It's rest day at the tour. And I miss my daily dose of cycling. So bear with me as I suffer from withdrawal.

I'd love to do this next year..... just as a warm up to my goal of riding up Mount Ventoux one fine day.

Surprise, Surprise: I can not afford a tour team! Not even a cute & cheap little domestique (starts at about 50.000$), hell, I can't even afford a heart rate monitor! *lol* Speaking of heart rate monitors: I think I want either the M52 or the slightly cheaper and more basic (and probably good enough) M22 by Polar.
Very cute features, btw:

"And if being able to see real results isn't enough to keep you inspired, then the Exercise Reminder of the Polar M21 and M22 will automatically remind you three days after your last exercise session with gentle text messages telling you to "Move your body!" or to "Get up and go!".

On a general cycling note: The Coverage of the TdF by the Austin-American Statesman, btw, is really well done, and has great info for cycling newbies. - They explain bike lingo, riding tactics, the tour in general, all as a tribute to their local boy, Lance. Way to go, me thinks, and the only way to really promote cycling in the-non-cycling-interested-US. Quite entertaining and a nice twist is the tour diary by statesman staff member Suzanne Halliburton who's fighting her way covering her first(?) TdF. The usual drama of getting lost, car trouble and frantic cycling fans.

And while you follow me through TdF withdrawal, check out the latest report by Patrick Merle about which three images will be remembered about the Tdf2001. I agree wholeheartedly, and hope that nothing horrible will happen these next few days that might change those three images.