Tour de France

Is anybody paying attention to this?  It's not a sport I'm a particular fan of, but I think Lance Armstrong is one of the most amazing men ever, so the last few years I've been keeping an eye out.

Frankly, I think they added cobblestones to the route this year to mess with him.  (That could sound like I'm kidding, but I'm not.   I really think they're out to get him.)

this household is following it...Tom's favorite yearly sport...  Armstrong is in 5th place as of last night...  Tom says his real strength is in the mountains... and he is only 1. some minutes behind the leader.

there was an accident yesterday and one of the favorites lost a lot of points...but not sure who it was.

Surprisingly, I really enjoy it.  I'm not big into sports, but I watched it for the first time last year and had a hard time switching it off.  Have been watching it a bit and hopefully will follow it through the end.  I don't know much/anything about it really, but I seem to have a natural interest in it and will be watching.

I was watching a report about this before, and I had a very silly thought.  I realize this is quite a blond question, but...do they get to sleep at night?  Or do they just keep riding their bikes the whole time?

no, they sleep at night...they go a certain length each day...tom says it will be about 3 weeks til finished...

btw, Armstong is now in first place after the trial runs yesterday...the US Postal team came in first place from the trial times...and it rained the whole day... very excellent.  Armstrong is wearing the yellow shirt today...not sure what it means...but suppose to be special shirt for top dog of the day...  many different shirts, many different reasons.

I think the yellow shirt means first place, but I could be wrong.  I also think read before that some of Armstrong's teammates are there specifically to flank him and make sure nobody injures him.  Apparently TdeF can get pretty violent.

Ooooh I hope he wins again!!!

after yesterdays heat...armstrong went back to sixth place...and had to hand over the yellow shirt...  but, there is a long way to go yet...

the weather was horrible there yesterday and we saw the recap of 2 very bad collisions within the peloton...  the breakaway group was of 5 guys...and they were 12 minutes ahead of the peloton...  armstrong was in the lead group of peloton...

Tom was explaining to me that each team has different areas of expertise...  some in team are the stars, which would represent Armstrong...other members would be the sprinters, those that can take off fast near the end...and workers, which are the guys that try to keep others behind...they gather the water for team mates... etc etc.  and some are best for climbing...with each team member, they all work together to accomodate the rider that is best in each area...and all normally protect the star any way possible.

I find having Tom describe all the different tactics and movements of the bikers makes me enjoy watching it so much more...I never had any idea there was so much involved in these races...purtty cool!

Did you see that huge pile-up today at the 1km mark?  Scary stuff..

oh yea, we just finished with todays recap...nasty nasty accident...one guy broke 3 ribs and his nose and another flew over his handlebars and landed on his head....  many including armstong were in this pileup....dang it!

GO LANCE!!!  Woo-HOO!!!!


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040717/ap_on_sp_ot/cyc_tour_de_france&cid=547&ncid=716

I just got finished watching yesterdays race!!! Fun stuff!!!

yea, armstong is in 2nd place now...may of his contenders have left the race after the mountain climb in the pennines...  they have a day off today and in the alps the next 2 days... 

if armstrong is gonna win, he must do it in the alps...  he has a new strong contender that has been right with him in the finish of both days in the pennines...  basso

Lance has taken 1st place now... he pulled out ahead in the last few moments, sprinting like a bat out of hell... lets hope he keeps it... Basso is keeping up with him and I smell a good competition til the end this weekend...  today is time trials up in the alps...  US postal came in first last time...hope they can do it again...

and he is doing just that...he came in first place again yesterday....yeeeehaaaa!

Stupid Germans.  They're just jealous.  When's the last time they produced a man like Lance?