Le Tour Finally Hits the Mountains

The heat has gone down a bit, but it's still hot enough that I'm really looking forward to swimming outdoors in the Olympic-sized pool today. It's a harder swim in some ways, an easier one in others. I wish I was a faster swimmer because I often need to share a lane and I'm always slower than my lane partner, making it difficult if I'm sharing with more than one person. There is lane etiquette for sharing lanes, and sharing with one person where we each get one side of the lane is no problem. Sharing with more than one where we have to circle, is a bit trickier.

Le Tour is on Day 8 today, and we are finally into some hills and mountains. Today we have climbs and climbs and climbs once again, ending on a shorter flat after a steep Category 1 climb. Finally a stage for the climbers instead of the sprinters. Sunday's stage has lots of hills for the climbers - seven peaks to crest including two HC peaks.

Sunday's stage has lots and lots of peaks for the climbers, but the sprinters
will be hurting as they climb and climb and climb again. 

Congrats to Marcel Kittel for winning yesterday's stage in a hard-fought sprinter's race to the line. That makes three wins for Kittel this year and if he can survive the mountain stages, he might well win even more.

Congrats to Marcel Kittel for winning Stage 7 at this year's Le Tour de France.
This is his third stage win so far in this year's Tour. His record is
four stages, maybe he will surpass that this year now that Cavendish and
Sagan are out of the race. 

Tomorrow DH and I will start the day with a quick breakfast, then take a single lighter load to the landfill, and then we'll drop by Total Wine to see if they received their shipment of Redd's Green Apple Ale. They were totally sold out when we went there on Thursday night, but they receive their shipments on Friday and Tuesday, so might be back in stock. Minnesota banned Sunday liquor sales since Prohibition began in 1920, so having the stores open for alcohol sales will be odd and take a bit of getting used to. I'm happy, though, it will make things easier if we happen to run out of. The new Sunday hours just started on July 1st.

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back on Monday.