There was a serious accident during the first stage of Le Tour de France today, with only 400 meters to go before the finish line. American Tyler Hamilton is out with a broken collarbone; Levi Leipheimer has a broken hip (read his journal about it here) and several others were also hurt, including Lance Armstrong although he says on his website that he is OK and it was “nothing serious.” That would have sucked big-time for him to lose his shot at 5 Tours in a row in the first stage. Let’s hope this is the one big accident for this year’s Tour, eh?
Day: 07/06/2003
Tribble Mill Day Three
I rode my bike out at Tribble Mill Park again today. That makes three days in a row, each day going further than the last. Today I rode the paved double-track twice; once in each direction. Both directions seem to be about the same difficulty level, contrary to what someone told me yesterday. After the second time around I was almost out of water so I asked a passerby if there was a restroom and/or water fountain in the park, and she told me there was and how to get to it. I took off on the road and after about half a mile I came to a big-ass long hill. I made it about half way up and had to pull over for a few minutes of rest. I drained the last few drops from my water bottle then looked at the top of the hill and said “I will beat you!” I hopped back on the bike and made another go for the summit. Unfortunately, about 100 yards further up the hill I felt like I might barf up a lung if I continued, so I turned around and headed back down, saying “I’ll beat you another day!” over my shoulder.
After coming home and cleaning up I went to Wal-Mart to get a CamelBak knock-off. The one I got is a backpack that has a water reservoir that holds 70 oz. of water with a tube that you hold in your mouth. The pack has pockets and bungees to hold things in/on like cell phone, PowerBars, etc. It was half the price of an actual CamelBak but seems to be of good quality. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow when I take it for a spin.