Le Tour de France

One of the best things I have done recently is to bike to work. An eight mile round trip has lead to a new me. I have lost 15 pounds with out trying to diet to hard and my legs are getting strong. It is one of the highlites of my day. Not to mention the money I have saved on gas.

Since I am biking (and planning to do more so on my days off soon)I started watching this year's Tour de France. Wow I have come to love this sport. First off is the physical aspect. I know how hard a hill can be on me and how I feel after a short ride. These guys go 100 miles or more a day, up mountains! To watch the agony and the pain as the riders climb, WOW! Then they get up the next morning and do it again! Also watching the strategies unfold as a stage progresses is fascinating. There are teams of riders and each rider has a job, whether it is to fetch water bottles from the team car for the other team riders, or lead a break away to force other teams to ride harder than they want is riveting. There is also the danger of crashing as I saw today on stage 14 when three riders out of a six man breakaway crashed and two of the riders went over a guard rail! These bikes can hit over 50 mph on down hill sections! Next Sunday the tour will end in Paris and I hope that American Floyd Landis can pull off the victory!