Here’s a shot of Floyd Landis and his daughter on the Podium in Redondo Beach, at the end of the 2006 Amgen Tour of California. Floyd lives in Southern California, so he had quite a hometown crowd packed into the masses and throngs of cycling fans along the route. Floyd is a devoted father, a real family man.

Floyd’s family is Amish - he is from Lancaster, PA. Floyd was raised with no television in the house - the first time his mother watched the telly was to see Floyd in a cycling race - the Tour, I think. Floyd’s family came to the Tour in 2004, while he was still a Postie. Floyd’s two sisters wore the traditional Amish headgear, wore dresses and Nike tennis shoes. Sort of Traditional Amish meets the Tour de France. His family are all wonderful, friendly people.

I have great photos of his family around the team bus during the second rest day in Trois Chateaux. They brought a huge five or six foot good luck banner from Farmersville. I’ll put up a second shot of the banner with the Postie wrenches, soigneurs and Dirk Demol holding it.

The story is that Floyd rode his bike late every night after he got off from his job at a local grocery store. He would ride in the freezing cold and come home practically frost-bitten. Floyd originally rode a mountain bike and was a champion rider. He converted to road in 1998, and moved to Southern California for the great training rides in that area. I’m sure the weather there had nothing to do with it... Uh huh...