Floyd Landis – Redemption Comes from Within, Floyd’s of Leadville

Floyd Landis – Redemption Comes from Within, Floyd’s of Leadville - Here's what folks forget about Floyd Landis; On 19 July, 2006, during stage 16, Floyd Landis lost the Tour de France. It was the day that everything went wrong.

The next day, Floyd had the ride of his life. He rode his heart out...on a ruined hip, he destroyed the field like few others ever did. When he needed it most, he had the ride of his life.

Ultimately, Floyd won the 2006 Tour De France, of course, the story doesn't end that way. The 2006 tour, tainted before it began, had entire teams and numerous favorites barred from competing; such was the state of cycling in the mid-aughts. 

Now, Floyd lives a fulfilled life. He's run through the gauntlet of public rejection to redemption. He's comfortable with who he is, what he's done and where he is headed.  It turns out, Floyd is a lot like us...and if we take his life and measure it as a whole, our man Landis comes out with a balanced, reasoned and experience laden approach to life--and we couldn't be more proud. 
​
Floyd founded Floyd's of Leadville. His company produces hemp-based products including CBD and CBG proteins, tinctures, etc all designed to help people relax and recover.  

A hat tip to Mark Pattison who connected us to Floyd. For more on Floyd's background check out Mark's fantastic podcast.

Haiku
If there was a pill
That gave you a chance to win
​Wouldn’t you take it?

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Executive Producer/Host: Pete A. Turner
Producer/Co-Host/Intro: Jon Leon Guerrero
Producer: Damjan Gjorgjiev
Writer: Bojan Spasovski ​

Transcription

Jon Leon Guerrero  0:00  
Hey, this is john Leon Guerrero. Our guest today is Floyd Landis. He was a professional road racing cyclist who was recruited by Lance Armstrong to ride with the US Postal team as chief Domestique, which he did from 2002 to 2004. He left there to lead his own team and finished ninth in the Tour de France in 2005. And then he was the overall winner in 2006, battling a hip ailment in one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of the storied race, really in the history of sports.

 Pete recounts it in our conversation, so listen up when he does that, Floyd Landis done to everyone, but it's a title that was stripped of him. And his doping case eventually led to the attention that Lance Armstrong received and we've all heard that story, which you probably haven't heard it quite like Floyd tells it. So we think you'll get something special from this episode. Now, I want to take a second since the end of the year to invite you to support our favorite cause. Save the brave You can read about them at save the brave.org. They are a certified 501 c three nonprofit organization that will fit right into your year in giving plan. And they are dedicated to helping veterans cope with post traumatic stress. You can read all about them donate a few bucks and help them to help some veterans who can use a hand. Now Pete and I both support save the brave with our time with our recurring contributions, right out of our PayPal accounts. It's really easy to do. And Scott using supports them too. He also serves on their board. They do great work and our communities benefit firsthand from their results. So we urge you to support them too. And if you would buy a combat veteran a lunch once a month Well that's all we're asking. The equivalent of that you can set up a recurring PayPal contribution right at save the brave.org you should do it and while we're at it, we also appreciate your support of the break it down show by rating and reviewing the show buying yourself and your friends a T shirt or a hoodie and dropping us a line to let us know what you're thinking and what makes you listen in. Seeing your comments and shares helps new listeners find us and we really appreciate you doing it. So let's keep it going. Here's our guest today, Floyd Landis, lions rock productions.

Jay Mohr  2:19  
This is Jay Mohr.

Unknown Speaker  2:20  
This is Jordan. Dexter from the offspring

Unknown Speaker  2:22  
naked me Sebastian youngsters, Rick Marotta

stewart copeland  2:24  
 Stewart Copeland.

unknown  2:27  
Scott Baxter, Gabby Reese, Rob belly, 

Jon Leon Guerrero  2:29  
this is john Leon gray

Pete Turner  2:30  
and this is Pete a Turner.

Floyd Landis  2:34  
Hey, this is Floyd Landis. You're listening to the break it down Show.

Jon Leon Guerrero  2:40  
Hey, Floyd Landis was a cyclist. And if you don't already know his name, he was well, he was on the postal service team that made cycling much more famous in the United States then then it had been in years prior. The reason we want to talk to you for it and the reason we're so excited to have you on the show is, you know, when we have sports figures on the show, of course, we want to talk about their achievements and all that stuff. But we want to give their achievements, the backstory of the struggle that really happened in not only the sport but navigating life and the sport. And so for our listeners today, we have probably the granddaddy of that story. Because you were in a sport, the sport of cycling is, you know, internationally renowned, you were a celebrity throughout the world, and perhaps I think underappreciated terribly in the US. But for a guy who's an American cyclist, you know that better than everybody, and then for your story as it unfolds to date and you have you know, you've been retired for several years now, but as it unfolds to date, yours is the redemption story of all redemption stories, and we don't know that it's even reached its peak yet. What do you have to say about that?

