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.
I’m glad I got up and got out for a ride this morning. The weather reports last night were calling for potential rain this morning, but I managed to get in a ride on a lovely Sunday morning, and I haven’t seen any rain yet.
From a statistical standpoint I managed just short of 35 miles at an average of 16.2 mph. I was out for a little over 2 hours. The fastest speed I hit was 32.7 mph. Also, I saw three bunnies in the first half hour.
Now I’m stretching out a little bit and drinking some coffee and watching Stage 9 of the Tour de France. I hope I don’t fall asleep before I can see the end of the stage. I’m feeling a little drowsy, but it’s good.
It’s funny how one day I can go out on a ride and feel strong, feel like even when it hurts it’s okay, feel like I can attack a hill and give it my all. And then there are days like this one.
I don’t know exactly what was going on, but I felt like I had nothing extra in the tank. Every hill was a struggle. I still did my usual ride – about 35 miles and an average speed of 16.5 mph, but it wasn’t as exhilarating as some days. That’s not to say I’m not glad I went. Gotta do the miles, even when the miles are harder to do. Part of the problem may be a lack of rides during the week to keep me in tone. My legs just felt like spaghetti.
On the way back into the development I saw Marcella on the way out for her ride, but about 15 minutes later she was home. She had a very unfortunate asthma attack that cut short her trip. That’s too bad. I don’t think she’d had an attack in a long time so it caught her unprepared. From now on she’ll have to take her inhaler with her.
So now we are watching the final stage of the Tour. It’s mostly a procession at this point. Carlos Sastre has won the yellow jersey, which means he is the overall winner of the race, but there will likely be a sprint to win the final stage and get glory on the Champs Élysées in Paris.
I think I’m glad Sastre won. He’s got a reputation as a nice guy, and even though he was one of the people tipped to be a contender there was still a sense that he was a long-shot. So—well done, Carlos.
Here shortly we’ll break out a baguette and some brie to capture a little bit of the Tour flavor on the final day. It’s a little bit of a tradition that Marcella and I have. In the past we’ve also done strawberries and champagne, but we are keeping things a little simpler this year.
The 2008 Tour de France is now underway. This is the 95th edition of the tour. I’ll likely be posting small updates and comments about the race over the next few weeks. Don’t look for extensive in depth analysis, but just quick thoughts, comments and some of the race results if I think there is something notable to point out.
Today’s stage runs from the town of Brest to Plumelec in western France. It is just under 200 Km of racing with an uphill kick right at the finish. It is a sprint type finish, but maybe not for the guys who specialize in a flat sprint finish. A very strong time-trialer or climber could make a solo break and win the stage. Somebody like a Hincapie or a Cancellara.
Of note here at the beginning of the race—there are two American teams in the race this year. Discovery Channel, the former lone American team no longer exists. But now Team Columbia and Team Garmin-Chipotle have stepped up and both have very interesting teams entered into the race.
