It seems to me that I am seeing a lot more latex on the street

Maybe I am simply noticing what has been there all along but it appears to me that Seattle is filled these days with wiry guys (and gals) on thin bikes with even thinner tires. Inspired by Lance Armstrong? Maybe. He's good inspiration, to be sure. I am inspired, in fact, to get out my bike and take a ride over to my favorite tavern. Or maybe even a day or two on the San Juans.

Here's a pleasant, fair-handed, essay on the Tour de France in The New Criterion titled: Making the grandest tour.

The race defies ordinary explanation. It is a team sport in which an individual wins. It is an athletic event that actually harms the athletes'odies. (Racers cannot consume enough food to replace the 6,000 or so calories burned off by each day's stage. Most finish the race with less muscle mass than they began with.) The race's founder, Henri Desgrange, wanted it to be so tough that there would be only a single finisher. He never got his wish, but the sport he set in motion takes such a savage toll on its riders that studies show that the life expectancy of a professional cyclist is barely more than fifty years.