Lance Armstrong in Monaco

I just finished painting this watercolor of an image recurring in my mind since the Tour de France ended: Lance Armstrong riding in the opening time trial, careening around a curve in the hills above Monaco. It was a great moment. His ride captured the perfect fluidity of bike riding -- so smooth and controlled, but fast ... really fast.

To be honest, I'm not sure my watercolor represents an exact scene from that stage. I simply painted it from memory of the television broadcast on Versus. I suppose I could have gone back to my video recording to check it -- but it was more fun simply letting my imagination fill in the memory gaps. I sketched the outline of the painting in a notebook while riding the subway home from work.

So if the cliff is a little steeper than it truly was, or the abstract view of Monte Carlo a bit too dramatic ... well, I hope Lance will forgive me!