Summer sports nirvana

In addition to fresh fruit, sweet tomatoes (which are a fruit, I know), lazy afternoon naps, summer reading, and road trips, to me, summer is also the time to enjoy the "wide world of sports".  After the annual drought that follows March (when March Madness ends, of course, and then we suffer through NBA playoffs and spring baseball), June brings a multitude of choices in terms of events and sports that I happen to enjoy.  This year, of course, is an Olympic year, so that means that our choices just quadrupled about 10 times.

So far, it has been plus/minus in terms of the individuals and teams that I am supporting, and my dedication in June wavered quite a bit.  While I celebrated that Nadal won the French Open, triumphing over Djokovic, he recently took an unexpected exit at Wimbledon.  That was so disappointing, and I probably won't follow much of Wimbledon from here on out!  Then there's the NBA, which I love to hate.  Really, all I wanted this year was for Miami to lose, which did not happen.

So, this brings me to today - July 1 marks the beginning of what I am calling "sports nirvana".  We caught some of the Olympic trials yesterday, and I started this morning with the Tour de France.  Even though some people question whether this will be an exciting Tour this year (Andy Schleck is out; Contador is banned; some riders are more focused on the Olympics rather than the Tour), I don't care.  It's the 99th year, so how could it not be spectacular?!  After watching the stage this morning, which had an exciting end, I switched the channel so that we could watch the Euro Cup final between Italy and Spain (currently, Spain is up, 2-0).  We missed ALMOST all of the tournament since we were on the road and just couldn't follow it, but catching the final game?  Why not?! 

If I keep up my Tour de France viewing, I might be sorely tempted to invest in one of these:

You can read all about this exercise bike here.  Somehow, I don't think that our family budget includes a $1500 exercise bike, so chances that I'll be watching the Tour while riding my Tour exercise bike are slim to none.  

Plus, I really should just get my butt on my own damn bike and ride!

Speaking of that...  Lest it seem that I am turning into couch potato as I keep up with the Tour and the Olympic trials, I have my own plans for the summer of sports nirvana in Boulder on August 5.  Depending, of course, on wildfire and other conditions in the state.  Seeing as Boulder 70.3 is exactly 5 weeks out, I am finding myself more nervous and excited and have seriously started to question my sanity and my ability, but I have also started to ramp up my training in a big way.  While we were on the road, I managed to keep up with my running, and I did not totally abandon biking and swimming for those two weeks.  It was, however, great to put in a 2-hour ride yesterday in the saddle followed by an easy 4-mile run.  After my bike frustration from a few weeks ago when the chain kept dropping, Sunshine has behaved beautifully, and I've been more than happy on our recent rides together.  This is positive, because I have many more miles to go before August 5!