floyd in yellow

so landis is leading the tour after the first day in the alps, and he's placed himself in a good position to nail an american victory for the 8th year in a row. the french just can't get a break.

even though floyd's a local dude from just 'cross the border in PA, i can't get jazzed up on this Tour. sure, i'm sleep-deprived from watching OLN's daily coverage, but if phil liggett and paul sherwen weren't so entertaining, it'd be a bit snoozers, IMO, aside from sprint finishes where robbie mcewen pops out from nowhere after taking a mad zaggity line into a just-opened hole and then unleashes a pocket-rocket explosion nobody can challenge. poor boonen gave up and pulled out yesterday, while robbie hung in and led the autobus.

maybe the next couple days in the mountains will bring more attacks, and more excitement, but i think cycling fans in general are dispirited with the sport after the Fuentes allegations. how can we defend cycling against the nay-sayers who brush off apparent heroism and herculean efforts by commenting, "they're all on drugs anyway"? are they? i couldn't understand why someone who's so in tune with his body -- and who's confronted his own mortality as armstrong did -- could wilfully endanger it by taking EPO. but E had another view. it's like an addiction, he posited. take smokers. they know there's a good chance smoking will kill them, but they do it anyway. doping as an addiction? that puts a new light on it.

in the spirit of honesty and transparency, i feel i've gotta confess to this addiction: ice-cream flavored Skittles (limited edition). skittles and a liter of diet coke will get you through a week of road-tripping to NIN shows on the east coast and alternately ensure you're somewhat functional during the three weeks of late-night tour coverage.

i turned klim onto the new skittles.
- ice cream flavored?
- yeppers.
- what do they taste like?
- sugar. they taste like pure sugar.

she was skeptical at first, but now she's an addict too -- and we're not the only ones. she even thinks they taste like ice cream.

what's yer poison of late?