The Mind Of OverlordTomala

Ruining It For Everyone Else Since 2004
The Mind Of OverlordTomala

Stage 9 Time Trials on the Duh Planet!

Good morning meh hearties!   I hope you are all doing well out there!  I’m feeling a bit foggy-headed today after putting a couple of coats of porch paint over my bath tub tiles, so now my house smells like a chemical factory or something, even with lots of windows open and several fans going!  So I’m hoping that today’s update makes sense while I’m feeling on the Duh Planet!  Wheeees!

Yes, and the Wine of the Day is none other than Oil-Based Porch Paint!  Let the good times roll!

The 9th stage of the Tour is a Time Trial from Arc-et-Senans to Besancon, and takes a bit less than an hour for the cyclists to complete.  A beautiful agricultural area just outside Arc-et-Senans.

Cheers to you toos, German spectators!!!  Yays!!  Oh wait, the New Wine of the Day is Whatever They Are Having!  Wootz!!!

 

 

Fabian Cancellara is taking his turn and pedaling hard uphill.  The team car and the camera crew must stay behind the cyclist at all times in the individual time trials segments.  He has taken the lead at the first time check at Abbans-Dessus.  Nicely done!

That was a nice scenic shot of the Oscar Meyer WeinerMobile!  And a nice sculpture featuring a boat mast with lots of different colored bicycles attached all over it!

Now Sylvain Chavenel is climbing up to the first time check area.  There goes Team Radio Shack warming up on their stationary cycles.  Chavenel was having a great run and was nearly able to catch Canellara but not quite.

 

 

Nice performance by Sandy Cesar!  Meanwhile, Peter Sagen lost about 5 minutes on his run compared to the leaders of the stage.

Fabian Cancellara has taken a couple minutes off the second time check.  And he continues to haul ass through the town of Avanne-Avene.  Cancellara has overtaken Tony Martin after he had to stop and change his tire just a few minutes into his run.  Now Chavenelle has taken over the #2 spot for today’s time trial.

Besancon is a beautiful hilly city, with the remains of the Citadel sitting high upon a hillside, looking down on the city below.  Epic!

Oh mys,  TJ Van Gardener has taken over the lead after a strong final segment!   What a surprise!

There goes Chris Froome!  Wheeees!  I love the start house area in Arc-et-Senans! 

Cadel Evans is now waiting to start in the blow-up starting house section – LOL!   He’s moved up to the starting line now.   This is a small picture of someone at the starting line:

 

 

Oh mys, a spectator had really wet pants, I wonder if he couldn’t make it to the restroom in time or what – LOL!

Cancellara still has the lead despite strong runs from a few other riders.

Frank Schleck had a good run for someone who normally doesn’t do well in the individual time trial.  Good job tram!

There goes Cadel!  He seems to be working hard here!  Wiggins has the best time at the first time check point so far!  Get out of the way, photographer with the long lens!  He almost got clipped!

Cadel Evans is shaving off the corners and lowering his weight as he flies downhill towards the Doubs River.

Chris Froome had an excellent finish and is the new leader!  He is wearing a specially designed skin suit, so perhaps that is helping him out. Can he maintain his lead as Cadel Evans and other riders have yet to complete the course?

Wow, Cadel Evans is pedaling his ass off towards the finish, as a fountain of sweat is pouring down his chin!  Go Cadel Go!  He performed well but it wasn’t enough finish in the top 5 for this stage.

OK, here comes our final rider, Bradley Wiggins!  He is flying towards the finish, will he win the stage?  He’s flying along as he turns the final corner and yesss!  He wins it!  Yays!!!  He has never won a stage before!  Like a virgin tram!!  Wheeees!

Froome is second in Stage 9, with Cancellara, Van Garderen and Chavanel rounding out the Top 5.

Overall in the Tour, Wiggins is now wearing the Yellow Jersey, with Evans a couple minutes behind him, and Froome a couple seconds back from that.  Great job everyone!!!! Yays!!

Amazing town of Besancon!  Thank you for hosting the final stage!  Beautiful!

I didn’t see any good candidates for the Bulge of the Day, so hopefully I can see something worth reporting on down the road.

