Steve Tilford

The last couple days at the Tour have been pretty great racing. Yesterday, I was watching on NBC Sports and Phil kept saying that this was so unexpected. That it was a flat stage and that it should have been a group sprint. I was thinking that Phil had been watching way too much old Tour de France TV.

One part of the drugs leaving the sport of cycling is that the racing will get more exciting. Top GC contenders will have bad days, which include bad luck in Alejandro Valverde’s case, and the top of the GC order will switch around much more.

When it is flat and windy, then the field should shatter. It shatters, in those conditions, in all the races I’m in, why wouldn’t it shatter in the Tour with a ton of guys with super tired legs. It should. As all the oxygen vector type drugs leave the sport, then the recovery from the previous days efforts is going to be much slower, so there will way more diversity in abilities in the field.

Today was great too. Exciting racing at the front. Talansky moving up 7 minutes in GC isn’t something to be ignored. That should move him close to the top ten in overall GC.

Anyway, the mountains start again tomorrow. I think that there are going to be many unexpected results the next few day. As an informed spectator, that a lot of what makes cycling attractive. It should be great to watch.

Mark Cavendish and his team rode a near picture perfect race. Leaving Sagan in the front with 400 meters to go was beautiful. They deserved the victory.

I received a great present from my friend Stacie this week. My very own medical bag. Like an official, super nice, leather medical, completely stocked with most everything I’d ever need for a minor medical emergency, ie gash-type emergencies.

And plus, last night Stacie gave me a personal lesson on suturing. I have a bunch of new ways of tying the knots. My favorite is the double loop knot. That isn’t the right phrase for it, but it is a very slick way to tie off a stitch.

Stacie is very generous with presents. She sent Dennis a Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat after he saved his dog Ella as she was getting mauled by a black bear a few years ago. I’ve never seen Dennis carry the bat in the woods, but he admitted that for the first couple weeks after receiving the bat, he did his walk in the woods with it. Kind of like being in the ‘hood I guess.

Anyway, there was a house full here last night. Steve Mryland and he son Tommy, from Madison, were in the simple living lodge, Yuriy, czar of CXC Ski Team, was in the house and Catherine made a surprise appearance and is hanging with Bill and I in the Kansas Garage. So, the seating to watch today’s Tour stage was in high demand, considering that Bromont, Mena, and Hawkeye all have their favorite couch, chair slots claimed early.

Okay, going MTB riding again. Yesterday I gave my butt a rest and rode 45 miles on my road bike. Catherine brought a MTB with no air in her tires, so we have to seal them up again. It is a little tricky since they aren’t close to tubeless ready. But when they are all good to go, her bike weights next to nothing.

Okay, have a good day.