Le Tour Day 3 and It's Almost Tattoo Day

After that HUGE crash at Le Tour on Day One, and a fabulous pull-away win on Day Two, what does Day Three hold for us? Your guess is as good as mine, but with today being Day 3 in Brittany, anything can happen. I hope you had a chance to see that horrific crash from Day 1, caused by a female fan holding a sign up for the motorcycle and not paying any attention to the race directly behind her. The authorities are looking for her and Le Tour plans to press charges against her. Well deserved, in my opinion. Her stupidity caused physical harm to riders and bicycles and could easily have caused more than severe bruises.  

I'm making this photo a bit larger than usual because it's 
a montage and easier to see. On the left, you see the woman 
holding the sign saying hello to her Grandfather and 
Grandmother. She's stepping into the roadway, completely 
ignoring the riders coming up on her. Tony Martin, 
the rider on the far left, swerves to avoid hitting her and 
goes down, causing a chain reaction through the peloton 
and injuring many riders. A lot of bikes were broken in 
this as well.  The mechanics were working overnight 
fixing and rebuilding bikes harmed in this crash. 

On Day Two, Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) won the stage by six seconds in a beautiful breakaway near the finish line, leaving the other riders in the dust, including Mark Cavendish. I love it when you've got a ride of more than 183 kilometers, and the race is decided by six seconds. That's what makes Le Tour so spectacular. 

As you can tell from the profile, Day 3 is a bit hilly, but 
there's really not a lot going on in this stage. There 
are two Cat 4 climbs, but nothing compared to the 
Alps we'll see at the end of the week. Baby hills, 
that's all. So if Brittany holds off on the weather, 
it should be a day for the sprinters. 

Today, Day 3, is a day made for the sprinters. It's a relatively flat route marred by two Cat 4 climbs. But the relatively flat finish will favor the sprinters. Thunderstorms threaten, however, and if they break, the roads will be slick and the wind will probably play more of a role. 

No matter where you go in Brittany, you're 
relatively close to the ocean, and the 
weather blows in from the West with a 
gusto. Today will be awesome if the 
riders can escape any storms, horrible 
if they get doused. But come what may, 
that's part of any of the Grand Tours - 
you have to deal with Mother Nature 
as well as your competition. 

It occurred to me that I should probably make sure I have some scarves to wear while my tattoo is healing. Everything I own is silk or polyester, pretty slippery on a bold head, so I quickly ordered a couple of cotton/linen scarves from Amazon (along with some things I've had sitting in my cart waiting for me to release). I should have those delivered to the shop by Friday, so I'll only be short for a day. I can handle that. I'll start to pack my backpack tonight - six bottles of water, my wireless and wired headphones, a block charger for my phone, a pack of Kleenex, misc this and that. Tattoo Day is Wednesday and I'm so excited! 

It occurred to me that I would probably want to keep my 
head covered while it's healing. So I did a quick order 
of four head scarves. They're not fantastic, but they'll 
do just fine for the few weeks I'll be healing. I wanted 
something breathable, easy to keep in place, and that 
would go with my general work clothing without too 
much trouble. I think these will do fine.  

So, on that optimistic note, I'm signing off and getting ready to leave early for the shop so I can set up my laptop, pull up Peacock, and start watching today's Le Tour segment. I hope you have a truly fabulous day and please, be kind and stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow.