I was up and out fairly early this morning for a ride. I wanted to get back in time to finish watching the final stage of the Tour de France, and I did.

The ride was good. I managed a little over 36 miles at about 16.2 mph and ascended close to 1500 feet of overall climbing. Weather was warm, but not too hot.

Today, on the ride, I saw a box turtle debating whether to cross the road, and I saw a fox run into an empty, weed-overgrown lot carrying something in its jaws, and there were a good many horses and donkeys in pasture.

As for the Tour, I was glad to see Alberto Contador wrap up the race in the yellow jersey. He had been my pick all along. I’m also pretty amazed at Mark Cavendish and the Columbia-HTC team. They have just dominated the sprinting at this Tour. I think much of Cavendish’s success is due to his leadout and Mark Renshaw in particular is just setting him up to perfection.

All in all it was a good race, and I find it strange to think that there hasn’t been a single doping controversy this year…so far—there is always the chance a test result will come back in the week after the race. Armstrong generated the usual controversy and attention, and that is to be expected. Overall it is good for the sport. It gets eyeballs watching the race that might not tune in otherwise.

There is a part of me that is glad that it is done now. As much as I love it—for three weeks I don’t accomplish much of anything except watch the daily stage and talk about the next day and what it holds. Now I can get back to a semblance of normalcy, and perhaps get in a little more time on my own bike.