Tour de France

What a great shot   of Andy Schleck going up the Col Du Golibeir! The Tour de France, which I first got into when Lance was reigning supreme, has slowly slipped into an annual routine, and with the great battles this year between the Schleck Brothers, Evans (the winner), and Cantador, it was truly amazing.

But what I've grown to like, like a favourite annual meal are the following things:

*The fluid synchronicity of the team time trials
*Those chaotic mad dash sprint finishes
*The scenery of castles, country roads, mountains, villages, and of course, the peloton racing through a field of sunflowers
*The way some of the cyclists, especially Alberto Cantador, dance on their peddles going up the switchbacks (21 one of them on the Alp De Huez).
*All those cycling fans, even the ones in their underwear (here - it is hard to find just one).
*The little cars with Big Logos
*Those crazy cameraman motorcycles
*The endless footage of a lone cyclist turning the cranks on a breakaway -says it all really.



The whole event is truly a celebration of cycling, nothing else captures the spirit so well.

A bridge

The car has now become an extended part of our offices. We barely keep our eyes on the road as we tend to our digital distractions. I pass over this bridge almost daily, barely noticing it. On the bike, the perspective changes.

Memories

I always feel younger on the bike. Maybe its because of memories deep down from that first bike I got. It didn't take long to go from the comfort of our driveaway to exploring the streets, neighborhood and world beyond. My journeys would get longer and longer each day. In the age before cell phones, my parents would worry about me. I lost track of time on the bike. Always excited about what the next street had in store for me. Or how far I could go and still be back in time for dinner. While now I lust after Treks, and Specialized, and Cervelo, back then, it was huffies, schwinns, and mongooses. If you had a mongoose, you were the coolest kid on the block. I'm alot older than that kid now, but not much has changed with that bike ride - I still try to make it back before my family at home worries, and I can't wait to tell my friends about what I saw.

Lonely Winter Ride

I will never race. I ride against myself, trying to improve my own enjoyment of being out there on two wheels. I'm growing older, but I want to go stronger, so I push those pedals round and round. Sometimes I spin, trying to remember to drag those cleats backwards, but mostly I push.



At 10 degrees, and the lake frozen, there are few others out here today. It is definately a road less traveled by. The reward of a hot shower and a steaming cup of coffee is all that is needed today.


The pace was slow, but that allowed me to take in the scenery. And if you slow things down, and pause to take a look, you can see that sometimes, you're not alone.