The Teva Mountain Games went down last week and into the weekend, with all kinds of crazy events form kayaking, to bouldering, climbing, mountain biking, and more. Sadly, there was no adventure race this year. Still, there was plenty of action to follow none the less, including a mountain bike race that featured Floyd Landis as one of the competitors.
Now obviously, we all know who Floyd is. He won the Tour de France just a year ago, and has been embroiled in controversy ever since. He's obvioiusly a strong cyclist, drugs or no. But this was his first mountain bike race in 9 years, and lets just say it didn't go as well as he would have liked. Velo News has the full story but in a nut shell, Floyd finished 36th in the race, and was actually passed by Shonny Vanlandingham, who started four minutes behind Landis and went on to win the women's division.
Go Clipless has offered their own brand of insight into the affair, reminding Floyd that being in cycling shape and being in mountain biking shape are not always the same thing.
Still, I can't help but think that it's been a rough year on Floyd. He's been mired in controversy since he wont the Tour, he had his hip replaced with a metal one, and he's spent the past few weeks in a coutroom presenting his case. He's probably not even in STATIONARY bike shape at the moment. At least not by his own standards. Personally, I'd love to see him ride in a few more big mountain bike events. But I'd also like to see him clear his name as well. I'm not sure if we'll see either of those things.
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