Stage 1 - The Oven

Temperature: 94 degrees F.
Wind: 30 mph with gusts to 40 mph
Sky: No clouds to block the blazing sun

There is only one way to describe riding a bike in that kind of weather; Ay, carumba!

The wind was coming out of the southwest so no matter which direction I rode in (Wisconsin roads are laid out in 1 miles grids running N-S and E-W) I had to fight mother nature. And I was riding 63 miles solo. I can't say that it was much fun. I try to take it as easy as I can on the early stages knowing that strength and energy come in limited supplies. But today was a maximum output day. Let's hope that the hot wind peters out soon.

The only redeeming item from today's ride were the fans that lined the race route. You wouldn't think that Elvis' Tour Challenge would draw big crowds but look at this;

They are all mooing, "Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!"

Earlier in the day I was lucky enough to have some fun go-carting. With me being Elvis and all, I couldn't help but whip out a camera during the race. I'm hoping that you psychologists out there can explain the strange human reaction to seeing a camera. You've all seen it. Its the "Hi Mom!", smiling, waving and jumping into the camera's angle of view thing that almost everyone seems to be stricken with upon seeing a camera. I have no idea who the guy on the left is in the picture below but every time the camera came out he was hamming it up. It's a race pal, keep your eyes on the track!

Hi Mom!

Has anyone noticed how boring the first week of racing is during the Tour de France? The problem stems from the use of 'race radio'. Race radio is the constant flow of information between race officials, team coaches and the riders. It's gotten to be such a science that the team coaches can calculate the pace required for the peloton to run down, catch and pass any breakaway. It's so accurate that the catch and pass usually occurs within the final kilometer of the race. Anyone who watches the Tour knows that the breakaways will be caught. How many times have you plunked down in from the of television to see a four man break six to ten miles out in front of the main pack? It could make for some exciting viewing if we could pretend that the coaches weren't crunching the pace and distance numbers with their on-board computers and then, via the two-way radios that the riders are wearing, tell the teams something like, "We need 48 kph from here to the finish".

All of this takes the riders out of the equation. They become pawns in an elaborate chess game; paceline do this, domestique do that, team GC guy sit here and so on. The riders no longer have to think or worry or even evaluate how they are feeling on any given day. They just hear and obey orders. Is it any wonder that they complain of being treated more like racehorses than people?

Professional cycling has a big enough problem caused by the constant doping scandals. The least that the organizers could do is allow some excitement by letting the race unfold naturally. If a guy feels good on a given day let him take off in search of glory. Leave it to the pack to figure out if, when and how to respond. But hey, that's just me.