Hottest day of the year?

The weather page in the local newspaper says today is going to be the hottest day of the year. Well, it occurred to me that last year we got in a couple of pretty nice rides heading out from Yellow Lake Lodge on the two hottest days of the year. The key is getting an early start.

I was in the garage before 7am and on the road shortly thereafter. This is Bellaire Beach on White Bear Lake, 15 miles from home at 8:15.Across the street is a Lutheran church and then two doors up is Aunt Betty's house. I rode by slowly and took a look. Someone is living there but who that might be I have no clue. Perhaps family, perhaps the house has been sold.

I passed some lakes that I do not get to very often so I took pictures. This is Lake Gervais, pronounced "jarvis" for you outlanders. Visible on the far shoreline is the Little Canada water tower.There were lots of fishing boats on the lake.

This is Keller Lake.It looks pretty and calm but that is a bit of an illusion. There are busy highways on two sides of the lake, Highway 36 on the far end and Highway 61 on the right.

And this is Lake Phalen, the jewel of the east side.Home by shortly after 10 and glad of it as it surely is starting to get hot out there.

I passed several other lakes including Owasso, Vadnais and Como, but only submit pictures of lakes which have not previously been featured.

The Tour has started and as I type Discovery Channel's Vladimir Gusev is the leader. The favorites are still to come.

In response to comments my explanation for my selections is that these are riders who I believe are probably not doping. Both Evans and Leipheimer had results last year which, if they were doping, they were not doing so very successfully. Both were strong in some stages but also had stages when they were clearly not strong enough and were unable to hold the leader's pace. As a result neither finished very high in the general classification.

Klöden finished quite high but for me escapes suspicion for now. He has recently adamantly denied doping. In his self defense he points out that since age eleven he has been ranked at the top of the world rankings for his age group. He wasn't doping when he was eleven. He has now reached maturity and is riding at the very top of the sport. His explanation makes sense to me, he has always been one of the best. We should not suspect doping just because he still is capable of riding at the highest level.

And by the way, I don't like Vinokourov for just exactly the opposite reason. Born in the former Soviet Union, sometimes freakishly strong in the mountains, working with the Italian doping doctor, Vino for me raises too many red flags. If he can win with the certain scrutiny that he will be under in this year's Tour I may reconsider. If he cannot win I will believe that my suspicions were correct.

So, once again, Evans, Leipheimer and Klöden.