Way to go Garmin Chipotle!

Today's Tour finish to me was one for the ages for several reasons. The Breakaway lasted, Will Frischkorn of Garmin Chipotle took off at the start (2km) and lasted till the end, and that absolutely UGLY sprint reminded me of myself!

You just knew the first three riders were all deathly afraid of the sprint by the way they attacked and attacked in the last 3k. Samuel Dumoulin won the "sprint" eventually, but all anyone really saw was three suffering guys pedaling squares for what seemed like eternity. I believe Will could've had the win if he started his "sprint" earlier. Samuel was dying fast out there.

3rd place finisher Romain Feillu took the Yellow Jersey away from Valverde, at least for today. I bet he's walking on air right now.

The Power of Marketing at the Tour.

There is no doubt that product placement in events like the Tour de France work. You want proof? My sister-in-law in France just called up my wife yesterday after watching stage two (The race happens to be taking place in her neighborhood). Now she wants a set of spiffy shades like the guys wear at the tour. I'm not sure if she even knows how to ride a bike, but the Oakley's are cool. We'll keep an eye out for a sale on them Sis.

Oh, by the way, way to go Pierre on the commuting to work! There aren't many better ways to start your day. That hellish Brittany wind looks like it'll be a workout for you.

A Ride in the Country.

The last day of vacation, hmmm.

What a vacation right? I get two great days of riding in then a week of robot walking with some weird neck injury. I'm not gonna complain too much though. Time off work with no plans is a great vacation in my book. I did have to promise to make it up to Huey with a "proper" vacation later in the year some time. Hope she finds it in her heart to forgive me. Anyway, my neck feels great now. Just in time to head back to work. Yippee.

Last day. So what do I do? After watching the tour on the computer I went for a ride of course. It must've rained just before I left home because I got soaking wet out there on the road. Today's ride was hills, hills, and more hills. The hills north of Baltimore aren't long, but they make up for it somewhat in steepness and quantity. It's all up and down around here if you know where to look. So I did 2.5 hours in the hills.

Last day.

Thor "The Tongue" Hushvold!

One of these days a rider is going to hit a pothole in the road in this state and they'll be searching for his tongue for a week. It was another crazy finish at the tour today with Thor AKA "The Tongue" taking the sprint.

Valverde!

I got to watch only a small portion of today's first stage of the tour but it sounds like Valverde could be the man to beat. He came out of nowhere to take the first stage.

My First Day Back Riding: Today's ride was about getting back in the saddle and testing the waters after my freak neck injury last week. I had to take 5 days straight off the bike so today would be a bit of a crap shoot. I felt pretty good actually except for some pretty dead feeling legs. I did 2 hours fairly easy with a couple harder uphill runs. I saw a lot of other riders out there which is always nice. I'm slowly going to ease back into my routine and hope to schedule some races in July and August. We'll see how it goes. I may even try to find a 3/4 race to see how they feel compared to the 4/5 races I've been doing.

Fresh Start.

Tomorrow I Ride!

My neck is just about 100% on this July 4th. Amazing how just a few days ago I was in pure Hell. Tomorrow I start riding again. Yippeeeeee!

Thanks Al Gore.

I'm having my morning coffee right now on this July 4th and am thinking of all the ways I'm grateful for the USA. As far as I know, it's the best country on earth for a complete idiot the average Joe to make something of himself and live pretty comfortably doing what he "wants" to do rather than what he "has" to do. Going all the way to the top sometimes, changing the world even. Whether it's throwing a little round ball through a hoop, dropping out of school and starting a computer company, or even making up stories about drowning polar bears and getting enough sheep to listen. It's just wonderful! I mean that.

Alright, to bring this post around to cycling. I have to give a special thanks to Al Gore for creating the internet. You see, back when I was a kid falling in love with bicycle racing for the first time, getting news on European bicycle racing was about as hard to come by as Chinese food in Fargo, North Dakota. It just didn't happen. That is, until my mom drove me to Radio Shack with the money I earned working on my Uncle's dairy farm bailing hay. I picked up a spiffy new shortwave radio for one reason, to listen for Tour de France updates!

Every night I would tune into the BBC world sporting news update at 6:45pm to hear the results from the tour and other big races throughout Europe. I remember thinking that if I could just learn French, I bet I could listen to it live on that little radio also.

Fast-Forward to today with Satellite TV and Internet streaming races live from points all over the world right into my living room. Think about that for a minute, compared to just a few short years ago where we've come.

Thank you America. Thank you Al Gore!

Jimi Doin It.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy July 4th everyone!

Freak'n Broken Neck Update.

I took this week off work and this is what I get. Damn!

It's been 3 days of no riding now with Excruciating neck pain. Can't Walk, Can't Turn, Can't Lay Down, Can't Sleep, Can barely open my mouth to eat,... I say barely, because I'm eating like a pig. Ice Cream, Beer, You name it.

Today I'm finally getting a bit better I think. I can stand up and sit down without help. I even laid down a bit earlier with not much discomfort. This Totally Sucks. My brother Dan thinks it's Stress related. I think it's just some weird freak training accident that happened while out riding. I did pretty well over 100 miles on the weekend.

Anyway, I think I turned the corner. A couple more days of no riding and taking it totally easy and I'm hoping it'll work itself out. I haven't had any real time off the bike since January so I doubt it's doing much damage to my riding. It could even be helping at this point in the season. We'll see.