. But he views the Tour at work, where he has seen groups of people gather around the TV to watch the broadcast, which the store tapes and replays throughout the day. Cycle Sport, in Loveland, has a customer who tapes the Tour for the store, said employee Brandon Webb. And Oakley Cycles employees listen to coverage on the Internet, said manager Kathy Krumme.

If they're not watching at work, then it's afterward, like Bishop's Bicycles' Andrew Kreyenhagen, who visited a buddy Thursday night to watch the morning's race.

Several Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants also have been reported as showing coverage. Norwood branch assistant general manager Heather Preffler said they've gotten about 10 requests for the Tour, which played on the big screen Friday afternoon as she was interviewed. Viewers also can catch the previous day's highlights on Time Warner Digital Cable's channel 1000 for free.

And if you can't watch Armstrong, you at least can imitate him.

There's no real way to tell if increased bike sales in July correspond with the Tour or the weather, but there's no doubt that Armstrong's cycling gear is popular now. Armstrong's yellow armbands, which benefit the foundation in his name that helps people with cancer, have sold out at area stores.

The U.S. Postal Service jerseys are said to be quick sells. And though buyers eventually might settle on a different bike, Trek, the brand Armstrong rides, is often the first name out of customers' mouths, even at stores such as Bishop's, where they don't carry Trek bikes, said Kreyenhagen, who also owns Armstrong's helmet.

Managers from Borders and Barnes and Noble book stores, which have Tour de France displays and carry up to six books by or about Armstrong, also reported heightened interest in the subject.

Said Krumme, "Anything Lance is selling."