OK meh hearties, tomorrow is a well-deserved Rest Day, so I won’t have an update for you here in the Drunken Gaming Corner!  I could use a break too from all these typing words! 

We will pick things back up on Wednesday in the Alps!  Wheeees!  Have fun out there everyone!!!!! Yays!!!

 

 

Pleasent Distractions.

I made this poster in SFM tonight to get my mind off of certain things that are going on right now. Those who chat with me in IRC or mumble know what I’m talking about. The minecraft dude is Yutram. He managed to make it into Source Filmmaker! Now if only I could figure out why the GLaDOS Miku model won’t import (aside from it being betatastic).

I’m off to go have a rest now. Maybe I’ll dream something up to make in SFM.

Pinot Day at the Burgundian Gate!

Welcome bork once again meh hearties to the Drunken Gaming Corner!  We have another exciting day of touring France’s Underpants in the works just for meh wonderful readers!  Wheeees!

Today’s invigorating adventures begin in Belfort, where there are bats in the belfry!

Oh wait, Belfort is actually known as the Burgundian Gate due to its strategic location between the Rhine and the Rhone Rivers, and has been a traditional route to get the delicious burgundy wines to markets all over Europe.

Therefore, French Burgundies are the Wine of the Day!  Yays!  Actually, burgundy is available in both red and white versions, made exclusively with either Pinot Noir for the red burgundies or with Chardonnay for the white versions.  Many burgundy wines are made by small producers, and often in their garage, as opposed to bordeaux that are often produced on large estates.

Louis Jadot is a large negotiant that buys up wines from small producers to create larger, more uniform products that are easier to distribute about the planet.  Any Louis Jadot products are safe, quality products that are good, consistent representations of whatever the label says.  If you’re throwing a party, Louis Jadot is a good, safe way to go to make sure you are serving up something yumm at a reasonable price.

On the other hand, if you want to try to get something more delicious and exciting, the smaller producers are the way to go.  The prices range from affordable to very expensive, so the key is knowing which producers to try.  Pinot Noir is also known as the Heartbreak Grape because it is very fickle and extremely easy to mess up!  Oregon Pinot Noirs are known for being very uneven and one needs to select carefully!

Ok, the tour has gotten under way and I notice that the buildings here, close to Switzerland, have the red roofs with white siding.

Oh noes, a serious crash with Samuel Sanchez, Olympic Champ, 35 miles into the stage!  There is no apparent reason for it as he took several other riders down with him!  He looks seriously hurt and by the looks of it, will need to abandon the race, awwwwws!  He was removed from the course in a stretcher!  This Tour has been seriously dangerous for even the best riders!

Now they are heading into Switzerland at Saignelegier, about 52 miles left.  They have all ready completed several steep hills as they climb up another one.  They have some interesting architecture here with some rounded buildings and a clock tower with gold-covered numbers and hands.  This area was hit hard by the Plague in the 14th century.  Glad it’s not the 14th Century now!

The architecture is shifting a bit here, with some red roofs, and some brown.  Some of the exteriors of the buildings are pure white, some beige, some yellow.  One building has shutters with bright red and white chevrons on it – Wheeees!

I love the horse display, with farmers leading their horses around in circles travelling opposite ways!  Nicely done!  Oh, a field of French Mountain horses galloping along with the Tour!  Sturdy medium-sized brown with beautiful flowing manes!

The riders got their food and water at the food station in the town of Le Bemont with no accidents, fortunately.  The riders continue on through the mountain pastoral scenes, dotted with trees.  The peloton is about 2.5 minutes behind.

Swiss logging, so neat, so tidy!  No mess! lol!

The cows are enjoying trotting along with the Tour at Les Genevez. Fredrik Kessiakoff of Sweden is in the lead.  Some of the buildings here are newer but have the traditional colors, such as the house that has an elevated parking area that looks like a porch, so one can keep a close eye on their ride, apparently – LOL!

We have two more significant climbs coming up, can Kessiakoff keep his lead?  At about 22.5 miles out is more of a wooded area, as they drop back down through the Passage a Niveau and past a Swiss lumberyard.

