Tooer Day Fraunch

I am out of town.  This post was written on Wednesday July 10, 2013.

So I was looking over the stage profiles of each day, deciding which ones I'd probably be watching from here on out.  It goes like this:

Today's Stage:  Individual Time Trial.  Yawn.
Tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday:  2 flat stages.  Yawn.
Saturday:  a couple of cat 3s and several cat 4s.  Maybe.  If I'm really bored.
Sunday (Stage 15):  Mont Ventoux.  Definitely.

Tues and Wed:  a couple of 2s each day.  Probably not.

Thursday:     Oh Thursday.  You are sick.  To me, one of the funniest things Brady said on the bike was when we went out to Louisville one morning and rode up some steep hill.  I've written about it in the past so I'll just source it right here:

But today, I wanted to SHOW Brady that hill. So he thought (wrongly) it would be fun to ride up it. About 1/4 of the way up, he muttered something about getting off his bike and pushing. It was pretty funny. Then when we were coming down on the next block over, he said we should do it again. I said "oh yeah, we should."

I don't think Brady understands sarcasm.

So we went up again.

Afterwards I said "I thought you were joking about going up again."

He said, "C'mon fred, that hill is so preposterous, you can't just go up once." 

 Months and months ago, the tour route planner guys were having a little problem.  It was "Alpe D'huez" year , but the way that France works, this year, the summit finish would be after a ride of merely 122 Km.  At first they didn't think this was a problem.  It sounded plenty long enough.  Until someone reminded the French guys that it worked out to only about 75 miles or so.

"Mon Dieu!  Now what will we do?,"  Panicked French guy number one asked.

"We could make zem ride around in circles at zee top for a while or zomezing,"  stupid French assistant guy offered.

"Idiot," Panicked Frenchman one accompanied his scream with a hard slap to the back of assistant guy's head.

Just zen, a woman cleared her throat.  "How would you describe Alpe D'huez,"  she asked, interrupting the men trying to work.  They were so stunned by her brazenness, they stopped what they were doing to consider her question.

After no answer came from anyone, the woman continued, "Would you say it is ... Preposterous?"

Then they all instantly knew what they were going to do.  Nobody can understand why the French like what they like.  Jerry Lewis is a national hero.  And without exception, Fredcube is their favorite blog.  They can't get enough of that shit.  Many of them have whole passages memorized.  The episode referenced above is one of their favorites.  It is the bedtime story most requested among all the little boys and girls of France.

In France, "preposterous" has come to mean roughly "again"

When 2 riders are going up a hill and one rider says "preposterous,"  it means they are going up it again.

And that's the story of how the race organizers fixed tiny little Stage 18 of this year's tour.  They're going up Alpe D'huez.  Twice.  Sweet.

  So yeah, I will watch that one.