Floyd Landis  3:58  
Yeah, first of all, Thanks for the, you know, the acknowledgement on the backstory i i, sometimes I struggle with,

Pete Turner  4:09  
hey, this is Pete A Turner from the breakdown Show checking in real quick to ask you this, john Scott and I all support save the brave with our time, our location, our effort and our money each month we give a small amount, do the same with us go to save the brave.org click on the donate tab, pick an amount that you want to come out each month and they will handle all the rest I stand behind these folks. Thank you so much. Let's get back to the show.

Floyd Landis  4:33  
Sometimes I struggle with I don't know where where other people see professional professional athletes in their, you know, kind of view of the world. It's easy when you're when you're a professional athlete to just feel like, you know, you're in this little bubble and and everyone's just sort of watching and admiring and and and knowing where they place that and how much value they place on that is hard to it's hard to distinguish. I mean, it was easier for me Because I shouldn't say easier, but it was it was more enlightening for me hadn't been around Armstrong and, you know, you brought up the Parcel Service team and his story with cancer and everything, you know it that brought a whole new level of emotion to the way fans saw the whole thing. And rather than go on, you know, a long tangent about that, we, I think we lived in our little bubble and we had our sort of rules that we all, you know, played by within the sport itself, and we we sort of lost track of how much other people had emotionally at stake in that. At least I did, I don't know if the other guys did. And yeah, it's, you know, the story had some, some dark periods in it, because of what happened and you know, getting exposed for having us use drugs during the Tour de France and the lead up to it. You know, I it took me quite a few years to try to accept my new place, and how people viewed me and or even understand how they viewed me for that matter. But I can't say it was. I mean, none of it was undeserved. And it was a long learning process. But I guess the point I was trying to make initially was that, generally speaking, the guys that are that have some unique, you know, disposition or talent to some sport that would allow them to be at the top level and the professional side of it. They don't really ever experienced what other people experience as real life as a teenager and as a young adult, because they get put straight into this other sort of Bizarro world where, you know, you're, you're held on a pedestal on one hand, and you're held to a set of I don't mean to take this as an excuse, but it's a slightly set of different standards than the rest of the world holds themselves or anyone else to for that matter. But yeah, here I am now, I mean, all grown up and you know, a little bit worse for the wear same as everyone else that went through it, particularly Lance. I mean, that higher profile, you were in that whole story that the worse it was for you. So I appreciate the ability to actually try to articulate, you know, what it was like, I don't know exactly what value that has for, for people looking in, but at the end of the day, it was it wasn't a boring life and put it that way.

Jon Leon Guerrero  7:26  
You know, we think it's going to have tremendous value. We think that there's a human story in there and lessons that are there that have to do with perseverance and, you know, and, and reconciliation with the truth and all of that stuff. Your your story, though, is unique for a couple of different reasons. I think all the things that you described were amplified by the fact that you were thrust into that world, I think a little less prepared than let's say if you grew up French, and you had been a little more ushered into the celebrity The sport and all of that stuff mean, you grew up in Pennsylvania, and then to be on the world stage the way that you were. And, you know, feel free to correct me. But it seems to me that you're in a circumstance where that was thrust upon you a little more amplified than it would have been, in other in some other circumstances, if you had been, you know, on a French team or a team that valued cycling a little more and, and had more of a minor league system, for lack of a better thing to call it. But it seems to me that you are still in a place where and, you know, like I said, Pete and I, Britain bring you on the show because we feel like there is a value that maybe we don't even know what it is yet. But it's definitely a story that deserves to be told so that we can learn the lessons of, of redemption that seem to still be happening and not be finished. in your life. Where are you physically where where's where's your where were we talking yet? Today?

Floyd Landis  9:03  
At the moment I'm I'm in New York I live in my my residence in Colorado has been spending a bit of time in Pennsylvania recently we have some the second part of the story here we have a company that sells hemp derived products, CBD products and we also sell marijuana products and a couple dispensaries and Oregon and Colorado but for the first time this year that the Department of Agriculture has allowed us to grow hemp and other states that hadn't specifically addressed the law previous. So, you know, I grew up in Pennsylvania and we have my I grew up as a Mennonite and it's fairly close community there with Amish and Mennonite farmers. And so we partnered with 50 different Amish farmers to grow some head for us. I've been spending a lot of time there working on just the harvest of everything and processing it but but yeah, so I've been traveling around a bit but my typically my residence is Colorado. Okay,

Jon Leon Guerrero  9:58  
and we'll go I'm glad to hear about that business. We have another friend who's in that business and we support you know the legalization and and the help that especially athletes who have retired get from CBD products and is that part of your physical? I don't know how to call it rehab or what what is it? You know, people buys moving all about the endurance of cycling here in the States.