Ohh, nice bell tower with the colorful Argyle pattern on it in the interesting town of Boecourt!  They are heading up the Cote de la Caquerelle, and around the roundabout with the star topiary in the center.  Nice wooden building too! The riders continue to work up the hill as they pass a giant Swiss Army Knife and a giant wooden Swiss watch.  I like the various displays as the riders make their way through the Tour.  Some of them are very creative and fun! 

Just over 20 miles from the finish with Pinot and Tony Gallopin going head-to-head for the sprint.  The peloton is 3.5 minutes behind the hill climbers at the moment.

Sainte-Ursanne is an epic small town!  Cool!

Valley of the Jora – Beautiful!  The riders are really working up the hill here at 11.1 miles out.  The peloton is really reducing in size as they head up the hills and some of the riders fall back.  The crowd is gathering as they approach the summit at Col de la Croix.

LOL!  Some people are whooping it up and having a great ole time dressed as Vikings and waving a bunch of Norsk flags all about!!  Wheeees!!!

Even more spectators here cheering like crazy as Tibout Pinot sprints to finish the climb.  The crowd went wild!  He is the new leader!!!!  He is flying along at speeds of up to 50 mph!

This is more of an industrial area around Alle at about 5 miles out as the rest of the peloton battles it out!  Frank Schleck, Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, and more are seriously competing with each other!

With 2.6 miles out, Pinot is still ahead by 4o seconds as they ramp up the intensity!  Pedal pedal pedal!

1.8 miles left, can he pull it off?  He took the short way around the roundabout!  The architecture has shifted yet again with some yellows, greens and greys  in the siding and some built-in turrets.  The crowd is going wild!

Cadel Evans launches an attack!  Can he overtake Pinot?  0.6 miles left!  Cadel is fighting for his right to party!!!  And now around the dinosaur in the roundabout!  Nice dirt dinosaur in the field toos!

Pinot is able to haul some ass and hold the rest of them off to win the stage at the beautiful ancient town of Porrentruy!!!! Nicely done, young Pinot!  Cadel Evans finished in second today!  What an exciting day of racing!!!!

Awwws, a few riders are about 10 minutes back, but the main thing is just to finish.

The Bulge of the Day goes to Fredrik Kessiakoff.  He was obviously glad to be up on the podium – LOL!  Nice outline!!!

Tomorrow is the time trials, and Tuesday is a well-deserved rest day.

Thank you for once again reading meh Tour de Underpants updates here in the Drunken Gaming Corner!  It’s been totally epic bringing it to you tram!!!!  Haz the funz!!!

A Taste of the Mountains in Stage 7 with Moselle Wines!

Hello once again meh hearties!  We should have another exciting day of racing on tap here at the Drunken Gaming Corner!  Today’s leg, Stage 7,  from Tomblaine to La Planche des Belles Filles is 123 miles long and includes medium mountains, so we may end up with so may end up with new leaders by the end of the day!  Can Fabian Cancellara keep the yellow jersey?  The finish is quite steep (14% grade) so it should be interesting!

Cadel Evans had a quick rear tire change when the coverage first started, but he was able to catch up quickly with the peloton.  They are just past the feeding station at Laveline Devant Bruyeres.  Lovely traditional pale buildings with red roofs in this area.  I love the sunflowers in France!!!!

 

 

Peter Sagan is in the lead as they approach the sprint at Gerardmer.  Seven riders are in the lead by about five minutes. 

Oh mys, 17 riders have withdrawn from the Tour due to injuries, and 27 riders have been injured!!! Ouchies!!!!  The Tour is also dangerous!

At 57 miles out, the peloton is 4:41 minutes behind.  It looks like Matt Goss is having some problems with his gears at the sprint and he ended up losing the sprint to Peter Sagan, awwwws!  Goss could have won!

Oh mys, someone is waving a flare around and it’s creating big clouds of smoke that are hovering over the course.  Somehow, I don’t think that is helping any of the riders perform better – LOL!

Now they are heading up some real hills towards Col de Grosse Pierre as Peter Sagan really looks like he’s working here as they collect points for the polka dot jersey.  Lots of spectators are crowding along the mountain road to cheer on the cyclists!  Wheeees!

They pedaled past a cool ski area at about 50.5 miles.   They continue to cruise along towards Col du Mont de Fourche to another Category 3 hill climb.  Now they are really working up the hill!

