I just could not get into last year’s Tour de France, but that was certainly not the case, this year. I thoroughly enjoyed today’s first stage of the tour, and I was on the edge of my chair talking to the TV when the last three crashes occurred at the end of the race. I just could not believe that the peloton was stopped by a cluster of riders who went down.

Even more unbelievable was the final crash that destroyed Tyler Farrar’s very real possibility of winning. He had it…he HAD IT…HE…DOH! He was taken out by the Frenchman in the back!

You can read my review of the race, “Alessandro Petacchi avoids multiple crashes to win stage one of the Tour de France,” at my Michigan Mountain Biking Examiner column.

What I really love about watching the Tour de France is how it inspires me to ride. I thought about riding, today, but after yesterday’s early a.m. ride and a marathon of 22 hours with no sleep plus plenty of beer consumption, I chose to postpone my ride for tomorrow.

I will quite possibly do two rides, tomorrow. I really do want to do a road ride. It does a lot for my motivation to knock out at least 30 miles. I also plan to go to the group ride at Anderson Park in Lansing, tomorrow. That will probably be about a 50- or 60-minute ride.

Happy Independence Day on this beautiful 4th of July!