well, that is how i spent the summer ’05. to wrap things up, here are a few random thoughts:
– is there going to be a fifth season of 24? i am really curious about that since the ending of season four was kind of… unexpected.
– the podcasting hype hit austria. whoo-hooo… only about a year too late. d’oh.
– HalfLife2 owns. never seen such realistic water effects in a computer game. but not only the water… everything looks very real, almost hyperreal.
– Rob Thomas’ solo album “Something To Be” is actually quite good. what is surprising though is that although matchbox twenty is almost unknown in Europe they play Rob Thomas even in shopping malls. (heard “This Is How A Heart Breaks” in the mall today.)
– as the days are getting shorter and the evenings longer and Blizzard launched brand new PVP and RP-PVP server for World of Warcraft i am back in Azeroth.

well, i guess dear Lance is in the seventh cycling heaven right now after having won the TdF for the seventh time in a row. this was his last race as a pro cyclist and it makes me kind of sad. but on the other hand… his riding was different this year. last year he was more aggressive, winning several stages including some mountain top finishes. however, i kept waiting for this to happen this year as well but it didn’t. i think he is clever enough to know when to draw the line and quit — quit at the top of the game!

tomorrow the TdF ends in Paris and Lance is almost in the “7th heaven”, ie. he is going to win the TdF for the 7th in a row. today was an individual time trial and Lance won it of course. “Ulle” Ullrich did better than in the prologue timetrial but still Lance was 23 seconds faster. not only his girlfriend Sheryl Crow and his three kids where there at the of the stage today, but also the former presidential candidate John Kerry! i am looking forward to the final stage tomorrow and the closing ceremony in Paris. this is surely going to be a history moment.

today was the 14th stage of the TdF and it was very special since the Austrian rider Georg Totschnig won this stage that again finished on a mountain top. this was the stage win of an Austrian rider since 1931! Lance finished in second place after being separated by his team on the first of the two climbs today. that sort of suprised me: one attack by the t-mobile team and his mates where gone! so he rode along with Ullrich and Basso and i was constantly waiting for that famous “Lance attack” (i.e. look into the eyes of your rival and then start off like a rocket) which finally came one or two kilometers from the finish line. Ullrich dropped and Basso tried to keep up but Lance was faster. when he rides it looks like he is flying up that mountain and is not struggling at all. i doubt that but still, he makes it look sort of easy — which of course it isn’t!
tomorrow will be another hard stage in the mountains with a mountain top finish again… and i guess the tour is going to be decided on that stage. it’s getting hot at the TdF because not only the temperatures are rising but also the heat of the competition.

i meant to post this yesterday but my internet connection refused to work in the evening. yesterday was the first mountaintop finish stage and lance and his team did awesome! his mates pulled him up the last climb but at the end the “boss” was alone and crushed his competitors by riding an unbelievable pace! ullrich and co were dropped and only 4 riders could keep up. at the end it was just lance and a young spanish rider named Alejandro Valverde who kind of outsprinted lance. they crossed the finish line together, shaking hands. lance is back in yellow after he lost his favorite jersery on sunday. eurosport was too busy analysing why jan ullrich and his t-mobile team did not very well on the climb so they didn’t broadcast the ceremony when lance got the jellow jersey. as a result i switched to France 2 where they did not only show the ceremony but also a live interview with lance in french! that was kind of funny hearing him speaking french although his french is very good!

the team time trial in the TdF ’05 put Lance back into his beloved yellow jersey. lance’s new team – discovery channel –rode like hell, putting rivals like t-mobile or team CSC in the runner-up places. great ride! keep it up.

today the Tour de France 2005 was started with the traditional “prologue”, ie. an individual time trial over a course of 19 km. lance did great as always. although he had a slight problem with the right pedal when he rolled down the start ramp but he picked up his high cadence pace and even overtook his archrival jan “ulle” ullrich. he finished in second place and i guess that was a strategic decision to do so because now he does not have to defend the yellow jersey until the TdF hits the mountain stages, which are usually the place where the tour is won or lost. i strongly believe that lance will win the tour for the seventh time in a row. he looks strong and motivated as ever. sure, a lot can happen in almost 3 weeks and the tour is over in Paris. but when he caught “ulle” in the time trial today… i was cheering and yelling, yeah, that’s the way to do it! go lance!