Adventure in 60 Seconds: Last Week in Exploration

By Tetsuhiko Endo

Since the popularization of whitewater rafting and kayaking, the North Fork of the Payette has become one of North America's premier stretches of whitewater with 15 miles of continuous Class V rapids, including the infamous series of drops known as "Jacob's Ladder." Record rainfall in the region has swelled the river to unprecedented levels over the last two weeks and some of the world's best kayakers have taken the plunge into never before paddled conditions. Check out this video clip of the mayhem at Canoe and Kayak magazine.

Tour De France Update: A Triumphant Glance Back, A Bold Look Ahead

Text by Christian Camerota

A few years ago, Lance Armstrong wouldn’t have considered the Arc of Triumph a fitting place to finish third in the Tour de France.  But with age comes perspective.

The Tour concluded Sunday on a 164 km ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris’ Champs-Élysées, with Mark Cavendish sprinting easily to his sixth stage win of the race.  As expected, Spain’s Alberto Contador held onto the yellow jersey and claimed the victor’s bowl with an overall time of 85 hours, 48 minutes, and 35 seconds.

Contador’s 4:11 margin of victory over second place Andy Schleck was the largest since Armstrong in 2005, and marked the fourth consecutive year a Spaniard has won.  One of the only gaffes of Contador’s Tour came as he stood atop the podium and was greeted with a brief portion of the Danish national anthem before technicians realized their mistake and switched to Spain’s.

Armstrong, meanwhile, returned from a four year cycling hiatus and a broken collarbone in March to finish 5:11 back in third place.  Defying skeptics and, some would say, the laws of Nature, the testicular cancer survivor faced a range of challenges, including 13 separate doping tests during the race, 2,141 miles of world class riding, and intense media scrutiny.  In the grand scheme of things, Armstrong considers himself to have emerged victorious.

“If you asked me to say one word,” he responded when asked to describe the race, “I would say it’s been a healthy experience.”

Even the French, notorious for their criticism of the American rider, seem to have moved past their antipathy to embrace him, with many of the same papers that lanced Armstrong years ago for cheating and bristling at questions now lauding him for his remarkable return.  His fellow riders had similar compliments, with Christian Vande Velde saying early on that Armstrong was “the happiest man in the peloton.”

Perhaps the only person not pulling for Armstrong was his sometime teammate and full-time rival, Contador.  The rivalry between the two was, inarguably, the most publicized portion of this year’s Tour and was even on Contador’s mind after his victory.

When asked what the race’s hardest moment was, Contador admitted, “It was in the [team] hotel.”  Armstrong, magnanimous in word if not quite as sharp in form this year, offered genuine perspective on the situation.

“Obviously it’s been a bit challenging,” he said in an interview with ESPN. “First of all, [Contador] is damn good.  But he’s very competitive, which I appreciate.  I know what that’s like.  So, you have two guys who are competitive, two guys who want to win, it was bound to be tense and nerve-racking…you had two guys who weren’t the best of buds.  But one won and the other was third…we got what we wanted, he got what he wanted, I’m happy with what I got.  And we’ll be back next year on separate teams.”

Though their team won the race by a 22:35 margin, neither Armstrong nor Contador is expected to compete with Astana in 2010.  Armstrong recently announced he will start his own cycling team, sponsored by RadioShack, and may be taking Astana’s coach, Johan Bruyneel (whom he credits for mending the team’s rifts and helping them to victory) with him.

The 2010 Tour will surely be one to watch, with Armstrong and Contador pitted against each other openly instead of tacitly, and a slew of other up-and-coming riders flanking them.  24-year-old Andy Schleck finished second this year and won the white jersey as the Tour’s best young rider, Franco Pellizotti of Italy earned the polka-dot jersey for being King of the Mountains, and Thor Hushovd of Norway earned the green jersey for being the Tour’s best sprinter, narrowly edging out the exciting and powerful Cavendish.

Assuming he can endure another offseason of grueling training and can stand another year of 53 out-of-competition doping control tests (the number he faced this year, more than anyone else in the sport to his knowledge), Armstrong will return again to find the competition likely even more fierce and his own body another year older.  But Armstrong displayed a new character trait in 2009 that will suit him well as he ages and continues to strive: patience.

“I don’t have the acceleration, the power that I had then,” he said in reference to previous Tours.  “I’ve got to look at the race differently…now, I’m having to ride my own race and be smart about it.  We were close to where we were before, which was interesting, but we just came across some riders that were damn strong.”

