Thursday, July 12, 2007

Sprinters Rule!!

As much as I like the mountain stages I really enjoy watching the Sprints. There is lots of strategy involved and it is almost like watching a chess match (obviously more exiting). Since I was long distance runner the word "sprint" was always a negative since I always assumed that sprinters were lazy. That does not appear to be the case in cycling. Even though the stage ends in a sprint the sprinters still have to ride the whole stage so it requires lots of different skills. It is real intersting watching the setup men get their lead sprinters in place.

Since I have been working out of my home office the last couple of days I have had several opportunities to watch the tour. I prefer the live feed in the mornings but I watch the replays later in the day to see the parts I might have missed. Phil Liggett's English voice is nice and relaxing and gives much more a local flare. In the later replays Bob Roll and Al Trautwig take a larger role. Bob Roll is knowledgable but it took me a while to get used to Al since I associated his voice with Baseball.

While I have a couple of favorite sprinters I would be happy for anyone who takes the Green Jersey (Points Leader/Best Sprinter). Thor Hushovld had a great race yesterday. It was fun to watch the finish. I think I watch it 3 times although I missed the live finish since I had to run out just before the race ended.

The Tour coverage gives me the chance to tour Europe without leaving home. One of these days I am going to get there. Since London has now taken over New York as the world's financial center it might be a good career move to relocate there. Unfortunately, I am more interested in riding my bike than in my career at this point.

I have to get all my rides in this week since I am supposed to start traveling for another project next week. I will be back to going to the gym after work and riding on the weekends. I doubt the hotel will have the Versus network so I will have to follow the Tour via the Internet.

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