I competed in an orienteering event on Sunday morning. Most of the park was restricted to trail-use only, so it was more of a map run than a navigation challenge. That said, I still over-ran the first control and had to backtrack. When I was done with the event, I ran an extra few miles to keep my weekly mileage up. I found the trails wide, shady, and pleasant.

Today I ran an easy five miles, but my legs felt terrible. I had a bunch of sore spots, which I assume came from running hard on the uphills during yesterday's orienteering event. I've done absolutely zero hill work in training this year, and it really shows.

Tour Talk

What a stage we had on Sunday! Instead of sorting out the classification, the race actually got closer. Christian Vande Velde went from third at 38 seconds back to fifth at 39 seconds back. Carlos Sastre stayed in sixth, but he's now only 49 seconds down. Bernard Kohl is the surprise rider of this tour. He wasn't on my radar, that's for sure. I understand he's not much of a time-trialer, but if he keeps climbing like this, he could steal the win. He's now in second, a mere 7 seconds behind new leader Frank Schleck.

Wearing the Yellow Jersey, Cadel Evans dropped to third, but he only needs to make up 8 seconds, which he can do handily in the time trial, assuming he doesn't lose more time in the next two big mountain stages.

Denis Menchov moved into fourth place at 38 seconds down. In the final kilometers of the last climb, he attacked, only to slip on slick pavement and tumble from his bike. He remounted but lost his chain. He finally got sorted out, and his main rivals didn't press the attack until he caught back on. Everyone's left to wonder what would have happened had he stayed on his bike.

On the descent of the Col Agnel, Oscar Pereiro crashed into a guardrail, went over it, and landed on the switchback below. It wasn't captured well on TV, but it must have looked something like Frank Schleck's crash at this year's Tour de Suisse, but with a harder landing. His crash seemed to scare a lot of riders, because no one really pushed it for the rest of the descent. That might be the reason the four-man breakaway was able to stay up the road and go clear for the win. What impressed me was that the breakaway had over a 13-minute lead at the start of the final climb, but only 4 minutes at the end. When the GC riders get the bit in their teeth, they really fly.

Stage Sixteen: Cuneo to Jausiers — 157 Kilometers

Another hard day of climbing awaits our riders on tomorrow's stage. Two massive HC peaks dominate the elevation profile, the second of which ascends to a lung-searing 9,193 feet. The finish line comes after 25 kilometers of steep descending, however, so it is unlikely for large time gaps to open up. If the weather turns sour, though, we could some timid riders losing time, or worse, crashes.

I think Alejandro Valverde will take the stage. He's climbing well again after his crash on Stage 5, he's a good descender, and he's just far enough behind on GC that he won't ring the alarm bells too loudly. I imagine he'd also like to be able to dedicate a stage win to his crash-stricken teammate Pereiro.  ¶ 12:02 AM