Floyd Landis came home for the weekend and felt the love.
Last summer’s Tour de France winner brought a line of 500 people to the Barnes & Noble store in Red Rose Commons, on Fruitville Pike, on Friday where he signed copies of his new autobiography “Positively False.”
On Saturday, he attended the wedding of his sister Priscilla and Manny Caliz Jr., a local cat 4 racer, and on Sunday, more than 100 people turned out to ride with Landis around Ephrata, Farmersville and Akron.
At the book signing, Landis reportedly was asked about his pick to win this year’s Tour de France. “Not me,” was his succinct answer. The race starts in five days without him. Landis is still awaiting the decision from a panel of arbiters weighing whether he took artificial testosterone to boost his performance and win the race. Landis has denied the allegations.
“I don’t want to say I was set up, because if you’re going to set someone up you’d use people who knew what they were doing,” he reportedly told a Sunday News sportswriter.
On Sunday, Landis led off the 20+ mile ride, and gradually dropped back, talking to people as he went. Wearing a Smith & Nephew kit - the makers of his replacement hip - Landis seemed at ease and talkative as he worked the crowd. He spoke of how good it was to be home and how he didn’t really appreciate Lancaster County until after he had left.
He rode the carbon Felt bicycle, with the new specialized Rovel wheels, which belongs to his friend, Mike Farrington, owner of the Green Mountain Cyclery bike shop.
Farrington wasn’t riding the bike himself because he was back at the shop helping to prepare for the picnic lunch that was waiting for the riders when they returned.
Floyd was applauded before the start of the ride. The crowd, which donated $20 each for the fund-raising ride and meal, included members of the local CycleSmart youth team as well as older enthusiasts. They all seemed united in their support for Landis.
