Word: steep
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Cyclists use a cutesy term to describe the complete loss of energy during a road race. They've "bonked." Let's be honest. American Floyd Landis didn't just bonk when he surrendered his maillot jaune, the Tour de France's yellow leader's jersey, during a steep Alpine climb last Wednesday. He tumbled from 1st to 11th place, a stunning 8 minutes, 8 seconds behind the leader. He giga-gagged. Choked. Race pundits didn't just write Landis off as a contender; they hurled him off the Col du Galibier. Even Landis seemed to accept his fate...
...after his big-time bonk, Landis, who suffers from a degenerative hip condition that will require replacement surgery, staged the most spectacular comeback in Tour de France history. He blazed over three steep, lung-burning mountain passes, shredding the field to win the day's 125-mile race by nearly six minutes and pull into third place in the overall standings, just 30 seconds behind ex-teammate and leader Oscar Pereiro of Spain. "He went from the penthouse to the outhouse to the moon," says Ventura. Saturday, as expected, Landis sprinted past Pereiro and Carlos Sastre, also from Spain...
...heat exhaustion, if it was lack of calories," says Ventura. "The combination of all these things just zapped him completely." Landis' Phonak teammates, or domestiques, deserve part of the blame. They couldn't keep pace to hand him food and water - essential domestique gruntwork. On the steep climbs, you don't want to wait for the team car for food and drink, because you'll have to use even more energy to retreat and return to the front of the peleton. Plus, it's hard to grab replenishment from the car while descending a mountain...
...peaceful up here. Broummana is particularly picturesque, perched as it is on the side of steep hills that look down into valleys that then spill out into Beirut. During the 1975-90 Civil War, residents of the city would flee into these hill towns and watch the artillery duels between the various militias, between the Israelis and the PLO, between the PLO and the militias, between the Israelis and the militias... Well, you get the idea...
...happened? The most obvious answer is that the Bush Doctrine foundered in the principal place the U.S. tried to apply it. Though no one in the White House openly questions Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq, some aides now acknowledge that it has come at a steep cost in military resources, public support and credibility abroad. The Administration is paying the bill every day as it tries to cope with other crises. Pursuing the forward-leaning foreign policy envisioned in the Bush Doctrine is nearly impossible at a time when the U.S. is trying to figure...