The Tour De France, my retirement, & Team Radio Shack

First off, I have Directv & they no longer carry the channel Versus, which is what the Tour De France is going to be televised on this July. If they don't figure out a way to carry the Tour by mid June I'm going to have to cancel my contract with them & get a new cable/dish carrier.

I just got the word from the NM employees public retirement association that my paper work (and check) to buy 16 months of military time was accepted & has gone through without a hitch. My new aproximate date of retirement from the NM state pennitentiary is summer of 2015!!!

Speaking of the Tour, most of my favorite riders are going tp be riding for team RadioShack this year. Of course there's Lance Armstrong, there is also Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner. As a matter of fact the only cyclists whom I would consider as a favorite of mine who isn't one the Shack team would be George Hincapie & thor hushovd. I am SO looking foreward to the Tour this year! I'm probably more excited about this years Tour than any other year!

Here is an article on Chris Horner that originally made me a fan of his:

Pro cyclists. Who needs 'em? Let's face it -- the sport has a reputation for taking itself too seriously.

A subculture populated by men with shaved legs, borderline eating disorders and spandex wardrobes is fertile ground for acts of overcompensation. Pro cyclists, specifically the roadies, can seem aggressive and dramatic.

What they do is extremely hard and seriously dangerous, so I'm willing to cut them some slack, but sometimes I just want to pat them on the back, hand them a box of Twinkies and tell them that everything is going to be OK.

And there's at least one guy in the pro peloton who probably wouldn't turn down the Twinkies: Bend's own Chris Horner.

Aside from his notoriously questionable nutritional habits, Horner is known for his good nature, easy manner and rock-solid work ethic. The man is a machine -- and he'll make you laugh while he's turning the screws.

During the course of his career, he's won the points standing for the National Racing Calendar three times and competed in three Tours de France, placing 15th overall in 2007. Most recently, Horner's been hard at work on the Astana team riding support for Levi Leipheimer, who many think is capable of winning the Tour in the next few years.

Unfortunately, because of the team's previous involvement with doping scandals, Astana wasn't invited to the big show in France this year. That's how Chris and Levi (who weren't with Astana at the time of the scandals) ended up racing the Cascade Cycling Classic stage race this July in Horner's hometown of Bend.

The town was abuzz with his name when I arrived.

I'll be honest. By the time I actually got a chance to meet the guy, I was already suffering from severe Horner-love burnout. What is it about this guy?, I thought to myself.

And then I found out in one of those rare moments where life lives up to legend.

During Stage 5, Billy Demong, a racer from another team, crashed hard with 2K to go, damaging his bike enough to render it useless. Scraped and bloodied, he began to run the remaining distance to the finish.

About this time, Horner, who had spent the past 80 miles busting legs for Levi, found him and loaded him up on the seat of his bike, elementary-school style. Climbing the remaining distance entirely out of the saddle with a podium-worthy grin on his face, he hauled Demong (and his broken bicycle!) to the finish.

As I watched the duo come rolling slowly up the crest of the hill, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

It was quintessentially Chris Horner: impressive, selfless, fun and -- above all -- hilarious.

Even as we stood chuckling and shaking our heads at the absurdity of the whole thing, I have to believe that I was not the only one to find myself suddenly steeped in long-forgotten childhood memories of buddy rides and two-wheeled misadventures.

And suddenly the rabid Horner-love made perfect sense.

He is the people's pro. He is the neighborhood pal who rode us on the handlebars so we would make it home before the streetlights came on. And his injection of levity reminds us why we started riding bikes in the first place.