Let's assess.I finished up a beautiful Tour de Suisse about four days ago. On the final day, one particular Russian on Katusha, who lacks an "e" in the name typically spelled AlexandEr (the extra capitalization is my emphasis) didn't see a section of parcours where the sidewalk met the road. Actually in fairness it was a bit awkward; the sidewalk and road are at the same height and then suddenly the sidewalk rises out of the pavement to what one might call "standard sidewalk height". Anyway, at 40kph he didn't see that and took that as an opportunity to crash. With me following in his draft at the time, I thought it would be wise to visit the pavement as well. Turns out, it wasn't so wise.I won't show you pictures of my bum, but as I said in some tweets or something, I donated some skin from my hind quarters to the Swiss Pavement Center only to learn that such a center does not exist. Also sparing you details, I can attest that despite missing some skin on my butt, doing number 2 is not an issue for me, so things are quite good. In fact, now four days out from that incident with Alexandr Kolobnev - oops - I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking.Just prior to that final day of Suisse, I took this Hollywood worthy video from high atop my hotel room balcony. This is somewhere around 2,000 meters above sea level in Switzerland.Pretty much all of Switzerland is beautiful. Like, stunningly beautiful. Massive alpine mountains called the Alps, lush rolling hills reminiscent of the Ardennes in Belgium, ginormous crystal clear lakes, and nary a piece of trash anywhere. Actually it's a bit like being on a reality show or on the set of the Truman Show since it's sooo nice it's almost surreal. Once up on a time I even lived for a short period in a tiny town outside of Lucerne whist on my Cervelo TestTeam days. Actually, scroll down to the latter part (after the cake decorated as a rabbit) and you can see some sweet sights by the side of the road in scenic Littau, Switzerland.I don't know why I said any of that. But now you know.So I'm back in Lucca now and am spending my days anxiously waiting to hear if I race the Tour. I know that I'm "on the bubble" as Velonews as put it. I don't know what that means exactly, but I know it means I'm far from a guarantee. We're going to send a pretty stellar team of nine riders - as all teams will d0 - with a good chunk of two-legged resources going to help Peter continue his slash and burn take on the season as well as put in a good run for Vincenzo Nibali who can very likely end up on the podium. I'm proud to say that I've been part of 15 wins so far this year, which by my count is more than anyone else on the team. It's something I'm proud of, but would trade all of those for a spot at the Tour de France.I'm also riding my bike, which is of course excellent as always.I also had an overabundance of all the right ingredients so I made pesto. Actually, they were nearly all the right ingredients. This is more like arugula, basil, and green pea pesto with pecorino rather than parmesan cheese and with almonds rather than the standard pine nuts. But on a carrot or atop some freshly made risotto, I find it exquisite regardless. Plus in this newfangled instagram dealie-o, it looks extra artistic.And to wrap things up, I recommending going to the fun banner above and to the right --> which advertises inGamba Tours. It's red and white and full of fun photos. I've had the privilege to be part of two inGamba Tours over the past year and without question I can say that they're a) one of a kind and b) incredible. Basically you get to mishmash that includes the best parts of the life of a professional cyclist in Europe (massage, phenomenal training roads, etc) with the best parts of being a cyclo tourst with a dramatic emphasis on lover-of-exquisite-food-and-slap-the-table-this-is-good-wine. Yeaaaup, that good. The riding, the comraderie, the food, the wine, the doors that open for you... it's certainly something that you won't find elsewhere. I recommend giving that ad a perusal, if for nothing else than some nice eye candy.Bu'bye now.