spunk.......

ok, so swim season is finally over.....the banquet started at 5:00 in the intense heat........and when my daughter's name was called as the 110% award for her age group......she was in the pool and not in the audience.....stage 17 today.....mostly flat but a nasty climb at the end.....on the massif central.......2 more flat stages and a time trial on saturday before lance cruises into paris on sunday......he allowed 2 of his teammates to ride ahead in a breakaway today......and the italian teammate salvadelli won the stage......i enjoy watching the tactics involved......the catandmouse over 225 km.......i have moaned before about the void that settles in after the tour is over.......an emptiness much greater than the end of kentucky's run at the ncaa tourney......the end of lance's run will be much more poignant, especially for those who remember him from his motorola days.....the 1995 tour, before he got sick........the stage that salvedelli won today, lance almost won back in 1995.........i do regret that we never traveled to france for the tour while lance was riding.....i know that we will make it there...eventually....but it will not be the same..........