Journal

Tour De France

Maillot Jaune

Lagging behind coming into the week, he bursts onto the scene and takes the first stage of the week with aplomb. This is something of a minor milestone in the arduous tour considering how important it is to take the lead going into the mountains. Something of a psychological edge if you will.

He hits the mountains hard and fast, with enough power to put a comfortable distance between him and his nearest competitors. Yes, indeed, he’s doing very well on our first day in the mountains. Lots of power and determination, this is a remarkable sporting performance. He’s coming into the last bend… He’s turning far ahead of his opponents, and he’s leaving them in the dust! And he crosses the line! Taking the stage and returning the yellow jersey!

Third stage of the week, a speed trial. We have here a tremendous team effort on display. They are doing their best to fend off the competition, but it looks like a difficult one. This is going to be close… This is going to be close… In the lead, no, second, no, in the lead again, and across the line! Just narrowly! Going into the next stage still with a good lead over the second-placed rider.

Another difficult course today, with many steep slopes to scale. Here we see him doing well early on in this stage. He’s coming up fast. He’s pulling ahead. He’s… No, he’s slowing down, slowing down! Oh no! They’ve caught up with him. It seems as if he’s burned out or something. He is still maintaining a good pace, though, and a podium finish for the stage looks like it’s on the cards here. He’s struggling, but he’ll make it across with an adequate result to stay in the yellow jersey on the fourth stage of the week.

The fifth stage of the week should be a walkover for him now. But no! Reports say that he’s picked up a back injury early in the stage, but he’s still continuing. He doesn’t want to be disqualified now, no! Trooping along far behind the rest of the pack, he loses sight of the leading party far too soon. He grits his teeth and makes it past the finish line, but he’s no longer the leader of the race as we head into Saturday’s stage.

How will her fare this morning, on a difficult course while still recovering from his back injury? It looks like he isn’t pushing too hard today. He’s going to see how it goes and avoid being too ambitious. He just wants a decent result, and it looks like he’ll get it today. It puts him back within touching distance of the current leader, and I’m sure that’s all he could have wanted out of today.

The last stage of the week, and we are just over halfway of the tour. At this crucial point in the tour, he will want to overhaul the leaders and go into the next week wearing the yellow jersey. He’s not going to do that with the pace he’s started with. But no, he’s ramping it up. He’s going for the kill. Incredible power! He must be on drugs or something! He’s putting in his biggest day yet! Look at the distance between them! He’s going ahead! He’s crossing the line! And I really have to stop screaming into the mic! Success! He pulls ahead of the leaders by a mile! What a show!

And that, really, is how the writing week has been. A relatively okay first half, an injury on Friday, and the biggest day I’ve ever put in yesterday. Phew. A total of just about 10,000 words in the week.

Returns

My Amazon order arrived on Saturday, and one of the books is damaged. That made me quite upset. Returns are possible, but I keep getting the feeling something will go very wrong with the returns. Oh well, I suppose I can only make do. At least I got Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Scrapbook just fine.

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© 2009 a modest odyssey.