Yays!!!  Now Bob Roll is in ad riding inside the Oscar Meyer WeinerMobile!!! Wheeeees!!! Go Bob Go!!!

Tyler Farrar has lost contact with the peloton due to his injuries.  He is really hurting!  Ouchies!  Hopefully he can heal up a bit on the upcoming rest day!

They are getting closer to the top of this summit, with the cheering crowd gathered along the road!  Wheeees!  The peloton is within 4 minutes now of the leaders as they go over the top!  Now the peloton is snaking its way downhill as they speed along at about 45 mph into the sun.  The black and white cows in a field are running away from the peloton – LOL!!!!

 

 

Awwws, college students in yellow waving at the Tour!  Yays – Farmers welcoming the Tour to town!

The Area of a Thousand Lakes sure is beautiful, about 20 miles from the finish.  The peloton is about 3.5 minutes behind the leaders now.

On through La Grand Croix with a man in a yellow hat standing on his roof and apparently oblivious to the camera watching him – LOL!

The riders are taking things up a notch with the peloton within two minutes of the leaders.   A minor crash along the side of the road who was taken out by a press car.

About a minute behind the leaders at miles out from the finish.  Many riders are falling back now including Mark Cavadish.  The crowds are gathering again to cheer them.   Jurgen Van den broeck had an issue on the hill so he’s trying to catch up now.  The riders are really stretching out now.

Alejandro Valverte had a problem too and was stopped along side the road and is trying to catch up.

The peloton has split!  They are climbing up the hill now and getting steeper!  The guy in the red shirt looks a bit crazy as he runs uphill like a maniac – LOL!

Lots of people are gathered here and they had walk or ride a bike for miles uphill to take their place along the road to cheer on the riders. 

Just a mile to go, with Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, and Chris Froome going head to head!! Who will get there first?  Who can dig deepest for the win?  Who wants it most?  Aaaanddddd Froose takes it!!!!  Bradley Wiggins has taken the Yellow Jersey from Fabian Cannellara!

 

 

And today’s Beverage of the Day are wines from the Moselle area, which are lovely when available in the States.  These are often wine shop items or at grocery store with an excellent selection.  The roses are particularly refreshing, crisp, and yumm, especially on a sunny day!  Buy and drink whatever you can find since most is consumed within the region!!!

Thank you once again for following the Tour with Drunken Gaming Corner Tram!!!! Wheeeees!!!! Haz the funz meh hearties tram!!!!

Champagne Day on the Tour and it is Epic Tram!!!!

Yes indeed, here we are, meh hearties, on Tour in the lovely district of Champagne in northeast France!  Epernay is one of the primary towns in the Champagne area, along with Reims and Ay.  I hope to visit all three someday!

Of course, in honor of the Tour travelling through these scenic chalky lands, I’m enjoying the epic 2002 Bollinger Grand Anne!  Sooooo yumm! 

It smells rich and complex on the nose, with the characteristic aged wood and aged bread dough and yeast, with lovely, rich, complexed aged bread, bread dough, and yeast on tongue, with a bright band of tart green grape and apple flavors with a splash of crisp and bright yet aged citrus.  This Champagne also has the trademarks of a fine Champagne with complex flavors woven throughout, small persistent bubbles that do not overwhelm, and a finish that drops off as one swallows it and seems to evaporate from one’s mouth.  Simply an amazing beverage!!!! 

Yes, after drinking a bit of it, the wonderful persistent acidity makes meh wonder, “How can I drink Champagne without eating my fromage?”  This is a true food Champagne!  Fermented in aged wood barrels, giving the resulting beverage more concentration and complexity.  Oh mys, I just detected a hint of the sort of agedness that indicates that is time to drink this Champagne before the entire flavor profile turns to agedness.  So drink this puppy now tram!!!

 As yet another race day begins, everyone wonders if Fabian Canellara will retain the yellow jersey for the 7th day in a row, and who will win the stage today?  Canellara?  Sagan?  Cavandish?  Where are you, Cadel Evans dear?  And will Mark Cavandish get into yet another accident?  He has been getting into crashes every day for several days now!

 The TV coverage here begins well outside of Epernay.  A bit ago, I saw some beautiful fields of yellow sunflowers as they move eastward towards Metz.  The buildings all have red roofs here and slightly darker brown siding.

