Course: Course 3
Distance: 5.3K (Approx. 5 Miles)
Time: 50:25

Comments: I managed to beat Jake for the first time in a long while. The course was a pure runner's course, but my lack of conditioning hurt me when I had to deal with the stairs and hills in Kelsey Creek Park. I went a bit astray traveling from control 4 to control 5, which sent me through some nettles I probably could have avoided. I made a few other errors as well, but all of them were quite minor. I had some trouble finding control 6, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one. The description said it was in a clearing, but the marker was hung from a power pole, and I couldn't see it because there was too much vegetation around it. If nothing else, the course reminded me why I prefer to do my orienteering in city parks rather than the wilds of, say, Teanaway Forks, where I always get lost and spend 3 hours on an 8k course.

Today's stage of the Tour de France was actually rather uneventful. Yes, a breakaway went clear and put a handful of racers into the top ten, but other than Inigo Landaluze, none of them really pose any threat to the podium. I was surprised Agritubel managed a win, but it was Juan Miguel Mercado, the only rider on the team I've ever heard of. (He used to ride for ProTour teams; I wonder what he did to get demoted to a continental team.) The only big shakeup was Iban Mayo's massive loss of time—he finished in the grupetto with McEwen and Hushovd, not a good showing for a skinny Spanish climber.

Speaking of podium contenders, I'm surprised no one ever mentions Vladimir Karpets. (The caption on that photo made my day.) After Leipheimer's choke job in the time trail, after Mayo's collapse in today's stage, and after his teammate Valverde crashing out, Karpets looks like a podium contender to me. I think the only thing that might slow him down is his team deciding to make Oscar Pereiro their leader instead and forcing Karpets to support him in the mountains. I'd love to see them do it the other way around.

Now, my predition for tomorrow. I was going to pick Mayo to win the stage, but after today's performance, no way. It will have to be another climber who's down a bit on the GC so he can get a little bit clear without a big chase to reel him in. I'm going to choose Gilberto Simoni. He's almost 10 minutes back, he can climb with the best, and he wants to prove he can do well outside of the Giro d'Italia. I also expect Rasmussen to attack early and hard to win KOM points, and if there's no breakaway ahead of him, I think he can win the stage, so I'll make him my alternate choice.  ¶ 10:58 PM