A marathon every day for 3 weeks

Despite having only ridden my bike to work once this summer (but hey its been a hundred degrees lately!) I have replaced my World Cup addiction by getting hooked on the Tour de France. I like watching the French countryside, the crazy fans, and trying to figure out all the psychological drama that's going on during the race.

Here is an amazing article about the American Floyd Landis, who is favored to win even though he badly needs hip replacement surgery. And the article has a lot of great facts in it, such as...
¶
"The Tour de France’s status as the world’s most physiologically demanding event is largely unquestioned. The riders cover 2,272 miles at an average speed of 25 miles per hour, roughly the equivalent of running a marathon almost every day for almost three weeks. In the Pyrenees and the Alps, they climb a vertical distance equal to three Mount Everests. They take in up to 10,000 calories per day, the equivalent of 17 Big Macs, elevating their metabolic rates to a level that, according to a Dutch study, is exceeded by only four species on earth."

So this seems appropriate as Mom and Dad head North to ride their bikes. Good luck!¶