Now Playing: Dawn and Drew Show
Topic: Physical Well Being
A rest day on the Tour de France after the Hincapie win. Excellent day of racing and it was heartwarming to see the loyal Hincapie win his first stage after six plus years of working for Lance. Those two had been friends since they were 14 and 16 years old and you know it's just nice to see. The Austrian who won the day before hadn't won before either and he cried at the end of the race. He had gone wire to wire in the lead and when the race was over he could not even stand up. Every ounce of the energy he had went into that race and at the end he was completely spent. Amazing effort for him. Amazing effort for Hincapie the next day as well. Hincapie was part of a 14 man break that was about 20 minutes ahead and riders kept falling off the end but not Hincapie. He was at the front initially to be there to help Lance if and when he came to the front. Lance and his main rivals didn't get that far so Hincapie was allowed to work for himself and won in a sprint at the end. Did I mention monster mountains? Just amazing. Joyous.
Went out and biked today, 20 miles worth. Very relaxing and an opportunity for bike zen for the first half. After that I looked up and saw a big old thunderhead sneaking up. Yikes. I turned myself around and just pounded 4 miles on a high gear. And you know, that cold rush of air came over. The leading edge of a storm is a windy, cold thing. It was awesome, the trees bent over and then they were crushed again by the next wave of cold air. I was doomed. Darkness was suddenly there and so was the rain. Lord it came down. I tried to hide under some trees for a while and felt completely cut off from the world. Annoyed and getting wetter by the minute I figured it wasn't going to stop any time soon. I started hearing limbs of trees snapping off and flying through the air. Wow, a mini tornado or wind shear. Waited a minute for that big wind to die down a bit then said to heck with it and started back down the path. I heard a sound like someone ripping dry papers over some loud speakers. Figured that was a power line coming down and it was just sizzling. Yikes again. Dodging felled tree branches, big ones, and being pelted by rain I eventually quit feeling sorry for myself and just pedaled away. When I got right in my head over it I wasn't cold and miserable any longer and was just pedaling. It was great. Saw bikers hiding under trees and being miserable and I just smiled and waved as I went by. Reminded me of another time when I remember running in the pouring rain and I realize I've only ever had great moments out in the rain. All good.
The last thing of course, I'm listening to the Dawn and Drew Show, a podcast. It's grown on me and it's fun to listen to. That and TWIT, diggcast and Chris Pirillo are the ones I listen to. It's always fun to listen to others and to look for interesting and fun efforts.
Posted by gilbert davis
at 12:15 AM EDT
