The Tour and Stuff

The Tour de France started Saturday and...well, this year I'm not making picks. I'm just going to watch it, enjoy it, and pull for whoever grabs my attention as the race rolls on- like maybe former mtn bike racer Ryder Hesjedal. I did think the odds to win the tour were pretty interesting- check 'em out:

Bradley Wiggins -- 5/4
Cadel Evans -- 9/4
Vincenzo Nibali -- 20/1
Chris Froome -- 22/1
Denis Menchov -- 22/1
Jurgen Van Den Broeck -- 22/1
Ryder Hesjedal -- 22/1
Frank Schleck -- 28/1
Robert Gesink -- 28/1
Samuel Sanchez -- 33/1

I had an excellent week on the bike, logging right under 210 miles. Not a ton of mileage, but building some solid fitness for sure. I had 2 good rides to end the week- you can check out Saturday and Sunday here on Garmin Connect. Or you can check out the Strava links on the left side of this page. I've also managed to keep my unofficial streak of top 5 sprint finishes in the group rides going at um...several. I've actually won every sprint in my solo rides but who's keeping tack? Anyhow, these strong finishes should help the cause when races roll around. Oh, and after slicing 2 road tires from 2 different sets this past week, I had to use my last set of good tires in the garage instead of buying yet another set, for now. Not sure if these guys have bad rolling resistance, but the Bontrager RXL All Weather tires seem durable (and flat resistant) as hell. Either way, they are good training tires.

I also added some bike stands in the garage to make it easier to deal with the bikes that are used the most- and for girl bikes. Anyhow, 10 bikes in a single car garage is a stretch...

I had a couple more good brews this week. For fun, I've been snapping shots of them in the garage with bikes in the background. I cleverly refer to this as bikes n beers. Anyhow, I don't drink a ton of beer, or usually more than one at a time, but I love trying new craft brews. And I especially love them after hard efforts on the bike. Oh, and I also like to keep trying the ones that I really like again and again. If I have a picture of it, I like it. So here's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday:

Besides riding bikes, this weekend was rather mellow. Avery is at her mom's this week so I didn't get to hang with her besides seeing her Friday night after soccer camp at UNF while I was riding. I'll have her all next week before she goes to soccer camp at UF. Riley got a bunch of new toys via a gift card from grandma Kathy this weekend. One toy is a true sign of the times- an iPhone case for little kids. We supplied the iPhone, but wow...

And here are my lovely ladies this morning before I hopped on the bike. Riley is rocking out all of her new toys...

This upcoming week we have a few days off (6 in a row for me!) so we are going to get caught up on a few things around the house before heading to Gainesville to kick it with Char's brothers. For the 4th we plan to hit Jax Beach for our traditional celebration with the Crichton's. We've spent the 4th with them since Char and I started dating- so 6 years in a row now. Anyhow, I look forward to both trips- should be a great time!

As for the bike stuff- should be a somewhat normal training week with less volume based on this weekend's trip. Tomorrow is an off day and I really need it- legs are a little tender from the past few weeks. I am still winging my training plan but that may change as things unfold over time, but we'll get into that later...