That's just bad luck

Last day in the Alps and another crazy day on the Tour. I can't believe team T-mobile's luck. After the first week they had a rookie rider Mark Cavendish drop out. Then a rider on their team took over the yellow jersey on Saturday and things seemed to be looking up. Not so. The next day their Captain Mic Rogers crashed into a guard rail coming down the mountain, another guy next to him went over it and into the trees! Rogers rode on for about 20 kilometers with a separated shoulder until he couldn't go on any more. I felt terrible for him as he broke down just balling his eyes out. You train for 6 months for one race and then you don't even make it to the last week. The same day their rider Stuart O'Grady touched wheels with someone coming down the mountain at about 45 mph. That's a sure way to fracture vertebrae and ribs and puncture your lung. Ouch! But that's not all. They had another rider crash into a spectator. He broke his cheek and the spectator ended up in a coma. By that point I was thinking they just can't catch a break. 3 riders in 1 day Maybe this is all payback for looking the other way all those year's while Jan Ulrich was doping. But then today things just went too far. A dog walked on to the course and riders jerked and weaved out of the way, except for one poor guy, Marcus Burghardt of T-Mobile. He hit a dog! What the heck? That team is cursed.

Once the coverage wrapped up I grabbed the bike and rode for 90 minutes. Yesterday, I lubed the chain back up after the big rain storm. I took it in to the bike shop and got my brakes adjusted. But my bike was still squeaking. I figured out that my seat post was making all the noise. Well, I put off taking that out and wiping it down and today the noise was gone. I guess whatever moisture that was in there evaporated. I rode out to my favorite park. There's a nice short hill there to get the heart pumping. I'd ride it and be all huffing and puffing by the end, then take a lap around the park nice and easy. I'd work on riding with no hands (a skill I'm still trying to master), then I'd head back up the hill. Around and around I went until it was time to head home and get ready for work. Boy was it hot today. I could not get cool. When I got in the shower I just kept turning the knob more and more toward the cold water. It felt great, but Steve told me he heard your body actually tries to heat up when you're in a cold water. Who knew?

I'm going to try to remember to bring my camera with me more on these rides. There's just so much funny stuff I see.