Le Tour goes dark

In horse racing a day on which the track does not hold races is referred to as the track "going dark". Today the Tour de France went dark as on a scheduled rest day there was no racing. Unfortunately that is not the only way in which the Tour went dark.

Tour leader Rasmussen is under increasing pressure but instead it was emotional leader Vinokourov who fell from grace. My rant about doping after the time trial turns out to be accurate after all. Vino produced the phenomenal effort with the aid of illegal blood doping. He was subject to post-stage drug testing and when the results became available today Vino was dismissed from the race. The Astana team was also given the opportunity to withdraw from the race and did so.

It puts a whole new light on the race results of the last three days of racing. It was doping that allowed Vino to win the time trial. The collapse of the next day came about, in my estimation, because Vino expected, based on his previous experience, that the effect of the doping would last more than one day. When it did not he suffered on the first day in the Pyrenees. What did Vino do about this? My guess is that he took another transfusion and thus fortified won Monday's stage. By so doing Vino displayed complete and utter contempt for his sport, his race contemporaries, and perhaps most significantly, for the people who have throughout his career stood along the road and cheered him on. Bad form, Vino, bad form.

The race is completely corrupt, they should stop it.

It was very hot again today, another 70 dew point. But evaporative cooling continues to work pretty well. It was a bit less effective today as I actually broke a sweat on my arms and shoulders. Perhaps because of the miracle fabric of the jersey my torso stayed dry.

I saw the tall bike guy again today, in fact, for the second day in a row. We exchange greeting waves but I have not yet had a reasonable opportunity to get a picture.

I did get a picture of this, the clubhouse at the Les Bolstad University Golf Course. The University of Minnesota is a member of the Big Ten Conference. The flags on the front of the clubhouse represent the eleven member schools of the conference.I also won a race today. We weren't racing, either myself or the young lady who I was riding faster than on the long uphill on Como past the Fairgrounds. I pulled up behind her without great difficulty and held on without trouble. I stayed back four or five bike lengths as I did not want to creep her out but I think I failed in that attempt. Finally at the top of the hill she took a glance, spotted me, perhaps for the second time, got into the drops and hammered off on the downhill. I let her go. She was faster and I wasn't racing. But she was young, fit, had a nice bike, a good rider, and I hung with her on the uphill. I assign myself climber points.