A few ideas:

• Send Jens Voigt a get well card.
• Reevaluate who your heroes are.
• Get out of town. Go ride somewhere new. It will take your mind off the boredom.
• Set aside your normal tour viewing beverage and look for ways to improve your diet so you too, can climb the alps at 13.5mph.
• See a barber. Style your hair like Bradley Wiggins best bike racer in the universe. This is also an excellent opportunity to meet new non-cycling friends and expand your horizon.

Rode the 12 mile auto tour route at the Bear River Bird Refuge on Sunday. Photos
A short list of birds and critters we saw:

• Meerkat
• Avocet
• Ibis
• Coot
• Great Blue Heron
• Pelican
• Greebe
• Yellow Headed Black Bird
• Cormorant
• Merganser
• Black Neck Stilts
• Mallard
• Rare Canadian Goose
• Goshawk
• Cinnamon Teal
• Egret
• Pheasant
• Sandpiper
• Sandhill Crane
• Hedgehog

Dave Zabriskie has promised Planet Quirky and interview which will be posted here and at The Church of the Big Ring. Probably not likely until the ToG is over. The boys in Argyle threw the hammer down on the hot asphalt yesterday for a win. Hopefully these train robbers can keep it up. I, for one, am jealous of 80 degree temps in GA. Looking back it was 88 degrees in late April last year in Salt Lake. Feels like it’s been 42 forever. I just gave Questar Gas nearly $300 for a spring heat bill. Jeeezz. . .

The Argyle Armada was seen “warming up” before the race with special, non-argyle ice vests. Said Christian Vande Velde, “Most of our racing this year – the Tour of California and Paris-Nice – has taken place in cold, wet conditions. Today was the first hot race of the year and the ice vests helped keep our core temperature down before the race.”

Black Bart

One of the most unusual stagecoach robbers in American history. There is no record of Bart every firing a shot in any of his robberies. Bart, however, was not so lucky. During one robbery a bullet shot at him grazed his head and left a scar. In his final robbery he was shot in the hand. When Bart was arrested he was using the name Charles E. Bolton, the name under which he had been living for years in San Francisco. When he was booked, he gave his name as T. Z. Spalding. However, Bart’s real name was Charles E. Boles. Bart was tried, convicted and sentenced to San Quentin prison. He served his time, was released early, then disappeared without a trace.

I got attacked by a hedgehog. It was well worth it, the Cotswolds are absolutely amazing!