keeping the balance while on a bike: Floyd Landis

I''m not a follower of cycling races, although it's a sport I could probably like a lot if I took the time. I don't have much in common with football and basketball players, but I've always liked the idea that cycing, like regular bicycle riding, is a matter of getting the balance just right. I can do that, some of the time.

So I cheered Floyd Landis on as the Tour de France cycling race drew to a close. It seemed like he wasn't one of the narrow-minded crazies who have had a negative impact on so many sports. My heart sank for him, when his first drug test came back positive but also for the rest of us who still want to believe in the kind of winning that comes from hard work and determination. I really wanted the second one to show the first was wrong. It didn't.

My heart has sunk again, for him because I would very much like to give him the benefit of the doubt. Some of this sympathy probably comes from a bit of awe that anyone needing a hip replacement would enter a bike race. I would like the sport to be cleaner - it certainly has not been in the last few years.

I would still like to believe that if I get on my bike and ride up the mountainside enough times I too will have a super-slim torso and amazing calves, and maybe next year I'll be asked to join the Tour de France. I think those snazzy biking outfits in astonishing modern materials are on sale now.

Meanwhile, there are brownies in the kitchen. I hope somebody is giving Floyd Landis a couple brownies today.