So maybe it is rocket science

Yesterday and today we watched the Discovery Network crow about its most famous personality. The Science of Lance Armstrong not only explains why Lance is the human best built to endure the trials of the Tour, but the program does a fine job of teaching the details of team cycling. It shows how a wind tunnel is just as important an element as a Belgian equipment manager who ages the team's tires in his basement, as if they were wines. Team Discovery is riding on five-year-old rubber this month. Here he shakes hands with the American rider who first donned the yellow jersey for this year's race, Tom Zabriskie. Lance is wearing green, for yesterday's second-place finish, but his main squeeze Sheryl Crow said on OLN he was looking forward to putting on the Discovery colors once more after today.

Discovery's interest must have been piqued by its sponsorship of the cycling team. That's an opportunity that might not have come the network's way if the USPS hadn't passed on a seventh year of underwriting the greatest bike team in the world. As I pumped the tires at 6 AM today for this morning's ride, I looked at the US Postal Service arm-warmers I bought two years ago. The Post Office may never see another chance to make its logo so famous. We watched the Tour show on OLN today with Ellen, John, Ron and his wife Sue, and somebody asked what the USPS was sponsoring instead of Lance. Abby quipped, "Stamps?"

We whet our pallets for the TV show this morning as we pushed through a sharp south wind to finish 28 miles in Burnet County, a ride that started at the town of Liberty Hill, home of "The Fightin' Panthers." It's not enough for the town's high schoolers to be panthers, mind you. They gotta be fightin' ones, too. The last seven miles reminded me why they call the town Liberty Hill: undulating road that gave up and retook the same 100 feet of elevation over and over. I breathed hard in the 90-degree heat and gave thanks for the Bicycling Magazine article on climbing. Don't go too hard in the first quarter of a hill. Sit back in the saddle. Stand up on some climbs to vary the use of your muscles. Use your pedaling upstroke as well as the downstroke. Breathe slow and deep. Not exactly science, but it's at least a process tested by more experienced riders.