The Mountain Men Had a Ferocious Battle

This year’s Tour de France (TDF) was one of the most exciting races I can recall and Lance was never even a contender. Unfortunately almost everything that could go wrong for Lance did go wrong. He flatted on stage 3 without a support car nearby then crashed several times in subsequent stages and eventually fell so far behind he could only support his team. Lance Armstrong was on the podium in Paris however as his team, RadioShack, was the first place team in the Tour. With Lance having such an unfortunate race one might think that the TDF would have become a yawning, lackluster event. Not even close. The battle between Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador was nothing short of epic. Unfortunately for Andy, his brother Frank crashed out of the Tour in stage 3 (the cobblestones were a killer for everyone that day) and was not there to provide the much needed support in the mountain stages. Even so, Andy wore the maillot jaune (yellow jersey) for several days and did not loose it to Contador until a heavily criticized move in the mountains. Bicycle racing is a tough, grueling sport but part of the sportsmanship involved is the gentleman’s understanding that you win races by being better that day than any of the other riders. If a contender crashes or has mechanical difficulties the lead group slows down and waits until the fallen racer can catch up and then the racing begins again. Contador chose to ignore good cycling sportsmanship and attacked Schleck just after Andy had a maintenance issue and had to dismount his bike on a steep mountain section. In addition to taking what many people “in the know” believe to be a cheap shot, Contador also had his Lieutenant, Alexander Vinokourov, working for him while Schleck was basically on his own in the mountains due to his brother’s broken collarbone. After the saga in the mountains and a nail biting individual time trial the day before Paris Alberto Contador kept the maillot jaune by a mere 39 second lead over Andy Schleck. This was Contador’s third TDF win and Schleck’s third white jersey (best young rider, 25 and under) win. With the intense battle between Contador and Schleck I am already giddy about next year’s TDF. And with Lance completing his final race to Paris this year I’m all about Andy Schleck in 2011 and beyond.

The M310 Bucket List

Sure, there are probably hundreds of places we'd like to see and loads of fun things to do on the life list.  The adventure seeker probably has a little different list tucked back in the cerebrum as we agree with our significant other what fun it would be seeing Paris at night.  The following list is a work in progress and will be updated from time to time when additional adventures are added.  After reading the list you may think that the backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon sounds plausible but trekking in Nepal will never happen.  Too expensive but nice to dream about.  Here is where I challenge everyone to change the way you think about money and read Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover.  No matter what your income or how much you do or don't save this book can lead you to becoming completely debt free in a very short time-frame and then any life list will be something to get genuinely excited about.

Now on with the M310 Bucket List: (Not in any specific order)

• Backpack the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim.  This week or longer trip starts by parking at the South Rim and hiking down to the river for a day or two of exploration at the bottom.  Then hike up the North Kaibab Trail to the North Rim and spend the night on top.  That's a Rim-to-Rim trip.  Now we add the third rim by hiking back to Phantom Ranch at the river for another night then back to the truck on the South Rim.
• White Water Rafting Through the Grand Canyon.  Well that sums it up.  A week long white water trip by day and camping along the river at night.
• Moab, Arches and Canyonlands.  A week of mountain biking on the slickrock combined with a few hikes to see the arches.
• Trek to Machu Picchu.  The Inca Trail is approximately 40 miles winding through the mountains of Peru to the ancient Inca lost city of Machu Picchu.                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/machu_picchu
• Mountain Bike the San Juan Huts From Telluride to Moab.  There are a series of huts along forest roads between Telluride, Colorado and Moab, Utah specifically designed for mountain bikers travelling through the mountains.  The huts are fully stocked with food, cookware, water, beds, etc and strategically spaced for making the trip in six days. www.sanjuanhuts.com/bike_huts/index.html
• Amazon River.  Do something involving adventuring and the river???
• Yosemite.
• Teton.
• Glacier.
• Yellowstone.
• Trek to Everest Base-camp.  No personal desire to summit Everest but trekking through Nepal to base-camp would be spectacular.  
• Chilkoot Trail Backpacking and Hop the Train Back to Skagway.  The Chilkoot is the original Gold Rush trail and it intersects the railroad line headed back down the mountain into Skagway, Alaska.
• Copper Canyon, Mexico.  Backpacking, trail running and mountain biking in the land of the Tarahumara. 
• Paria Canyon, Utah/Arizona.  Backpacking through Paria includes hoisting your pack to rest on your head as you wade through slot canyons filled with chest deep water.

Lance Finishes Prologue in Fourth

In his final tour de France Lance rode to fourth place in the opening time trial.  Alberto Contador finished five seconds behind Lance and they are the two cyclists the world will be focused on for the next three weeks as they race 2200 miles around France.  Gotta love the TDF!