Thor!

My friend Carole said she's going to write a book called "All I Need to Know About the Tour de France I Learned From Libby's Blog". Well, no book about the Tour would be complete without a chapter on the sprinters!! So this is for you Carole! (or in other words, it's all Carole's fault...) I present to you Thor - God of Thunder...


And here he is too...


That's Thor Hushovd of Norway, currently riding for Cervelo TestTeam and leading the Green jersey (aka Sprint) category in this year's Tour. The commentators on Versus cannot say his name Thor without adding "God of Thunder". Makes me laugh a little. And also inspires me to make a card! Thor is one of my favorite riders. You'd think to win the Sprint category you need to be the absolute fastest guy out there, right? Well not necessarily. Thor is certainly not the fastest. But he is HARD CORE! He can stick with the GC guys through the mountain stages when he really wants (needs!) to. GC - general classification - the guys like Lance (or these days, Schleck & Contador!) who are in it to win the whole shebang - they are generally great climbers. The sprinters, not so much - they usually squeak by in the mountains, barely making the time cutoff. Unless the sprinter happens to be the God of Thunder! heh heh

So... for my Thor inspired card, I decided I needed a Thor image! I found this Marvel image thanks to Google. The entire card was originally inspired by Taylor's latest sketch challenge:


When I saw that great big circle, right away I thought BICYCLE TIRE! I'm weird like that. Kinda scary, really, how one-track my brain is these days!! So again I found an image online, then doctored it up a bit with black Glaze pen on the tire to make it shine. It's not very easy to see, but the background paper is stamped with a bicycle image from Taylor's In the Park set in silver. I **had to** have this stamp set as soon as I saw it - the message on this card is also from the set, and it's a Lance Armstrong quote!! I KNOW!!! The stamp actually has his name on it too, but *gasp* I cut it off because it didn't quite fit on the card. I thought this message was fitting for my Thor card, though - when the stage ends in a bunch sprint, it's pure insanity! The guys all fight to come across the line so quick - if anyone falls over it's massive carnage. They can't possibly be afraid of falling or they'd never be able to do that.

Before I go I have to share a fun photo from today's stage. It's another one of my favorite sprinters, Robbie McEwen - he's an old-timer like me & Lance (don't tell him I said that!). He's had a horrible tour - been banged up and bruised more than any one guy deserves, so he's been struggling to just get through the mountains. Well this is how he crossed the finish line of their final mountain stage today. Awesome! :-) I'm thinking he's glad the mountains are over...


Thanks for indulging me!

• Stamps: In the Park from Taylored Expressions, Thor & tire images downloaded from internet
• Paper: Stampin' Up cardstock, My Mind's Eye DP
• Ink: Vintage Photo Distress ink, silver ink, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers, black Glaze pen, Sakura Stardust pen, white gel pen
• Accessories: PTI scallop edge die, Spellbinders circle die, machine stitching