Percy

I signed up for an account last night. Not sure I'll be an official participant but the idea is for me to use it to get back in the practice of writing daily. I'm going to be working on a story I started a while back and want to finish up - at least get a completed first draft. My user name there is PercyWIBL.

Le Tour de France One Hundred Three Ended today in gay Paris In Chantilly the ride began With Belgian beer and gold champagne Rolling through towns with elation All smiles and congratulations While all this fanfare is splendid Truth is this race is not quite ended The sprinters focus on a chance To take a stage this Tour de France Eight laps on the Champs-Élysées And it’s one last banner – ARRIVÉE!

Thank you, AC! One more stage. It's complete but I won't see it until it's aired tonight and if I'm up to it, I'll write the last one and done.

The French Alps The scene of Stage 20 Vistas abound Charming views Aplenty My poems So far have Covered team Tactics and Reported On losses, Wins, numbers And antics You rightly Would surmise That this next To last stage Did feature Another Breakaway Check the past Poems for how This turned out Here forward Shall be some Bucolic Couplets that Tout scenic Pleasures spied By this poet Lampre dance along in a power pink kit Every man on Team Astana’s quite fit For u

Froome first in Paris Now a foregone conclusion Unless he suffers the same fate As poor Tom Dumoulin

Mounted on their bike in the start house, it's 5-4-3-2 One by one each rider rolls out every two minutes Until, from red lantern to yellow jersey, No one is left. These kilometers are the most expensive of Any team as the costs Incurred to attain optimal aerodynamics Necessarily include bespoke skin suits, low profile bikes, and testing in wind Tunnels. In little more than thirty Minutes, the shortest Ever stage of any Tour, this 21 day Race may be won or lost. Improving on his ove

The Tour flew its colors Through the Rhone Valley Racing races within the Race On this 17th day of Riding Christopher Froome Yellow Jersey Bearer Of this sunshine shirt Boasts the shortest cumulative time Movistar Yellow Helmet Wearers Bouncing, bobbing among the bicyclists Top Team of the Race Tagged yellow too Julian Alaphilippe Red tagged Rider Most Aggressive Award Peter Sagan Green Jersey gotten By gathering points For speedy sprints At designated intervals Where the

U.S. Team BMC With Australians Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis German Marcus Burghardt Italian Damiano Caruso French Amael Moinard Swiss Michael Schar Belgian Greg Van Avermaet Yanks Brent Bookwalter and Tejay van Garderen Paced the Peloton into Switzerland The home country of their team sponsor

Data's driving How they're riding A stage story in numbers Miles ahead: Ninety-Nine point Four Six Summits lay in store Feet to gain in elevation? Sixteen Thousand Seven-One-One Data's driving How they're riding A stage story in numbers Rafal Majka's chasing down That storied King of Mountain crown Points to the cyclist first to summit And on the flip side dangerously plummet For 50 points Monsieur Majka toiled 2 extra points Monsieur Voeckler spoiled All day out in front he foug

An undulating road runs north from Montélimar On course are our cycling superstars Names now known from former stages Or upstages. What of the names unknown? Those numbered riders we see Loitering by the open windows Of team cars. It is their job to disengage To drop back and collect provisions Stuff their jersey cheeks with bottles Ride back up to the pack Refuel their team. It is their job to pace back a team member Who has lost time due to injury Or mechanical issue O

Today's stage, an Individual time trial Measures a man's Endurance without Team support Riding solo Impossibly, improbably A decisive, consecutive stage win for Tom Dumoulin Luck, skill, or ?

It's all fun and games Until someone loses an eye So the saying goes Stage 12, Bastille Day, 191 riders start A long, flat run up to a mountain high It's all fun and games Winds still plague, one must ride smart Good odds on a breakaway, if they fly So the saying goes A typical stage, little to impart Until Mont Ventoux is nigh It's all fun and games Fans want to take part; onto the road they dart "Allez!" was the cry, but no bikes could get by So the saying goes Ri

Thank you!

Crosswinds wound up The Peloton disturbing Strategies for all. Commentator says Quintana does not like wind (Do any bicyclists?) The snake route scattered Riders and re-gathered them Ground lost then regained Sagan on repeat Rides to the front again Froome boldly follows Froome increases lead Sagan takes Stage 11 And the green jersey

Day 10 began with a Cat 1 climb Shown neither on TV nor online In the U.S.A. Coverage commenced when roads were flat Pyrenes Mountains at their backs For another year. Crumbling castles and cathedrals Sites both modern and medieval Were seen on the course. Riding at a Tourist pace Bothering not to make haste Peloton’s at rest. Cloudy skies and camera lens Occasional head and crosswinds To Point B from A. Recovered riders out in front Sagan again in the hunt Stage