10 years ago, Floyd Landis was on top of the cycling world with a miraculous TdF win. Then the house of cards came crashing down with his positive doping test. 4 years of vehement denials ended with a confession in 2010 that toppled a widespread doping regime, and took down numerous top riders, including Lance Armstrong. During the years when Floyd was professing his innocence, people were polarized either for or against him. I was firmly in the "for" camp, and was genuinely excited to be able to get a couple of pictures at the 2009 Tour of Utah.
Dave Zabriskie, Floyd, and a chicken.
After his confession, many fans became former fans, and for the next several years, Floyd was one of the most despised individuals in cycling.
I don't know if it is the adage of time healing wounds, etc.., or if knowing now that he was just a cog in a much bigger doping machine back then, but now the vitriol has subsided - at least for me. After the covers were thrown back on the Armstrong era, Floyd became more of a footnote.
Earlier this year, Floyd resurfaced - so to speak. He is now residing in Colorado and running a cannabis dispensary in Leadville, which brings me to today's shirt.
I don't know if it is the counter-cultural aspect that the shirt expresses - especially here is strait-laced Utah, the ties to cycling that it invokes (Dave Zabriskie recently rode in the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race wearing a Floyd's of Leadville kit), or nostalgia back to a time when I believed in pro cycling, but I want one of these shirts.
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