Anyone Watching the Tour de France?

Thanks for the Tour info - will have to tune in. Years ago we were in Paris during the Tour. We didn't know it was going on (since we couldn't read the French papers or hear any news) until we hit the streets and could not get back to the hotel for all the blocked roads and people jammed in for miles. It took hours to find a way around the madness via the metro, and to figure out what the heck was going on! Quite an event...

Yes, July is couch time even in sowal... I'm ready for summer hibernation and good movies.

Mermaid is lying. She is not at her house watching this. She and Merman are competing this year- first husband and wife team!! Go Mers!!!

Mermaid is lying. She is not at her house watching this. She and Merman are competing this year- first husband and wife team!! Go Mers!!!

They probably could!

I bet we won't be able to actually pick them out...they will be a blur. Go Merpeople!

Not watching...I was a big fan of the Tour de Lance though.

I'm back following again this year, and looking forward to coverage of other riders than Lance. Can't wait until they get into the mountains. The mad dash to the finish in the flat stages is fun to watch for the last minute, but those mountain stages are always a much longer story with such great scenery.

Thanks for the Tour info - will have to tune in. Years ago we were in Paris during the Tour. We didn't know it was going on (since we couldn't read the French papers or hear any news) until we hit the streets and could not get back to the hotel for all the blocked roads and people jammed in for miles. It took hours to find a way around the madness via the metro, and to figure out what the heck was going on! Quite an event...

Yes, July is couch time even in sowal... I'm ready for summer hibernation and good movies.

Tootsie, I live in eternal jealousy that you were in Paris while the Tour de France was on!! One of these days that's what we're going to do. In the meantime, we're staying glued to OLN TV to see the latest in the race. We're total tour junkies. :roll:

Hey Mermaid- you need to update those of us not in the loop (wheel! Tire! get it? Har har har). Who are we cheering for- anybody in particular stand out?? We can have SoWal cheering section for the Tour!

We were in Obernai for the start of the second stage. A very nice Frenchwoman invited us to watch from the comfort of her apartment.
I will post photos when I recover from jetlag.

Dave Zabriskie is podcasting about life as a pro cyclist

http://www.davezabriskie.missingsaddle.com/

Reportedly his sense of humor doesn't always translate well, and the Italian press really doesn't get him but how can you not love a guy who will ride up to guys in the peleton and ask them if they have Liquigas, and who will serenade Floyd Landis with Shakira's 'My hips don't lie' when word got out to the press that Floyd needs hip replacement surgery at the end of the season.

Dave Zabriskie is podcasting about life as a pro cyclist

http://www.davezabriskie.missingsaddle.com/

Reportedly his sense of humor doesn't always translate well, and the Italian press really doesn't get him but how can you not love a guy who will ride up to guys in the peleton and ask them if they have Liquigas, and who will serenade Floyd Landis with Shakira's 'My hips don't lie' when word got out to the press that Floyd needs hip replacement surgery at the end of the season.

I love Dave Zabriskie! He's on my signature line. I think he's a hoot. Today the riders are resting and I'm having Tour withdrawals. I bought two 2 TdeF water bottles for my bike and my husband's; I'm a total fanatic every time July rolls around. (Speaking of which, Bob Roll is pretty funny too.) I even rode my bike today in 97 degree heat...hopeless hopeless hopeless every July....

Thank you, Beachmouse and Mermaid, for sharing the Zabriskie love.

Landis Tests Positive.....Uh Oh!!!!

LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site.

The statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

And the statement came just four days after Landis stood on the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees, succeeding seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as an American winner in Paris.

The Swiss-based Phonak team said it was notified by the UCI on Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday.

Landis made a remarkable comeback in that Alpine stage, racing far ahead of the field for a solo win that moved him from 11th to third in the overall standings. He regained the leader's yellow jersey two days later.

Landis rode the Tour with a degenerative hip condition that he has said will require surgery in the coming weeks or months.

Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win."

"I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are," she said in a phone interview from her home in Farmersville, Pa. "I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me."

Phonak said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup "B" sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake."

"The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result," the Phonak statement said.

Landis has been suspended by his team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired from the team, Phonak said.

Landis wrapped up his Tour de France win on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and allegations, won the previous seven. Armstrong never has tested positive for drugs and vehemently has denied doping.

Speculation that Landis had tested positive spread earlier Thursday after he failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday. A day earlier, he missed a scheduled event in the Netherlands.

On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders -- including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso -- were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

The names of Ullrich and Basso turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who's at the center of the Spanish doping probe.

Yes, I saw that about TdeF winner Floyd Landis testing positive. I think he's innocent. This is what I pulled up from a news article on the web:

"Landis had astonished the cycling world by bouncing back to win the 17th stage, driving himself to the point of collapse despite the constant pain he suffers from a hip condition. Some experts suggest that the positive test may have been the result of the extraordinary stresses that his body experienced during that epic ride."

It seems totally out of character for Landis to be involved in blood doping. The next results will show the truth. He's taking another test even though it isn't required, which is a good idea seeing that the drug tests are hair-trigger sensitive. Even something as benign as aspirin can lead to a false positive. I can't imagine Landis would throw away a victory and endure a lifetime of shame for doping. Although the whole thing is very sad; look how Lance Armstrong was dogged for years with drug accusations that were untrue and unfair.