Spectacular day in Paris

By which of course I mean the weather was superior and the city looked FABULOUS.

They've definitely got problems though.  As alluded to by I believe Bobke during the stage it is imperative that the sport reach a point where the public can believe that the race is being ridden by riders who are clean.  Failure to deliver a product that the public can believe in will be fatal to even as great a spectacle as le Tour de France.

Today they do not have the product that they need to survive.

Just my opinion I could be wrong.

I watched the TV program only until they showed the slow motion replay of the finish and then I clicked off and went out to ride for myself.  I must admit that I do not lament the apparent end of the Age of Cav which I believe has been definitively Kittel-ed.  And also totally Sagan-ed, Cav was simply not even a minor annoyance to the winner of the green jersey competition, the Manx Missile never had a chance.  I was never that big a fan of Cavendish, I don't know why.  Sometimes it is hard to root for someone who is so overwhelmingly superior to the competition.

Are both of these huge sprinting dudes German?  Greipel must be seeing as he is wearing the jersey of the German national champion, but if Kittel is also German how in the world did Greipel ever beat him for the national championship?

There's that phrase again, how in the world?

So I didn't see the post race stuff and will now have to for the first time of the entire tour sit down and watch what that whole NBCSN crew refers to as "the prime time show" to see the fireworks etc.

Here it rained overnight, for a while there I wasn't actually sure I was going to get to ride.  But by about the time the race reached Paris and began the first circuit of the Champs-Élysées it was apparent to me that I would have time to ride if I left immediately after the actual end of the race.

It was in the 70s, sunny, light winds, plenty dry by 2:30pm, a glorious day for a ride.

It was a spectacular day in the northern suburbs.

By which of course I mean that the weather was superior and the riding route looked FABULOUS.

Today at Lake Vadnais there was time to pause and enjoy the spectacular view.

I rode pretty much the same route as the GRider and I rode yesterday except today I rode my normal little detours off the most direct route.  I skipped those yesterday in deference to her conditioning (which incidentally is quite good considering, she finished without problem).  Yesterday after she finished I had to ride a nearby neighborhood loop to get the mileage I wanted.  Today the expanded route was totally satisfactory, I arrived in the within a half mile of home neighborhood almost exactly on the pace for the mileage I wanted.

So it was a spectacular day, both here and there.