Sunday, July 06, 2008

Tour de France 2008 - Day 2

Greetings Readers

Today - is the first Sunday that Colorado is allowing Alcohol sales. I promised my local liquor store that I would stop in. I did tell them that I will not shop on any Sunday when it becomes legal to buy Alcohol on Sunday from a liquor store, but will stop on the first official Sunday it becomes legal. I am all for Alcohol, but I think that the non-selling of alcohol on Sunday has been good. I think, that would should have kept Sunday as non-alcohol sales (except for 3.2 beer at the grocery store and convenience stores). Again, this is just my opinion. So, as of July 1, 2008 it is legal for Liquor Stores to be open and sell Alcohol.

And it was a pretty good Wimbledon I have to admit. Though betting wise - I lost my pants and then some. Pretty fucking ugly. Since my co-worker knew that there was going to be a Williams all final I asked him who he thought was going to win. He said Serena. I immediately replied - Venus. And it was on like Donkey Kong. Well, I guess it really did not matter since I was already in the hole and one more bet was not going make or break me.

So, this is day two of the Tour de France and sure enough Phil can not help to reference L.A. any chance that he could. In the end - it was the "God of Thunder" who came in first for the stage win! I would like a nickname like that - "God of Thunder." And that is the "The God of Thunder" pictured on today's post.

The stage was pretty uneventful. I set the tape to record so I could go out biking in the morning, due to forecast rain later in the day. Also, I felt I needed to go out and ride while every other biker that had to watch the tour, which put less people out at Cherry Creek State Park. I did not get to watch the entire program, but I was able to watch the last part of the Tour when I got in from riding close to noon.

As I mentioned I headed out to Cherry Creek Reservoir. I took the chance that every bike rider was going to be watching day 2 of the tour - Live - which means less serious riders at Cherry Creek State Park. Sure enough hardly any hard core riders, such as myself doing laps in the State Park. I had four packets of Orange GU and two water bottles for the ride. Though, I was unsure of what distance I was going to ride. I want to do an inside the park century, but then I did not really want to see the same course nine times over. So, I kept my mileage close to 40 miles under 2 hours and pretty darn happy with the results.

I kept a pretty darn good low pedalling cadence at the speed of 21 mph. I did really good out riding and keeping to a strict GU and water intake every 35 minutes and 15 minutes. Nothing really to comment about the ride itself. Except for the last lap I did and one of the last small hill climbs.

I was passed shortly after reaching the loop on the Northwest side of Cherry Creek State Park. I saw the guy pass me by pedalling away in a hard gear. Me, I was in my hard gear, but kept the speed to about 20 mph. He soon was approaching the hill and I then spotted him shifting to an easier gear. Basically, I saw his pedalling get faster, which means he shifted from his hardest gear to an easier gear.

Oh you know it readers. He was going to be "F'd in the A" - "on Saturday" as my favorite little Southpark Character would say. I was about 40 yards when I saw this. I immediately got my pedal strokes moving and I soon saw he dropped another gear to make it easier for him on the hill. The, next thing I know I pretended to be the Stage 1 winner and sprint to the finish on a hill climb. I pushed my legs to the maximum output and I literally shot past that rider who passed me on the flats. And I do not mean just passed him, I was there for an eye blink and when I passed him. Then, I reached deep down and pedalled even stronger. I passed two more riders, casual riders, and I literally did not even get to see who they were since I was going so fast uphill. I am sure they thought to themselves, as my old ex-co-worker would say "Just so awesome." Or maybe "wow." =)

I crested the hill and 20 yards later I looked behind me and the road median was clear. I showed no one and anyone that day who owned that particular hill climb. Actually, this matters to no one except to me. I was challenged and I challenged right back.

Update 07/07/08 - I forgot to mention - the total of the ride on Sunday was just half a century - clocking in at 51.54 miles. Ok, I guess.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

No comments: