random ramblings

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Life has continued, in its general way. My mid season break is at a close as the return to full on training and racing is starting. Minus my little camping trip this weekend. I'm pretty pumped on that. First off, my list of the day... things that are impressing me in the Tour (Alpe d'Huez is on right now):
-CSC & Gerolstiner. I have never seen the boys in blue riding this aggressively or this close to the front in a grand tour. Schummacher is again in the break today. These boys are off their rockers crazy. CSC is taking all the pressure they had as the strongest team in the race and proving that they are stronger than anyone thought. With the doped up climbers out, the Schleck's and Sastre and taking turns inflicting massive damage. Not to mention the rest of the boys who are riding out of their skin every day. And it is paying with the brothers from Luxemberg holding onto to each a white or yellow jersey. Hats off.
-The Tour in general. Its been a while since I have been so interested in the race. Everyday is exciting. No more "how much will Lance win by?" and now just gasps as some crazy fool attacks like a monkey in search of glory. The race is more reminiscent of Giro's of recent years with plenty of changes in GC, attacks everywhere and general excitement. Bien fait les boys.
On to my other life, aka the one that doesn't involve soiling myself watching the race. Got back slowly into riding last week with mostly some nice easy spins and an interval session or 2 to reawaken the suffering within. Off to Lachine last night for my usual Tuesday evening in Montreal. It turned out to be a little different, other than the rain threats. I did a bunch of work and decided I needed to turn over a more aggressive new racing leaf in this second half of the season. No regrets, take some chances. I felt pretty crappy from the start so took my time a bit moving up to the front. That was to be expected after riding so little in the last week though so didn't think much and just focused on finding my legs. Got up where I wanted to be at about the halfway point and then stayed up there to try and help out our yellow jersey a bit. Generally working on pushing my comfort zone and fight hard for wheels. JS got away after a bit and ended up staying away in a group of 4, even taking the win in the end with a Cancellera eske attack in te closing kms. Big ups. With 5 to go it was time for the real fighting to go on. Luckily I had some confidence now and so pushed my comfort levels hard a few times to maintain my position. Finally with our final lead out train going for Gui, I got boxed in and missed out on position for the final lead out/sprint. Not happy about that, but I am happy with how I managed my race. A couple of training days now and a camping trip before the next Lachine then the racing gets back underway. Wicked.