Awwws, their countryside is their art!!! And this lil blogger loves it and appreciates it!  Thank you, Francois peeps!!!!  nomnomnomnom!!!!!  Champagne, foodz, and fromage for all meh hearties tram!!!!

Oh my, this Champagne goes to one head, as the tour approaches the sprint area.  Now the buildings have brighter white sides with the red roofings.  It was a close Sagen victory for the sprint after much frantic pedaling.  The peloton is now 2.5 minutes behind the leaders as they zip through the narrow traditonal streets a traditional French town!

Now they pedaling uphill in a wooded area with lots of spectators cheering them on!  Yays!!!!!  Now they are racing downhill and the road has dried out after earlier rains.

Oh noes, a bunch of people crashed up hill and blocked the peloton so now a bunch of riders are waiting around and drinking some water.  The peloton is also bunched up in a narrow area with spectators stacked up behind the barriers.  Sagen had to have his tires adjusted or something as he cruised along beside one of the team cars while a mechanic made an adjustment.

Now the peloton is getting back together as it cruises downhill and into Woinville, another red-roofed, beige-walled town that they zipped through.  The peloton is almost 2 minutes behind now.

 Zip zip zip through yet another lil town and an orchard!

 One rider gets sprayed by the team doctor in a convertible as they both cruise down the road – LOL!

 More treed area as they haul ass eastward tram!  A minute behind at 28 miles to go tram!

The Cadel Evans team says that they are more relaxed because their team is stronger overall and that they will come into their own further into the race, and I certainly hope that is true!  It’s not so important who is wearing the yellow jersey now as opposed to who is wearing the yellow jersey in Paris, just like last year tram!  In this year’s race, perhaps the biggest issue is just staying out of the crashes – LOL!!!!!

 Hallos, Peta Todd, beautiful English partner of Mark Cavandish!

Wheees!!!  Black and white cows in the field galloping along with the cyclists tram!!!

 The canal heads towards the Black Sea as it goes through fields and green countryside.  They crossed the Mosel River as it heads to Germany.

Another crash as one rider grabs his leg and several riders need new rear wheels.  This happened in the tail of the pack.  This is mayhem as riders have gone into the ditches.  Oh noes, Frank Schleck can’t find his bike and probably can’t win the Tour now.  25 km to go after this accident.

They speed towards the finish towards Metz with the peloton is just 15 seconds behind the leaders.  The roads are narrow.  One rider just abandoned as a result of that crash!!!

I just saw a high-speed train, I couldn’t tell if it was the Eurostar, a magnificent passenger train that I have crossed under the English Channel in!  Beautiful cars, beautiful train that travels up to 200 mph on the one-piece tracks through France and Europe!

 A few riders swung a bit wide around a roundabout during a left-hand turn.  The peloton has broken up into two main groups after the big accidents a bit earlier.

The leaders are riding like heck to keep the first group of the peloton at bay.  I can see some faces of pain!

 They are closing in on the finish!  Fast 200 degree turn in Metz!  And Team Lotto and Andre Greipel rallied hard at the finish yet Peter Sagen in bright green with overtaken him right at the finish!  Nicely done, Peter Sagen!!!!   He is meh new favorite to win tomorrow since he’s unstoppable tram!!!  Yays!!

 

 

Awwws, one of Sharp riders came in over 12 minutes behind the leader with his sleeve scraped off during the crash!  It is inspirational that he will ride again another day tram!!!

Fabian Cancellara retains the yellow jersey while some of the crash victims are effectively barred from winning the Tour this year!  Oh mys!!!  It was Make or Break Time on the Tour today tram!!!!!

Thank you for continuing to following the Tour de Underpants through France in the Drunken Gaming Corner!  Haz all the funz meh hearties tram!!!!  Wheeees!!!!

More Spills + Duval-Leroy Champagne!

Welcome Back to the Drunken Game Corner, where we will continue our exciting coverage of the Tour de Underpants in France!!! Yes indeed, we have more thrills, chills, and spills waiting for you!!

Today’s race, Stage 5, starts in Rouen and finishes in the ancient Roman town of Saint-Quentin.   This is the flattest stage so far, travelling due east.  It is raining at the finish line, so look out for that!

