ROAD TRIP!

Today I leave on a new adventure! I'm heading to Butte, Montana for the Butte 100. This is my first "real" road trip, so I'm a little scared, but excited. No real plans other than to arrive in Butte on Friday and hang with my friends - Bob Waggoner, Gina Evans, Bill Martin and Rob Leipheimer.

Taking my sleeping bag, bike, hiking shoes and Leki walking poles. That's about as good as it gets. Tune in to our YouTube Channel for video updates along the way and of course, I'll be tweeting too...

And if you happen to be in Butte on Saturday, July 31, join me at the Butte 100!

Tour de France - Stage 15

OK, folks, you all know I'm not a "cyclist"; I’m just a chick with a bike. A poser. I don't know much about Tour de France, I just love watching it and I love the men in spandex, especially Fabian Cancellara. And this year, I’m rooting as hard as hell for Andy Schleck to win.

So about Andy vs Alberto Contador today... I'm not sure that my opinion is worth anything, because as I said, I don't know much about TDF. But people, I do know this... the Tour de France is a competition. In competions, there's strategy, drive, determination and, they're not always fair.

I was just watching Alberto Contador’s explanation of today’s race – he’s apologetic, he says he didn’t realize there was a mechanical problem and that he started the attack before they happened. I believe him. I believe him not only because he sounds sincere, but because - if you watch the video between 4-7 seconds, it appears to me that Contador was already starting the attack. He’s off his seat and pushing it. Andy doesn’t realize he has a problem until 9-10 seconds.

OK, so you say it would have been “gentlemanly” to stop. Put on the brakes. Slow down. Wait. How many of you cyclists would really have done that if you were in that race? What if it would have taken Andy 10-20 minutes to fix that chain, would you expect Contador to wait that long, or just stay long enough to say "sorry buddy, good luck"? What exactly were people expecting?

Like I said, I don't know much about the rules of engagement here, so I guess I'll go buy "Tour de France for Dummies", then maybe I won't be so naive.

In the meantime, I know Andy will be back in that yellow, if not tomorrow, soon. I had a feeling he was going to win TDF 2010 as I watched him warm up at Stage 7 of Tour of California. I was right there under his nose. And as I watched him, watched his focus and determination, I knew. I knew he was going to hit Tour de France hard this year. He’s going to win. As he said, he has fire in his belly and… “I want to take my revenge”. Heck, he had fire in his belly long before today!

BTW, don’t forget to vote for me in the StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition!

Go Andy, go Andy, go Andy!