Tour De France Update: King Cavendish and Ventoux's Shadow

Text by Christian Camerota

Neither the peloton's blistering pace nor the looming shadow of Mont Ventoux kept Mark Cavendish from his fifth stage victory of the Tour De France on Friday.

The sprint-prone Team Columbia star propelled himself to his Stage 19 win, edging Tony Martin and making him the first rider since Lance Armstrong in 2004 to capture that many legs of the race. Cavendish excelled despite an average peloton pace of over 46km per hour (28.5 mph), a speed that consistently increased throughout the 178 km distance.

"It's beautiful," Cavendish said of his accomplishment. "We were just determined. Today was a really, really hard day and we've seen five or six guys from my team just empty their tank and I'm sure they're going to suffer for it tomorrow and for them to put themselves in the box before Ventoux, to enable me to win, shows how special they are.  How they worked today was brilliant...just perfect."

Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong finished in the second group, gaining what could turn out to be four key seconds in the chase for the podium on Bradley Wiggins and and Andreas Klöden, who are fourth and fifth overall behind him.  He also gained four seconds on Andy Schleck, who is in second behind Tour leader and Armstrong's teammate Alberto Contador.

Though the Tour de France does not officially conclude until Sunday's ride into Paris and parade on the Champs-Élysées, that portion is largely ceremonial. Tomorrow's 167km climb to the top of Mont Ventoux, a mammoth peak of prodigious lore in the Tour's history, will determine the winner.

Riders will return to Mont Ventoux after a seven year absence and for only the eighth time in the Tour's history. The mountain is best known for its grueling ascents and for claiming the life of British cycliist Tom Simpson in 1967.

Tour De France Update: Rising and Falling

Text by Christian Camerota

It appears Lance Amstrong's role has decidedly changed: from contender to protector.

In years past the steep climb from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand, considered by many to be the 2009 Tour de France's most difficult stage, has left Armstrong looking over his shoulder at the competition and the valleys below.  But the 37 year-old Texan finished fifth in Wednesday's 17th stage, losing more than two minutes to tour leader and teammate Alberto Contador and falling to fourth place overall.

Contador extended his lead to 2'26", fending off multiple attacks by and finishing between Saxo Bank teammates and brothers Andy and Frank Schleck.  The three man group ended the day more than two minutes ahead of the nearest riders and rearranged the leaderboard as well, with the Schleck brothers now second and third respectively.

The most notable move of the stage, however, may have been Armstrong's lack thereof.  As opposed to accelerating to catch the lead pack and perhaps giving challenger Bradley Wiggins the opportunity to draft and pass Contador, Armstrong hung back and maintained his distance until he was sure his teammate and the race's current leader were out of reach.

"I was there stuck with Wiggins," Armstrong said afterward.  "I had to wait until it got steeper, when you knew you could definitely get away."

That point came with just under 9 miles left in the 105-mile ride, when Armstrong seized an opportunity to surge forward.  Still, it was too little too late and he ended the day 3'55" behind Contador.  His goal now, he admitted, is to be next to Contador on the podium when they reach Paris.

"I think it's possible," he said of finishing second.  "I just need to work hard on the time-trial tomorrow.  I've been very careful today."

Tomorrow's 40.5 km trial in Annecy represents a good chance for Armstrong to regain the ground he lost before Saturday's grueling climb into Mont Ventoux, as he typically excels in the individual portions.  In the meantime it appears that, barring a spectacular collapse or an unforeseen disaster, Alberto Contador will likely be this year's tour champion.

To follow the action live, the Tour has set up a great live feed here.

Tour de France Update: Fatal Flaws

Text by Christian Camerota

A spectator's death, a leaderboard shuffle, and dimming hopes for Lance Armstrong's run at an eighth title marked what was an eventful weekend on the the Tour.  

Jeanette Stoeffel, 61, was killed Saturday crossing the road when she was struck by a police motorcycle that then careened into the crowd and seriously injured two other spectators.  Stoeffel's death was the Tour's first since a seven-year-old boy died after being hit by a publicity vehicle in 2002.

Team Astana also suffered a serious loss as teammate Levi Leipheimer pulled out of the race with a broken wrist he sustained in a crash two miles from Thursday's finish line.  His absence is expected to seriously impede Armstrong's chances at victory, as the two were close friends and allies among a team rumored to be rife with tension because of the rivalry between Armstrong and team captain Alberto Contador.

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