When I got home last night and crashed on the couch, there was an interesting show on HD Theatre (Discovery Channel HD).  Chronicled the story of two guys who won a contest in 2007 to ride a stage of the Tour (actually, about half of it).  (Offered as the L’Etape package from Trek Travel).  The got outfitted with brand new Madone bokes, full Discovery team kit, and “behind the ropes” access at the Tour.  They got to ride the route for what was stage 16 of that year’s Tour – over the Col ‘dPierre-St-Martin (Cat 1), Col d’Marie-Blanc (Cat 1), and finishing on the Col d’Aubisque (HC).  (Click here for the route – click on “Profile of the Stage”)  One of them dropped after the Marie-Blanc, but the other finished on the Aubisque.  His time – 7 hours and change. 

But watching it made me want to do something like that for a vacation in the upcoming years.  Despite the pain, it looks like fun.

One of the interesting things that I’ve noted in the last week is that my sleep quality is directly related to my food intake.  On nights where I don’t eat the healthiest dinner, I sleep horribly, and wake up groggy as all get out.  I oversleep, despite the system of alarms that I have. 

This really started over a year ago when I went out to San Fran.  I thought that it was because I picked up tobacco use again.  No doubt that it’s a contributing factor, to be sure.  But with that trip, I stopped tracking my food, and began my decline from exercise. 

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I got back on my bike for the first time in over a year last night.  I spent about 25 minutes on the trainer, and then decided that I needed to get out of the house.  So I went out and did 8 miles.  Nowhere near my usual evening ride, but the total time on the bike – 55 minutes.  Felt oh so good.  It wasn’t a difficult route, no major hills/climbing, and the speed wasn’t where I remember it being, but what do you expect?  The handling was off, and I forgot just how difficult it is to pace yourself on the road and judge your effort.  If rain wasn’t in the forecast for the next couple of days, I’d probably be back on the road, without hitting the trainer. 

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