Le Tour

Now, it may be over by the time this post reaches you, but one of the most amazing sporting events run today, is the Tour de France.

Unfortunately in recent weeks, like pretty much every professional sport, Cycling has experienced widespread allegations of doping, with sentencing yet to be laid down. Recently, as many as 32 active riders have been associated with a Spanish doping ring, including the would-be favourite of this year's Tour; Jan Ullrich. Lance Armstrong is still under suspicion.

This dog has been following the sport for many years now, and like the other professional sports; like Baseball, Football and Basketball, the governing body has done as little as possible to reign in this tarnishing issue to re-instill confidence in the purity of the sport. This is in part why the American government is forcing the big pro sports' hand... because they weren't smart enough to do it themselves.

Enough of that... the Tour itself is quite unbelievable, consisting of 20 stages throughout France. Many movies have been made, including "Hell on Wheels" which I have seen. Some of the falls are pretty bad, but each rider expects one of two bad falls during the race. Pretty gross if you ask me.
You can see the race route at Le Tour de France website or actually download the race route with Google Earth - a great way to really feel the altitudes and scale of the race. The Outdoor Life Network has some awesome coverage of the event. It's worth watching a stage or two!

In other news

My back is feeling a fair bit better.

After eating my way out of Canada, I'm back down to my proper weight (from 235lbs down to 225lbs).

We are taking it easy this long weekend (Korean Independance day from the Japanese in 1945)