Burned

Lance Armstrong would always label performances by his rivals as "not normal" if they were outside of the expected. The performance of directeur sportif Grant Dunstan's Pedaling for Pints team in this year's Luna Cycles Fantasy Tour de France is decidedly "not normal". I mean, who picks Simon Gerrans for their team? But that pick has put him up at that top of the leaderboard for several days. True, he's finished outside the top 5 the past few days and will surely topple from the lead once the mountains start, but for now, Not Normal is definitely applicable.

Today, the Pyrenees start and we'll see who is on form or on the juice. I predict a Cadel Evans - Tejay van Garderen 1-2 for the next few stages, putting them in yellow and white solidly through Paris. Then Team Dirtboy Cycling will take their rightful place at the top of the 2013 Luna Cycles Fantasy Tour de France.

I flew back to the states to celebrate Independence Day and to ride in the Luna Cycles July 4th Gravel Grind. We got lucky and road from Lenoir all the way to Blowing Rock without any rain. I was joined by Dennis Lockhart and John Hogan (on his new Specialized Crux 'cross bike). All agreed that the conditions were perfect, the sights beautiful, the waterfall the highlight of the ride and that all who bailed on doing the ride missed out big time.