~ Positively False ~

As I have previously stated, I don’t believe Floyd Landis is guilty and I dismissed the doping allegations against him almost immediately. Meeting him last December while on assignment for the New York Daily News and again a couple months later when I was hired to shoot a charity event he hosted only solidified my belief in his innocence. When you have the opportunity to look someone in the eye, you get a true feeling for their character and my heart confirmed my initial belief - that Floyd is telling the truth. I found myself personally invested and very interested in following Floyd’s battle to prove his innocence, and like many, I impatiently await the arbitration panel’s ruling.

The other day I ran into Will Geoghegan at the grocery store. After a few minutes of catching up (I haven’t seen Will or Floyd since February), he promised to send me a copy of Floyd Landis’ book, Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France, and I expect to receive it very soon. However when I was at the mall last night and when I walked by the Borders Express bookstore, I couldn’t resist the urge to buy a copy.


I read for a couple hours when I got home and finished the book this morning after I woke up. The book made me laugh out loud a couple times, brought tears to my eyes at one point, and frustrated the hell out of me for what Floyd’s gone through. Although I know the story and have met the man, Positively False offers insight into who Floyd Landis is and what he is made of. Among other things, Floyd is smart, determined, strong, goal-oriented; and ballsy.

He’s also reckless at times, but it’s a calculated recklessness brought about by a willingness to go all out and risk everything because either anything less is unacceptable, or he has nothing to lose and isn’t afraid to look like an idiot if he fails miserably. Don’t misunderstand me; risking everything for Floyd doesn’t mean cheating to win. Risking everything means riding through the pain of a hip he could barely walk on; or attacking 30 miles into the 125 mile Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France when it’s over 100 degrees outside. Conventional strategy says to save your legs and make your move towards the end of the day, because attacking early almost guarantees a rider will be swallowed up by the peloton before the race is finished. It takes recklessness and balls to take a risk like that. To quote legendary cyclist Eddy Merckx, “Only the big champions do it like that.”

Whether you believe Floyd or not, you need to read Positively False; The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France. It offers a no-holds barred account of the inner world of pro cycling; things such as how much strategy is involved in racing; and despite the individualism of the sport, how no one wins a major race without the help of their teammates. It also tells about the Floyd that most people don’t know - the kid who once slept wrapped in a sponsor banner on a ski slope outside of Spokane the night before a race, the cyclist who gave everything to win the greatest race in the world, and the man forced to risk it all once again to defend the title that is rightfully his.

You can order the book at Amazon or pick it up at any Borders Bookstore.

~Jody~