One of my favorite things about summer hands down is The Tour de France. I am not a cyclist and I’ll admit I started watching about 8 years ago because of a fascination with Lance Armstrong. But my drooling over Lance gradually turned into a love of the race in general – the determination of the racers, the drama between teams and racers, the fantastic coverage, the views of the beautiful country side and crazy people along the sides of the road - and now I find myself recording and excitedly watching the 4 hours of coverage every day. (Ok, sometimes on fastforward, cause 4 hours is really a long time to watch anything)

There are lots of names I recognize, but no clear winners and a good number of first timers that are keeping things really interesting. I am really digging the riders from team Garmin-Chipotle (formerly Slipstream), an American team that entered as a wild card and has done quite well in the first 5 stages. One of their riders, David Millar, was involved in a big doping scandal several years ago, and he, along with the whole team, are dedicated to “clean” racing.  A great idea, I think, that could go a long way toward cleaning up cycling and all of the other sports that are in big need of an overhaul.

I know we’ve got some actual cyclists here on the porch. Who do you guys like to win it this year?