Before he competed in the Tour de France, the first major long-distance ride Floyd Landis participated in was El Tour de Tucson in 1995. And he won in style.
Landis rode with his coach Arnie Baker, and it was the first time a tandem bike beat out single riders to win the Tucson event.
Landis remembers having a good time. He hasn’t competed in El Tour de Tucson since 2007, but Landis will be one of the thousands of riders participating in the 100-mile event around town Saturday.
He no longer has the same goals as when he was riding professionally. This time, Landis — the owner of Floyd’s of Leadville, a company that sells recovery products — will be riding for fun.
“I’m not going to try to win anything,” Landis said.
The 43-year-old retired cyclist, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone, was joined in Tucson by friend Dave Zabriskie, another former pro cyclist.
Zabriskie came out to Tucson last week, earlier than planned, after he was forced to evacuate from his Los Angeles-area home due to a wildfire.
His home, as far as he knows, is OK.
“It was right in the sliver of survival, so it should be fine,” Zabriskie said.
Zabriskie, however, is going to try to convince Landis (and some of their other friends) to bump their registration over to the 75-mile race. He’s just not a fan of the early 7 a.m. start time and would prefer to sleep in for an extra 90 minutes.
The 75-mile race starts at 8:30 a.m., the 50-mile ride at 10:30 a.m. and the 25-mile ride is at 1 p.m. The Fun Rides (10-mile, 4-mile, 1-mile and ¾-mile rides) begin at 8 a.m.
“Getting it over with is usually my answer,” Zabriskie said, tongue firmly in cheek. “Can’t say I’m super motivated. I just don’t want to wake up super early.”
Those who wake up early for the 100-mile ride will get a different view from previous years.
El Tour founder Richard DeBernardis made a few changes to the route, the most notable on the longest race. Cyclists will make their way southeast into Vail, down Houghton Road, and circle over to Old Spanish Trail.
“You’re going to go through some of the most scenic country we have in Tucson,” DeBernardis said. “The cactus, the mountains — you’ll be by the Rincon Mountain range for 20 miles.”
