Castle Shima

The Tour is a two thousand mile race and people sometimes win by one minute. Or less. One minute in nearly a month of suffering isnt that much. So the people who win are the ones willing to suffer the most.
-- Lance Armstrong

::: Tower View :::
It Has Begun
The Tour de France 2005 began today with the individual time trial. This is when you ride by yourself for a certain distance going against the clock. The person with the fastest time wins the stage.

The cyclists go out in reverse order, from position 189 to 1, with one minute waiting period between each rider. Jan Ullrich, the Kaiser and one of Lance's top rivals, started out second to last. Lance was the final rider of the day and would start one minute behind him.

I can only imagine the dismay as Jan felt when Lance was actually catching up to him, then eventually passed the German. Ivan Basso, another one of Lance's rivals, had to go the thru the pain last year when the title was up for grabs.

These guys are doing 30 to 35 mph at a distance of 12 miles. I get upset when I get passed and I'm only doing 12 mph down the street.

Out of the 189 riders that started today, David Zabriskie, who started 19th, held the top position for most of the day. He would win when Lance, despite his brilliant ride, came in second place by 2 seconds. Zabriskie even set a race record for his blistering pace.

Still, it was an exciting stage to watch. Now I'm going to have to figure out how I'm going to listen to the TdF at work. Last year, OLN TV did live webcasts.

Gah, now I'm going to have to remember how to work the vcr.
**********

::: Out In The Yard :::
TdF stage One ups and downs. Ohh, alot of the rivals are already in trouble. Heh.
**********

Venus holds on to win Wimbeldon. I missed out on this one, but heard it was one heck of a match.
**********

::: Background Noise :::
The repeat of today's stage is playing on OLN (aka the Only Lance Network).

Kirsten Gum isnt on as much as she used to be, but I have to admit she looks better now that she isnt bleaching her hair blonde. Kirsten still doesnt know much about the sport, but at least she doesnt fit the blonde stereotype now.

***************************************
* Days go by
* And still I think of you
* Days when I couldnt live
* My life without you
***************************************