Australia's got pure gold in the Tour de France with Robbie McEwen. Wearing green and *sailing* ahead of the pack to his 3rd stage win a few minutes ago, he was flying and obviously having a grand time.
Tom Boonen still in yellow, how much longer will that last? (Not past the first mountain stage, that's for sure!)
Hi Blackrose, I am following the Tour also, but not as knowledgeable as you are. Really enjoy your comments. Anna Belle in Palm Bay-getting ready to head to Boston while DS rides the 7 day ride for Diabetes support.
I would *love* to ride for cancer or cancer research support. This year is completely shot by my hip injury (dingummit!) but I'll try again -- every year except this year I've started stronger and gotten faster. I'm a small rider and good climber -- but pure speed scares me so I find fast descents hair-raising. Earlier this year a local cyclist was found mostly unconscious at the bottom of a hill. I never heard what happened exactly but everybody's guess is that something happened to lose him control on the descent. That's my nightmare.
Tood (DS) seems to like speed but has a hard time getting any except in the hills. This ride will take him through all terrains. He has done the Diabetes ride twice before, but each year gets harder, after all my baby is 49 years old now. Last year when we went up to dog sit he had the channel that broadcast the Tour live. Quite a treat, I really got hooked and even understood most of what they said! Going to be really interesting from now on in the time trials and hills without Lance. Hope the American team can hold it together. Anna Belle
Never underestimate the pure endurance value of putting miles in your legs. There are people in my cycling club in their mid-seventies who go on demanding 3 week tours. They ride us middle-aged types into the ground. It's amazing.
The obvious solution to that is a VCR, but if you had one you'd probably be using it. Do you get OLN TV down there? They repeat the Tour coverage several times and then have expanded coverage that would be mid-morning in Australia if broadcast at the same time as US east.
The BIG news that just broke yesterday is that US rider Floyd Landis is riding with a dead hip. The bone is actually dead now after that bad break in 2003 damaged the blood flow to the bone, and he'll be having hip replacement surgery after the Tour is over.
Whether or not he can come back from that is an open question. No one has tried to get back to the pro tour level of the sport after hip replacement surgery, so no one knows if it's possible. It will certainly be difficult, if he plans on trying.
Goodness riding the Tour *with* a **dead** hip??? my mind cannot wrap itself around that. the tour is one if the toughest races around and he must be
*very* dedicated to be able to do this!
Yep. The bone is actually dead now. Can you imagine the courage to live with that, and not only live with it but to win 3 major races on the pro tour this year with it? From what I've heard, he's in more pain off the bike than on it. Before this bombshell announcement, he'd been criticized for strutting after getting off the bike, but his surgeon commented on comera that it's actually a limp. Things are not always as they appear, eh?
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