Stage 3 - Elvis Meets Landis

5:45 AM is way too early to roll out of bed for a bike ride. But with work obligations looming I had little choice. Luckily, The Boss wanted to get in an early ride too so we agreed to meet out on the road at 6:00 AM. There are not too many good things that I can say about an early start but here are two; 1) the winds are not as nasty as they are later in the day, and 2) the temps at 6:00 AM were in the 70's, as opposed to the 90's that would sizzle later.

Our route took us from Germantown, north to Cedarburg, east to Lake Michigan, south to Brown Deer, west through Mequon and Thiensville and back into Germantown. The Boss had work obligations too and he had to peel off at mile 43. Today's Stage is the longest of this year's Tour - 73 miles. If my math is correct that left me with 30 miles to do solo. I headed northwest into the wind, wound my way through West Bend and after a quick stop to replenish fluids, turned for home.

The quiet time offered me an opportunity to reflect on last's night's trip to Wheaton, IL to hear doper Floyd Landis speak at a book signing. Cycling buddy Darin and I went to Border's Books to listen as Landis was scheduled to give a 15 minute soliloquy and then answers some questions. After receiving an uncalled for standing ovation upon entering the room Landis decided to get right to the questions. He seemed a bit uncomfortable in front of a microphone and I suspect that there never was any serious consideration given to preparing any kind of speech. Besides, what would he say? It's much easier just to answer softball questions from an adoring audience. Evidently Landis' public relations blitz these past few months had worked as the too loud and too long ovation is a result of people buying into Landis' the-world-is-out-to-get-me song and dance. The audience clearly felt sorry for Landis. Cheering for a person you perceive to be an underdog is a part of human nature. It feels good to stick it to The Man even if you don't understand who The Man is and what he might have done.

Landis listens to a question from the audience

I expected that the crowd would be made up of mostly cycling types. You know the type;, tall, skinny, shaved, lycra, T-shirt with some cycling related product proudly displayed. But with the exception of an older, over-weight guy busting out of his 7-Eleven cycling gear the crowd seemed to be made up of middle aged husbands and wives with slightly paunchy mid-sections and thinning hair. Simply put, your typical midwesterner. Surprising since I would have guessed that your typical midwesterner could care less about the Tour de France in general and some guy named Floyd Landis in particular.

Questions ranged from what age did Floyd start cycling to who he thought would win this year's Tour (his prediction was David Zabriske). No one seemed to notice the elephant in the room; doping. One guy did ask a question about Greg LeMond that Landis quickly dispatched by saying that he didn't know LeMond and therefore couldn't really give an answer. Twenty minutes of soft questions later the Q&A was adjourned and we lined up to get an autographed book.

Does hooking your thumb on your belt work as good as crossing your fingers?

Instead of giving you a rundown of Landis' answers to the audience questions I thought you might enjoy listening to the entire program. So I busted my hump for you once again and produced a podcast that you can listen to on your computer or download to your favorite MP3 player. Click HERE to listen from your computer. Or better yet, click on the iTunes logo below to subscribe to the Elvis Kennedy podcast via iTunes. That way you'll be able to take the Elvis Kennedy podcast with you everywhere.




For a permanent link to this information and for more pictures, go HERE.