Thinking about fresh berries

It was cool, only about 75, intermittently but mostly cloudy and windy. I did not come across anything that struck my fancy for a photo. I spent most of the ride thinking about two things: this morning's stage in the TdF and fresh blueberries. I do not have a photo of fresh blueberries but I do have a photo of some pretty nice fresh produce.That's the market at Noirmoutier on the Ile de Noirmoutier, France. That is the island that is reached by a causeway which is available only at low tide. I have a picture of that somewhere too but I didn't spend any time on my ride thinking about that so that picture does not make today's cut.

The stage was interesting, more exciting than Wiggins predicted but in significant ways Wiggins was also correct. The race at the front with the German kid taking the yellow was inspiring and fun but he is no more a threat to hold the jersey by the end of next week than Cancellara was to hold it at the end of today.

If you watched you know the kid, Gerdemann, was seriously knackered at the end of a category 1 climb, a climb on which he lost 2 minutes to all of the heads of state (one of the squares on the Paul and Phil Tour de France Bingo game and something Phil is certain to say soon although I don't believe he has said it yet). The team leaders rode together, participating in the first sorting out of the race. None of them risked anything. They rode together saving strength for a much harder stage coming tomorrow. Tomorrow has not one category 1 to finish the stage, but three. And once Gerdemann puts on the yellow jersey he just isn't going to be allowed to go out on a breakaway and get a five minute headstart over the heads of state up that last climb. Nope, he will have to try to ride with them tomorrow. With a rest day coming up on Monday, good luck to the kid, his time in yellow may be short.

But it was good entertainment, congratulations to Gerdemann. And as an aside, if Gerdemann suffers tomorrow and is unable to produce anything resembling today's effort, that will be a good thing, a very good thing for the sport, as it will indicate that perhaps, just perhaps, he is riding clean.