Cofidis

While I would not consider myself one of the World's greatest sports fans, there are one or two sports and sports events that I enjoy watching. One of these is that annual en masse outing of masochist cyclists - the Tour De France. One of the most gruelling sports events on the planet, and one that can only be won as a team. Sure, one bloke walks (or perhaps limps) away with the Yellow Jersey - but he couldn't do it without a team - and teams cost a lot of money, which means sponsorship.

The company behind the sim I want to mention today, Cofidis, I only know through its cycling sponsorship. Cofidis was founded in France in 1982, offering the concept of credit by telephone. Its website tells us it now offers a "complete range of consumer credit products including revolving credit, instalment loans, COFIDIS credit cards and Internet payment solutions." But in addition to this they take great pride in their cycling team, whose calendar for 2008 already looks quite packed.

They opened their sim in mid-2007 (so this is hardly a scoop then) or so the company history tells me. I found it by accident - and found it to be still decked out in its Winter/Christmas togs ... snow, igloos, Santa hats. With Easter not so far off, they should perhaps call in their builders to get it ready for Springtime!

The sim, aside from a link to the company website, contain little or no information about the company. Instead it focuses on the cycling team. There is a track (with a shortcut to create a sprint track) that goes round the island. You can help yourself to a freebie pack of cycling clothes, if you fancy the rub of red lycra! And you can rez a bike to race around the island. Beyond that, there's not a lot else. A relaxed open-air meeting area, a marquee with more formal seating and a dance floor. Here's a few snaps - too few to make it worthwhile loading through Flickr:



There is little to get excited about here. The build is OK, the ideas are not exactly inspired and there seems no sense of ongoing community. Maybe more will come when they get around to defrosting the sim.