Holding onto the Tour

The Tour has been over for two days now and I'm not sure what to do with myself. Perhaps you are feeling the same way? I have come into the office the past two mornings and have to stop myself from heading to the television to turn on the live coverage. There's no more Phil and Paul, no more Bobke and that other guy (who tries really hard), instead there's a show about bull riding or extreme fishing on Versus. We're back to the occasional Sunday tape-delayed coverage and looking for race information and inspiration from the better online sources. A real shame that we don't have access to Eurosport, though Universal-Sports is giving it a go.

Refusing to accept that it's over, I have been enjoying the drama around AC vs. LA and the speculation about how the new Radio Shack team is going to be atop the podium next year in July. One esteemed journalist friend sent me a note from France saying "It's the first day of the rest of Lance's domination". Knowing what I know of Mr. Armstrong, I wouldn't put it out of reach.

I have also been filling the void with the photo stylings of Brent Humphreys' Project LeTour online exhibition. The framed exhibit was installed at Mellow Johnny's for the start of the Tour and I was lucky to catch it and meet Brent who came out to watch the Breaking Away races and movie night we held in Austin earlier this month.

The Tour of Ireland ought to be interesting next month, and of course I can't wait until September's Tour of Britain to see how the Rapha-Condor team fares. But for now I suppose I'll put my energy into learning more of the proposed Vino and Chicken comebacks and follow which top climbers find their way onto the team that should have the best race radios in the field.