In Admiration Of Floyd

At a time when cycling is generally painted with a broad brush and everyone is guilty of doping by association, you don't hear Floyd Landis's name bandied about.

There is a simplicty to Floyd -- maybe it's the Mennonite thing -- that leaves you with a quiet respect for the man who does wheelies like a kid, a leftover from his mountain-biking days.

Now, the circle of respect is growing as news spreads of his degenerative hip and impending surgery following the Tour de France. If you're not rooting for him, you certainly cannot root against him.

Over the past month, there have been numerous features on Floyd in every publication possible, notably Outside magazine, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. But it was Daniel Coyle, author of last year's "Lance Armstrong's War," who first got Floyd on the record for a New York Times magazine article that will appear in print next Sunday but is available now online. Samuel Abt, the outstanding cycling writer of the International Herald Tribune and New York Times, broke the story in the Times, but it was Coyle's scoop.

So now, we will watch Floyd with increased interest -- and trepidation.
And we will cheer his every efffort -- without doubt and only admiration.