Mountain Musings

I won't lie, it's been like a furnace here in the Inland Valley. I can't blame the heat for forgetting to turn my phone back on, or missing Jerry Otto's Fish Camp.

I talked to SturgeUrge this afternoon, and he had a good time up on the West Fork of the Carson River. Get this, they saw the DFG truck stock the river, and caught the crap outta those planters!

I'm sorry I missed it, but I'm falling behind my expectations for the Ancestral Diggins...in a hurry.

I did find the time to muse on all things mountainous, though. I began my day watching the first tiny mountains in this year's Tour de France.

There was big trouble on a mountain road in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium today. Almost every Tour de France racer crashed descending a rain-slicked mountain road. One rider in the breakaway fell, then a motorcycle put it down to avoid the downed rider...spilling engine oil across the road, which caused the whole chasing peloton to crash as well. All the big stars were on the ground today...including the core of my Fantasy Tour Team.

Most escaped with road rash or minor cuts and abrasions...except for American Christian Vande Velde, who I thought was a contender for the podium...if not the overall win. Christian finished the race, and along with two teammates went to the hospital afterwords. X-rays revealed broken ribs, and he withdrew. I'm still waiting to see if up and coming American sprinter, Tyler Farrar will suffer the same fate.

Big-League bicycle racing can be cruel. Tuesday's Stage 3 will be worse than today's massacre. Tuesday the race enters France and is contested over the infamous Paris-Roubaix roads including several sectors of cobblestone roads or as the French say, pavé.

The forecast promises only 20% chance of rain, but it doesn't take much moisture to make a horrible mess for the racers. They'll be in "The Hell of the North"...I'll be holding my breath!

While keeping an eye on my Twitter feed for Tyler Farrar news, I noticed that the Sierra Sun tweeted that business in the High Sierra was good over Independence Day Weekend. They also posted the season's Winter Weather Wrap-Up.

In the Wrap-Up, they reported that Kirkwood did turn chairlifts over the holiday weekend.

OnTheSnow.com reports that five North American Ski Resorts are open in July, including Boreal where they will turn a lift next weekend, July 10th and 11th. The three other holdouts are: Timberline Lodge on Oregon's Mt Hood, Mammoth Mountain in SoCal, and Whistler in British Columbia, Canada.

This just in, Tyler Farrar suffered a broken wrist, and although his Directeur Sportif says Tyler will start in the morning, either way he's not a contender for sprint glory anymore in this Tour. With less than seven hours before the Trade Deadline, I traded up for Contador, so I have two GC Contenders now.

With Armstrong and Contador for the GC, Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd, two Spanish Climbers (in addition to Contador): Juan Antonio Flecha and Juan Manuel Garate, Spanish All-Arounder Luis Leon Sanchez, the up and coming Brit All-Arounder, Bradley Wiggins, and my Russian Ace in the Hole...Vladimir Karpets.

So, about an hour of wrestling with my team it dawned on me...given the capriciousness of this year's Tour, I'd better put together a second team. (I'm a Fantasy Sports Conglomerate now, so sue me)

Now Team CorduroyPlanet is ready for action.