Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Tomorrow the Tour teams will be presented

I have a scrapbook in which I create a page for each of our wedding anniversaries. It's fun because really only one picture of us, to see how time and living with each other damage us, is all that is necessary, so I get to really whack out on the creativity. (If you know me well, feel free to chuckle now.) Anyway, I did years 1 and 2 but haven't done any since then. This year's anniversary passed a couple of weeks ago amid a flurry of photographic activity because I was determined not to let another anniversary pass without a page in our anniversary album for it. At this point, we can't even remember what we did for our anniversary the past two years - neither of us can remember, and that's saying a lot for Mr. "I Remember The Date We First Did 'X' Activity Together" for every single activity we've ever done together. See how important a special anniversary scrapbook is? It'll help you remember all of those fancy dinners at restaurants you never otherwise visit. Or at least that's our life.



Anyway, this post is supposed to be about Le Tour, according to the title. So Andy was searching through my old blog posts to find out what we did the past two June 16ths. Alas, I mentioned it was our anniversary but said nothing else. He told me to get with the program and write what we did because he is getting old and can't remember much. Maybe he didn't say that.



In searching through previous summers' blog entries, Andy was heard to exclaim, "Sheesh, you really ARE obsessed with the Tour - every year!" My excuse is hey, it happens every year, how much more often do you want me to obsess??



Tomorrow is the presentation of the teams. It's the official start of the Tour although they don't ride until the Prologue on Sat, July 1st. It'll be a fun and crazy tour by my estimate. Not only is the winners podium pretty wide-open this year without Lance Armstrong, but there has been a way huge doping scandal that is ramping up in the press as more information leaks out before the case goes to court. If it goes to court during the Tour, who knows what might happen? If it stays only in the press, it will definitely get top billing among news of who attacked, who was dropped and who won each day.



My picks for this years podium? Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Floyd Landis. I was going to say that they're in no particular order but the more I think about it, the more I realize that's how I think it will shake out when everyone rides into Paris at the end of the show.



This year I will miss the Team Time Trial which provides some of the most spectacular bicycle racing viewing around and the photos the professionals take of the TTT are pure artistry in photography and subject matter.



Vive le Tour and may you all find yourselves inexplicably glued to the TV whenever you click by Outdoor Life Network's coverage of this year's 3-week ride across the plains, bridges and mountains of Europe.

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