Tests of endurance

Sunday marked the conclusion of the nine stage Tour of Switzerland. Zdenek and I should have two weeks of television freedom until Le Tour begins. (Sunday also represented my first rest day after two straight weeks of running and biking, culminating with a tough 13 miles in the Saturday morning heat. I rewarded myself on Sunday by going for a delicious brunch with Caitlin and then splurging on two new pairs of shoes. Well, technically the shoes didn’t really have anything to do all of the running and riding I’ve done, but it seems better if I can say that I “earned” them in some way.)

One of the things I’ve learned to appreciate about cycling races is that they really have a way of separating the pack and allowing the most deserving winner to emerge. It seems that, after days and days of time trials and sprints and mountain climbs, the best man (and hopefully not just the most EPO’ed one) really does win. (I contrast this with football/soccer, in which the one of the highest rank teams can go up against one of the lowest rank teams, and yet still barely eek out a winning goal. Something seems remarkably unfair with a scoring system like that.) In cycling, I can’t imagine a scenario in which the lowest ranked rider (in the case of the Tour of Switzlerand, Noe Gianetti, whoever that is) would stand a chance against any rider finishing in the top 10. Indeed, no offence to Mr. Gianetti, who could kick my ass any day, but he finished about 90 minutes behind the lead group.

While Zdenek and I seem to have some sort of cycling event recorded on our DVR almost every day of the year, this year’s Tour of Switzerland made fantastic viewing for many reasons:

(1) Fabian took center-stage, at least for the first couple of days that he wore the yellow jersey, and even after that given that he was riding in his home turf. The camera took many long shots of him riding, eating, smiling, waving, giving the thumbs-up, etc. This is how all cycling should be televised.

(2) The field was outstanding. All but three big names (Contador, Basso, and Evans) were in attendance, and performances in Switzerland gave a good glimpse of who will be the big contenders in Le Tour. In fact, there are so many good riders this year that, on our ride yesterday morning, Zdenek excitedly talked for three or four miles about the strength of each team and who might stand a shot at the podium in Paris. (On miles 15-18, Zdenek relayed the saga of LeMond and Fignon for me, which certainly helped take my mind off the burning pain in my legs while climbing Harlem Hill.)

(3) The Swiss countryside is positively breathtaking and makes for beautiful screen shots. Unfortunately, every time Paul Sherwen commented, “We hope you’re watching these pictures in high definition,” Zdenek said, “No, we’re not, we’re watching it on a 1998 Sony Trinitron.” It seems certain that our July 24 move (which happens to be the final weekend of Le Tour) will entail the purchase of a big screen television -- a just reward for what I know will have been three weeks of dedicated viewing.