I’ve never understood why people ride to the end of the race and don’t sprint at the finish. Especially during a stage race day after day. By this, I mean riders that have an ability to sprint in a situation that suits them. I don’t think that Cadel and Wiggins need to mix it up with Cavendish and Co. at the end of a field sprint. I mean stages were small groups are coming in for places 1-10. I truly understand the whole idea of trying conserve energy in a Grand Tour, but come on, one sprint/jump after 6 hours, when you’ve already done a ton of jumping and covering moves, can’t take that much energy. The mental fun of sprinting has to offset the small physical exertion. And why not try to win a little money too. Each day there’s €8,000 for the stage winner, €4,000 for second place and a decreasing scale down to €200 for 20th place. (Here’s a link to the complete prize breakdown.) So, you get about $250 to roll across the line in 20th. Nothing special, but it’s something.

I rode the British Milk race on a pretty star studded team the first year. It was Andy Hampsten, Alexi Grewal, Chris Carmichael, Steve Speaks, Matt Eaton and myself. Andy went on to win the Giro, the Alpe d’Huez stage of the Tour and lots of other races. Matt won the race that year. Alexi won the Olympic games. We all know Chris Carmichael. Anyway, a lot of the stages finished in sprints. Not all field sprints, but some sprints of small groups of less than 15 or 20. I finished 2nd on a couple stages that year and finished in the top 10 lots of times.

It completely amazed me when we were sprinting, I couldn’t believe how perfectly positioned that Alexi was each and every sprint up until the last 300 meters and then he just pulled the plug. If I could have started the sprints where Alexi was, when I needed to sprint, I would have won a couple stages at least. And Alexi was fast. Not many people knew that, but I’d been riding with Alexi since we were young juniors. (Steve Bauer, who was super fast himself, obviously didn’t know how fast Alexi was when he pulled Alexi to the finish line in the 1984 Olympic games.) He was really quick, but goofy. Goofy enough that he would duke it out to fight for position on a tricky Milk Race finish and not sprint. I’ll never understand the mindset.

It is kind of refreshing seeing Cadel sprint at the end of some the stages during this year’s Tour. I know he’d like to get a couple seconds here and there, but I also know that Cadel really just likes to race bikes and it is pretty cool seeing him sprint for almost no reason other than getting a stage place and win a little $$$$. It’s not like Wiggins didn’t have to put out just about as much energy keeping him reined in. Seems like a good trade off to me. It is bike racing.

Cadel having a little fun at the end of the stage. Photo: Laurent Rebours Brisbane Times

Alexi surprising just about everyone watching the race, including Steve Bauer, to win the Olympic Games in LA. I can’t not put in such a great photo.

I woke up yesterday and was going to ride earlier than normal. That would be starting in the morning. But, the Tour stage was really good and by the time I got on my bike it was early afternoon. I was planning on doing the slow, heat riding thing, so that was fine. It was supposed to be just a couple degrees under 100, so that is hot enough. I was doing the normal ride over to Lawrence, drink some coffee and then ride back.

About half way there, a small pickup came up beside me and told me that there was a drunk driver coming from behind, so I should watch out. That was the first time in my riding career that had occurred. I looked back and didn’t see a car. So, I kept looking back over my shoulder every 15 seconds or so and no car came for minutes. I started feeling a little paranoid. I started thinking about how uncomfortable it would be to ride if you were scared of traffic, especially traffic passing from behind. After a couple miles, I did see a car coming from behind. I was wearing headphones, which I don’t approve of at all, and was a little off kilter because of it. I made a non normal decision and decided to pull over just in case. I normally wouldn’t have done that, but since I had looked over my shoulder so many times, I had kind of spooked myself I think. The car came by and seemed okay. Then another 10 cars came by in sequence, the next 30 seconds. Everything seemed normal. I felt a little silly pulling over, but I had already done it. I looked over to the ditch and there was a cross with some old flowers around the base. Something like you see where there was an accident and someone had died. I see these things all over in Mexico, but not so much around Topeka, just every once in awhile. It kind of spooked me a little more.

I got going again and when I was about 5 or 6 miles from Lawrence, a weird wind started and the temperature started dropping quickly. And then it started raining. Almost from nowhere. I love the fast moving summer thunderstorms we have here in Kansas, but was a little worried about my phone in my pocket. I stopped at a grocery store in West Lawrence and got a plastic bag in the produce department. I decided to buy an orange while I was there. It was $1.18. I thought that was pretty expensive for one navel orange. So a bag of 15 oranges would cost over $17 dollars. I don’t only not know the price of bike parts, I don’t know what fruit should or does cost.

It was cool in Lawrence and I was a little bummed about the lack of heat training. Man, I didn’t have anything to worry about. Coming back it got back up to hot really quickly. My friend, Michael Fatka told me something about the cold a couple years ago – He said it isn’t the temperature, it is the wind. If I apply that to being hot it would be, it’s not the temperature, it’s the humidity. When it got back up to the upper 90’s, it felt incredibly horrible. I rode a little North, out of the way, to get in a few more miles. I had to stop about 10 miles from home to get some more to drink. So, in 70 miles, I drank 8 large water bottles, a cup of coffee and a 32 oz Gatorade. That seems like a lot of liquid. I still lost over 6 pounds. Guess I didn’t drink enough.

I made a cherry pie last night for dessert. I haven’t made a pie in a while. It is already nearly gone. I love pie for breakfast, so it is going to be a good breakfast in a bit.

My friend, Ed Bauman, the guy that pretty much got me into the sport of cycling, showed up out of the blue last night. He lives in El Segundo, CA and had to come back to Kansas for a funeral. That isn’t good, but it was super great seeing him. He stayed over here, but had to head off to the airport super early this morning, so that was a drag. I need to hang out with Ed more when I go out to California. He’s super fun.

I’m trying to decide what to do this weekend. Lots of choices of races, road and MTB. I think I’m just going okay, but okay if good enough to race. I’ll probably drive up to Milwaukee and do a few Superweek races. Whitnall Park Road Race is Monday. I won that race a few years ago and it is a good circuit for me. A couple hills every couple miles. Great Downer’s is on Sunday. I’m not sure I can make it up there that quickly.

Okay, I’d better get to the Tour. It’s a long one and after yesterday, I think there are going to be some pretty tired legs there.

The temperature reading from my ride yesterday. It dropped 25 degrees and then right back up to 100.

The sky was weird, but I didn’t hear the thunder for awhile because I was wearing headphones.

The cross beside where I pulled over. I’m not going to google the name to find out what happened.

It hasn’t rained here for a while. It is started to look like the Sahara. These guys had the right idea.

The climbing Honeysuckle has went crazy around Eastern Kansas and has went feral about everywhere.

We’re starting to get a ton of fresh tomatoes.

Yummy salad.

This is my favorite cookbook, my grandmother’s Betty Crocker Cookbook. It is super tattered, but still useable. My grandmother put a bunch of handwritten notes by some of the recipes, so I always try to use the ones she liked.

Pie ingredients. Fresh cherries picked and pitted by Bill.

And then in 40 minutes, voila, a pie.