In the days leading up to a race, you kind of want to chill out. No major workouts or anything, but enough miles so that you're not feeling slugish on the first stage. On Sunday, I joined Pepe and Moncho (shown above) for a good ride. We averaged 30.5 kph with some hills in there, which is a pretty good average speed for how easy we were going. We notched it up for one section (for those who care: 291W for 35 min and it felt like tempo, except for the last 2 min at 349W). As usual with rides over 3 hours, we stop for Coca Cola along the way, either at a gas station or a bar. Pepe also bought one of those packs of a dozen chocolate covered donuts. Classic.

The big news of the last couple days is that Pepe escaped back to Mexico. There had been quite a bit of tension between Jose and him. He took a team bike with him; Jose's pissed. But when you're unhappy, you gotta do what makes you happy I suppose. He had been injured, he hadn't been paid by Jose, his girlfriend's waiting, he hasn't seen his family for 7 months, he hasn't been racing well, and he's just been generally in the dumps. With a quick switch of the ticket, he was off. He is a ridiculously fast climber, so I think he'll be looking for a pro team spot in the US.

Today I did a 4 hr ride with mom and dad following along in the car. As usual, their mouths dropped in awe at how beautiful the ride was. It reminded me how lucky I am to be able to train in such an awesome place; it was also inspiring to be able to show them what I've been doing over here all this time. I think what really hit them were the cool little towns with narrow streets and neat churches, old people waving as we quickly roll through town, and the great views after a narrow winding climb.

I have some videos I'll try and post. But for now, gotta hit the sack and rest up for the race. We leave tomorrow afternoon, and I have to clean the bike, pack, train, and wash up before meeting over at Jose's.

If you're not addicted already: great videos of the Tour on http://www.velonews.com/vntv/ and live coverage on cyclingnews.com