Conflicted

Six days a week I get up and am on my bike by 7:30 so that I can shower and get on with the day before lunch. Because I work, Saturday is my scheduled "big ride" where I do my most miles at my biggest effort. Depending on where I am in my schedule, I'm gone from 2 to 4 hours.

There are other benefits to going at this time. Little traffic, fewer idiots (I'm sorry, complain all you want about speeding cyclists, but rollerbladers wearing headphones and not aware of anything going on around them and dog walkers who don't control their dogs are the world's greatest menances), and it's cooler. Plus, as the summer goes on, between 10 and 6 the "hey won't it be fun to ride my bike but not follow traffic laws" riders come out. I have no problem with these riders except, well, they tend to be dangerous and don't follow any sort of logic. Once, while climbing a curvy hill (at 17 mph, I'm very proud to say) I encountered a string of them riding on the wrong side, coming around a blind curve. They are lucky no one, including me, was hurt.

But this week I have a problem. The Tour de France starts. It starts at 7:30 a.m. with a live pre-show followed by live coverage of the prologue which will last until roughly 12:30.

So, the conundrum is . . . do I ride and watch the coverage on Tivo when I get home or do I watch and ride when traffic is heavier?

And, honestly, this is a conundrum all month. All the coverage starts around the same time I hit the road. If I get up and leave earlier, I won't see the family before they go off to their daily activities. I suppose I can do what I've always done and just have OLN on all day while I work and try my best to stay away from cycling sites.

But this year there's an open field. It has the potential to be an amazingly exciting race where anyone could end up the winner. And once they hit the mountains it'll get really exciting.

So, what to do? Ride or watch people ride? Hmmm.