Col du Galibier kicked my ass

I rode from Valloire up to the top of the Galibier on Monday. I have never felt so crappy on the bike in my life.

Chalk it up to a number of negatives, all coming together at the same time. Ugh. Click here to read the full story on Pez.

But...after that ride, I have a whole new relationship with pain. My peeps better watch out.

Au revoir, le Tour de France

I've been a bit lax on the postings in the past couple of weeks, due mostly to the fact that I've been up to my neck in bikes, long drives, little sleep, no food, hot sun and drunken Euro-fans...and I've loved every minute of it.

If you want to catch-up on the latest adventures, check out my postings on Pez. I'm off to Nice, France for a couple days of R&R, then back home via London...and back to reality. Or whatever passes for reality in Marin County.

On the podium at the Tour de France?

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a whole bunch of the girls who present the various jerseys to the daily winners on the Tour de France podium.

The good news...they are very cute, and incredibly nice. The bad news...none of them are Rhodes scholars.

But...they are willing to play along.

Check out my Pez story on all the podium popsies, here.

The beauty of le Tour

Forget the dopers, and the crashing, and all the weasels with the money that dictate the rules and regulations. This is still a beautiful sport. The shot above is from today in Diksmuide, Belgium.

Absolute poetry.

Making a deal with the Devil

Greetings from the Tour de France!

Y'all can write your own caption to this one.

Vive le Tour...vive la France!

I'm off to Europe today to follow the Tour de France. First to London, then into Belgium, through France, all the way to the stage finish in Briancon. Watch for my reports on Pez, starting Monday July 9th.

It's going to be a bit of a sad, interesting Tour this year. With the looming cloud of continuing doping suspensions hanging over the race, there's no telling what the actual competition will be like. Personally, I think it will come down to a battle between the Astana boys, Vino and Kloeden. They'll probably end up attacking each other. Fine by me.

But...I'm secretly hoping that the suspensions will see more riders booted from the race. Why? Well, I figure that if the suspensions reach deep enough into the peleton, I've got a shot! I'm taking my helmet and my pedals with me, just in case!

Yeah, that'll happen.