 

 

The cyclists are riding through the Picardy area of Northern France, which includes some of the vineyards in Champagne!  Therefore, today’s beverage is Duval-Leroy Non-Vintage Champagne!  It’s my favorite party Champagne since it’s a tasty and relatively affordable Champagne with a bit less acidity than many of the food Champagnes, so it’s perfect by itself or with a meal.  Plenty of effervescence and lemon, fruit forward green grapes and apples, light yet flavorful on the palate, with a nice clean chardonnay-like finish.  It truly is a delicious beverage!!!

 

 

Who will win today?  Will it be Cavadish?  Greipel?  Sagan?  Cancellara?  Or maybe even Cadel Evans?

We start off with the coverage beginning with the peloton ahead by about 5 minutes with 4 riders in the lead.  Many beautiful fields here as they make their way towards Saint-Quinten.

 Fabian Cancellara is going back to the team car for a chat to relieve the boredom, apparently tram!

 Now they are cruising along past another wind farm area.  Now they are grabbing the food and water bags.  nomnomnomnom!  They are picking up the pace now as they head for the sprint.  I can see the Dutch influence in the architecture here tram!

 Bernie Isen is winning the sprint so far as he pedals hard!  They are attacking!  In the end, it ended up being Ladagnous, Urtasun, and Simon for the intermediate sprint!  Wheeees!

 Oh noes, it’s starting to rain a bit there!  And helmet change time!

 Oh yes, Clean Bottle, with the nipple on top!!!  I just saw a pizza shop there that I would like to visit!!!! nomnomnomnom!

Things have cleared up as they continue on.   Nice bicycle sculpture on the lawn!

Awww, a graveyard with both British and German soldiers from WWI & II.

Epic fields of hay with some turrets in the background!  Now the peloton is catching up, just over two minutes behind at about 30 miles outside of the finish as they crank it up a notch!

 The road has split as a few drops of rain have started.  They are back together on a very narrow stretch with some interesting architecture coming up! 

 Wow, nice squares of farmland among the wind turbines!  Interesting sugar mill and gravel pit!

Here again, one can see the Dutch influence on some of the buildings with the different colors of brick in the same building and such.  Pretty!  This area also has several canals that are still used as a shipping lane and such.  Cool!

The peloton is once again speeding up as they wind themselves around roundabouts and narrow town streets.

Well, that was nice!  Mark Cavandish’s teammates are rallying around him as they get closer to the finish.  Wow, beautiful fields of yellow!

The peloton is in sight of the leaders as the pedal down a veryyyyyyy long straight road through the farming area, just about a minute behind at 10 miles away from the finish line.

 LOL!  At the finish line, before the riders got there, they had some fake race horses going across the line, along with a whole parade of blow-up figures!!! Wheees!!!!

The peloton is behind by 44 seconds at the 6 mile mark!  And another mile done!  And now uphill a bit!  Awwws, nice depiction of a bicycle using a bunch of different colored tractors!!!!! Wheeees!!!!

 Cute kids riding around a sign that says “Long live the Tour” !  Yays!

5 km to go with 29 seconds to catch the leaders!  How ironic, a sudden traffic circle split with a sculpture with some impaled bicycles on the top of it – LOL!

Oh noes!! After a peaceful and scenic day of racing, suddenly there is an accident right at the end!!!  Jonathan Cantwell went down, oh noes!  Some shoulders were touching and down they went tram!

 

 

 

The remaining cyclists continue to pedal their butts off up some narrow and turning roads, along the edge of the canal towards the finish as the gap closes to 10 seconds behind the leaders.  Can the peloton catch the leaders?  They are all pedaling like crazy and then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Andre Greipel comes from the peloton to suddenly take over for the win!!!!!! Wow!!!!  What a sprint!!!!  How exciting tram!!!!!

 

 

 

Awwws, ‘Le Tour’ is spelled out in different colored canoes on the water!  So cute tram!!!

Whew!!!  Thanks again for reading meh latest post about the Tour de Underpants!!! It has been sooo epic to be covering the Tour with all of you tram!!!!  Have tons of funz out there meh hearties!!!