Le Tour

warning: stage 6 spoiler below

I'm sidelined with my right hand encased in a club-like brace/bandage arrangement. I'm pretty well stuck inside due to the fact that I can't get this thing wet and it is currently 104f outside, making immediate perspiration likely. I'm off the pain meds and back to work, but that just seems to make me miss my outdoor recreation hours as compared to the sleepy fog of my first couple of days post-surgery. The one redeeming thing about my situation is that I can while away a few hours watching the Tour de France. On one hand, this Tour promised some wide open competition, with Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans as the not-so-overwhelming favorites, with folks like Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal, Levi Leipheimer, Tommy Danielson, Frank Schleck and a handful of others being mentioned as "possibles".  Somewhat like last year, the opening week has been full of carnage. Friday's stage was expected to be an inconsequential lead-up to the first day in the mountains on Saturday. Instead, a massive pile-up took Hesjedal, Danielson and Schleck out of contention, with Danielson and several others out of the race with injuries.   My  man Mark Cavendish got an early stage win, only to suffer from crashes and lack of a lead-out train as his rival Andre Greipel took stages 4 and 5. Cav was out of the sprint today, but young phenom Peter Sagan took advantage of Greipel's lead out to beat him at the line. Exciting stuff.

I can't type worth a damn right now, so I'll invite your Tour comments.