Le Tour and Autumnal Thoughts

Today is Day 4 of Le Tour de France, and the continuation of the move towards mountains. There are still peaks, of course, but not the huge mountains of the Alps or the needle-pointed steep climbs of the Pyrenees ... at least not yet. Today we go from Sisteron to Orcieres-Merlette, a slightly shorter day than yesterday or tomorrow, but still 160 km in length. 

Today's route might be shorter, but with a mountain-top finish, it's
not going to be an easy ride through the countryside of France. We're
now in the Haute-Alps and that final climb up 1800 ft to Orcieres-
Merlette will split the pack apart and give some good hints about
what's upcoming. There will be no sparing the mountains in
this year's Tour de France. 

I hope you had a chance to see the finish of yesterday's stage - it was hard fought and a magnificent sprint to the finish line with the stage winner being Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal). It's always wonderful to get a stage win, so bravo for him. The standings, after three days are Julian Alaphillipe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) in Yellow, Peter Sagan  (Bora-Hansgroehe) in the Green, Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R) in the Polka Dot, Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) in the White -Best Young Rider, and Team Segafredo in the Team Competition. Of course, it's early. These will change many times - except Sagan may manage to hold on to his eighth Green win in Paris, if the Tour ends in Paris this year. 

The leaves aren't turning quite yet, but when they do, we have amazing
color up here in the Frozen Northlands. Here's a nice preview of
Autumn still to come. 

It's September 1st today, and I guess I should start thinking about my holiday cards. They'll be different this year, because I always switch things up from year to year. I'm waiting on one component, then I have to buy the paper and start working on them. They won't be quite as labor intensive as some other years. This is the year of dashed dreams and they will reflect that, along with a strong theme of hope and wonder. At least, that's what I'm shooting for - LOL. I'll give a call out for addresses, etc later this month. 

On that note, I'm making my breakfast and heading out to the shop. I'm finally cooled down from my treadmill run earlier, and think it's time to head out. Have an excellent Tuesday and please, be kind to people you meet today. Everyone has a story, and they're all worthy of a good listen.