Alberto Contador Weighs 140 Pounds

And he leads the TdF by 4 minutes and 11 seconds. Plus, he won today's time trial by 3 seconds. Wikipedia says that he's 5 foot 9 and a half inches, essentially my height, but the scrawny Spaniard is 20 pounds lighter than I am. He's obviously not scrawny, more like a coiled cable. And he's about to win his second Tour. After such an inspiration, I took a bike ride down by Crosby Farm, past the Ford dam (the first photo), over the Ford Bridge (where the second photo was taken), over the Lake Street Bridge and home on Summit Avenue. Last night's tennis was rained out, so I needed some exercise. It was my first ride in a while, about 16 miles, but it was a nice warm day and, although not as strong as Alberto or Gino, I felt pretty good.



Pictured below is a river boat going upstream towards the Lake Street bridge from the middle of the Ford bridge.



After my nap, I went to examine the new tennis court at Linwood. The fence is completed now, but the new tennis nets are an embarrassment. They sag badly in the middle. I looked closely and found that instead of a cable attachment to the poles, with a proper adjustment crank, the nets have been duct taped to the poles. Duct taped to the poles!! The proper authorities need to be called to see if this is their final answer. The courts are not playable in this condition by any self respecting tennis player. Grumble. Grumble.

A Visitor from the West

The Prairie Princess visited for the weekend, but has gone back to the prairie. She left last night after this festive night at Saji-Ya, a local Japanese eatery. We had some sushi and some of it had eel as its main ingredient, a type of sushi that both of these former residents of Japan seem to have great affection for. I had a piece or two, but mainly confined myself to the California rolls (crab and avocado). We also ate tempura and a tofu dish that Herb wanted to try out. There are no Japanese restaurants in Glyndon. PP took her bike back with her so that she can ride it to work. It fit nicely in the back seat/trunk of her auto with its front wheel lying silently beside the bike body.


It was back to tennis outside tonight at Marie Park for me. Nothing extraordinary occurred, but we managed to play three sets on one of the best nights of this July. As someone from Minnesota once said, there are a lot of nice days in July.

The Tour de France is beginning to get interesting. It's very close among the top five or six in the general classification (the competition for the yellow jersey), and they haven't uncovered any dopers for a couple of days. They are riding in the Alps tomorrow.