Some random thoughts after watching the last stage in Paris:
*Sperm motility rates seem high in the pro peloton. Rumors of long saddle time affecting ability to procreate are greatly exaggerated.
*Post-Tour withdrawal time. No more daily Aquarel girls.:crybaby:
*What happens from here? Landis is getting his hip replaced and charting new territory in trying to return to the top level after a hip replacement. Ullrich has been booted off his team and I see him retiring. Basso might escape doping charges and return next year; rumors out of Italy suggest he may defect to Discovery. Vino will be back.
*Ekimov at age 40 announced his retirement at the end of this season. Big loss for those of us cheering for the old guys. Although he put in a hell of a pull at the front today, actually gapping the peloton briefly.
*My favorite quote from this year's Tour-Floyd Landis to his personal trainer, the morning after tumbling from 1st to 13th place: "I'm going to go apeshit on them."
*Interesting LA Times article on Landis from about a month ago. Details the running feud between Landis and Armstrong in the 2005 TDF. (This explains why Lance drove the lead group in gapping Landis on one of the flat stages at the end of the race last year. Didn't make any sense at the time.)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/cycling/la-tm-landis26jun25,1,6671069.story
"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem
"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk