This one started off well…  The morning that we were to transfer from our hotel at Limosin up to Chateauroux we got a call from the organizers letting us know that our hotel burned down.  Sooo, a bit of a change was in order.  The only place they could find for us was at a fooball (soccer) complex on the outskirts of town.  The place is somewhat reminiscent of a soviet era project, combined with lush fields all around and a main office somewhat chateau-esque, but pretty run down.  Needless to say WiFi wasn’t the first of our worries.  Despite the early nerves all turned out okay.  Not the plushest of spots I’ve been forced to crash but there have been far worse.  The caf food was edible, although the “chef” couldn’t stand the fact that we spoke less than perfect French.  With our squad of mainly Americans and the Japanese Yahoo team here he was a frustrated dude.
The race went OK: In a huge early break of 20 we had both Timmy and Lucas, a 2nd break we had Tom, but the final group we missed.  Some weird tactics in the group by the Cofidis squad(2 fastest sprinters in the race, chased the group back to 5 seconds, then sat up? everybody thought they were pausing, the weren’t, and then the group was gone again?!?) threw everybody off and in the end the last group stayed away.  A couple of us halfheartedly tried for the bunch kick and were in the middle of the final surge.  The back is doing a big better but still pretty stiff.  Hopefully tomorrow easy will get it back to 100%.

We’re now on the way to Congac for the night (maybe a morning tasting? or not), an easy day, and then start up Poitou-Charentes on Tuesday.  I’m now heading home on Sunday for a day, then out to Greenville and Bermuda as replacements for the Tour de l’Avenir. Next up will be a new NRC race in Colorado and then out to the track in LA.  Almost done!:-(  it’s a yearly event that at about this point I’m shocked how fast the season has gone by.

Got popped out of the breakaway that continued on to win the stage today, only to get popped out of the field a few minutes later and into the car.  My back has been tight the past few days and today wound itself up so tightly I could barely pedal.  Super…  Kind of frustrating, really frustrating actually, and a bit of a downer.  A few days off now before we start back up and hopefully I can get it and the head straightened out and be back in action.  Fortunately Pate is riding like a rock star and the rest of the team is doing a great job of supporting him.  With one tough day to go it looks like he’ll have another solid top 10 in a major stage race. Damn impressive.

Our hotel/home in Limoges for the Tour du Limosin is attached to a Buffalo Grill. Buffalo Grill? Think of it as a really bad take on Americana by a bunch of French businessmen. Maybe it was started as a joke - it could have been. Somewhere along the way however it looks to have become succesful and they are everywhere. A domestic comparison? Outback Steakhouse esque in the “themed” concept, but way worse. Better than McyDs, but only slightly. We also ate at an aptly named roadside “Ars” restaurant on the in transit from Girona. Tasty.
A couple pictures of the kitsch:

Frank with the token Indian

Schnazzy bar. How ’bout some help?

So, Floyd wins the Tour.  He pulls off a pretty incredible ride.  A great story.  Then he tests positive.  Doh.  Then the B test comes back, also +.  Big oops.  Starts working on defense.  In the meanwhile the Tour organizers are PISSED that once again those god awful Americans won the damn race and then pulled out a LOT of bad publicity.  They lose a big sponsor.  But in reality, at this point there isn’t much they can do other than sit around and wait ’til the doping folks make a decision.  Ah - one little thing… They can flick the American teams (US National team and TIAA-CREF) from their “baby tour”, the Tour de l’Avenir.  So, long way around, it looks like we aren’t doing Avenir.  Might be coming back to the states now at the end of the month for the US nats, we’ll figure that out soon - with a lot happening right now the schedule is up in the air a bit.  I’m off in a few minutes for Orkeola (sp), then Limosin, Chateauroux and Poitou-Charentes, that much is for sure, but we’ll see after that.  Might be coming back for the US nats in Greenville.
Cheers!
Will

Quoted from the NYTimes about baseball:

“With less than four months remaining in the calendar year, 34 players — two in the major leagues and 32 in the minor leagues — have tested positive. At this time last year, 86 players had failed tests, and by the time the year concluded, the number had reached 93, with 81 in the minor leagues and 12 in the majors.”

At least they’re getting better…:)