The New Year, new Random Thoughts Thread

My in-laws have a place in the Lot region, fantastic cycling out there. I'm time trialer and too big to be a good climber, so the Pyrenees would be troublesome for me but the Lot is a good blend.

 

As they noted, he's a climber and doesn't really have the strength to be anything other than a domestique in France.

Pogacar looked really comfortable in that stage and just floated up that hill with minimal fuss and no teammates.

 

Time trial tomorrow. I’ll be watching that. I like the individual but the team trial is interesting to watch.

Time trials are amazingly different these days. The bikes and the equipment they use is something we could never ever dream about. I could never afford to buy a bike back then (Late 50s) I found a nice frame and a couple of good wheels, the back wheel had one gear fixed on so you couldn’t stop pedaling off, a track bike with a really small cog giving me a massive high gear. Once I got going I was away, as long as we didn’t have a steep section I could keep it moving. I had massive thighs back then.
Coming down a Welsh mountain I scared myself spitless once just on a tour. I was going fast and hit a horseshoe bend with a drop off on the outside I had the lean the bike way over and with the fixed gear I couldn’t stop pedaling so every time the pedal came around it would hit the ground and lift the back wheel off the ground and sideways. For a moment I thought I was going over the bank to join the sheep below.
Loved that bike for time trials.

 

I got lied to. Time trials on Saturday....I hope.

This guy found it so easy he could do it standing on his head.

 

One man and his bike. So you never got to compete in the sheep trials, then?

 

And with an encore from Pogacar the next day. The man has earned his yellow jersey.

 

The guy was remarkable, repeatedly attacking others after they had exhausted themselves attacking him going up those mountains.

 

His ability, like Armstrong, in the time trials gives him so much wiggle room in the climbs, but he doesn't really need the wiggle room as the best climber.
All the more impressive when he had several days on the climbs without any teammates and other groups putting on full presses.

 

The US COVID hot spot? Wouldn't go that far.

Maybe they can get vaccinated while they are here. We have plenty.

 

I read that 20% of all new cases in the US are in Florida ....... ?

 

I think the Delta variant is ripping through Florida .

Florida leads the nation in new COVID-19 cases, with nearly 1 in 5 of the new infections across the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Florida Department of Health reported 45,604 new COVID-19 infections over the seven-day period between July 9 and July 15. The number of new cases in Florida has nearly doubled in the past seven days, and the week-to-week growth rate is the highest the state has seen since the first wave of COVID-19 infections in June 2020. Florida also led the country in hospitalizations, with 3,652 confirmed COVID-19 admissions from July 7 to July 14, according to CDC data. That’s also about 1 in 5 of all 19,520 admissions nationwide.
Florida’s COVID numbers are headed the wrong way | Editorial (tampabay.com)

 

Italian tourist saves young Englishman from stepping under a bus.

 

"Delta variant." Everyone's new boogieman.

 

you don't think it's serious?

 

I just saw on tv that the CDC says 83% of all Covid infections in the US are Delta.

 

Yep. I'm double vaxxed and infections rates are quite low here now so my concerns for friends and family here are low too.
However IF you're young, unvaccinated, over 50 or just had one dose? Then you’re most at risk from the delta variant and those people should be worried. Delta is highly contagious and the numbers rising in Florida reflect that.

 

Contagious, but not very dangerous.

 

Contagious = more infections = more variants .........

 

Well, we are going to have variants regardless, just like we do with the flu, so we have to come to grips with the fact that Covid is something that will be around lingering in the background. However, if you are fully vaccinated, then there really isn't much to be concerned about. The likelihood of a fully vaccinated individual having a serious illness or dying from Covid is no greater than any number of freak illnesses or deaths. Everyday more and more data comes out to support that.

Will I be more careful in areas where there is a large population (gathering) of obviously unvaccinated people, sure, but in Central PA right now the rolling 7 day average for new cases is less than 10 day and for deaths, its 1 or 0 and has been since the beginning of June, and that with an about 55% vaccination rate. There certainly could be an uptick at some point, but I'm feeling pretty safe out there, and I'm someone with medical conditions which probably aren't all that compatible with Covid. Be smart, but live your life.