Floyd Landis  10:24  
Yeah, look, especially endurance sports, but any sport like that becomes kind of an addiction in itself. At that level, because that's all you do. And it's a tremendous thrill or, or adrenaline rush or, for lack of a better word, to be part of, you know, events of that magnitude. So it's hard to ever I mean, even my, my exit from the sport was a little more dramatic and probably a little harder than Had it been, you know, what I had hoped for, but for just about anybody regardless of What happens or however their career ends and matter how well it goes it's a difficult transition and and i think people who talk about it from time to time, but I don't think most people want to complain about it because most people view you know, anybody that's had the privilege of being a professional athlete for any amount of time as having been lucky. So nobody wants to hear me complain, but just from from a human point of view, it's a difficult transition. And so, you know, everybody that is in any kind of sport where they get injured A lot has aches and pains that are probably a little worse than they would be anyway, although at this point, I just turned 44 things they can probably, I guess they would anyhow but you know, what got me into interested in marijuana in the first place was, I had my head my hip replaced in 2006. And I was as as you would expect, was prescribed lots of narcotics, but it probably wouldn't have been an issue. Those do have real medical value for people that have surgery. Things like that. But if you're also going through some other kind of, you know, life crisis, it makes it easy to just become dependent on those things. And that's what happened to me. And so I get, you know, that was that was one of the lucky ones and still here, but it's a huge, huge cultural problem, obviously.

Pete Turner  12:17  
Let me ask you about the hip thing too, because then you your hip is replaced in 2006. That's coincidentally the same year you won the Tour de France.

Floyd Landis  12:27  
Yeah.

Pete Turner  12:29  
Would you tell your younger self to do that? I mean, look, this is your one shot, right? You like you're there, your hip is about to give out, but you're in the best shape of your life. Would you tell yourself now at 44 or even at 64 years old, you'd be like, you know what? Not worth it.

Floyd Landis  12:43  
Man. I don't know. You know, I, I go back and forth on that. And it gets interpreted as you know, would you have done everything that it took to go win the Tour? And I've heard Lance say a few times that he that he would and he gets okay. of, you know, ridiculed for it, but I know what he means. It's not. I think, part of part of the issue part of the, I guess the point I was trying to make when I, when I started talking earlier about just the past, and you know, how athletes are, how they perceive themselves and how other people perceive them. It's, it feels and again, this, this is going to, at the risk of sounding like this is me complaining is I'm not have a great life now. And I'm happy that I've been through a lot of different things. And I feel like I'm a more understanding person when I read crazy stories of other things other people do, and wonder why they would have done it. But at the risk of sounding like, like, it's, like, it's an excuse that when you're in the middle of it, and and, you know, I mean, this isn't just, you know, making assumptions, you know, quite literally that, that the competition is going to be using performance enhancing drugs, and that's what you're going to have Do if you want to win? Then you do it and you look for ways to justify it. That if, if you're on the other side of that may not admit, like make as much sense or maybe maybe most people haven't actually been, you know, haven't been asked to think it through. I mean, here we are, we're, you know, we're young adults, but practically just kids, we're riding bicycles around, right? We're not solving the world's problems. And, you know, people, people that, that admire you as an athlete, whether they assume you're doing that or not, particularly the ones that are assuming you're not. They have kind of a double standard towards athletes that they don't have elsewhere, right. I mean, everybody knows that the Best Rock and Roll musicians use drugs and that's they use drugs because it helps them write songs and write music. And those drugs are illegal, but no one cares. There's no one saying that you shouldn't be doing that. In fact, people will allow their kids to look up to these. These guys and I'm not making a judgment as to whether they show it or not, but it's a double standard. Right. So here we are, we're doing what we're trying to do, and they're doing what they're trying to do. And you could say, well, that's art. And it's not competition, but everybody knows that this country is capitalist, and it's about competition. That's just what it is. Yeah. So whether I would do it all again, given what I went through, and particularly given what people around me went through, not so much me I mean, I can handle it, I guess I made it through but there was a lot of other people just, you know, family and and the fans of the sport that took it really personally and didn't view it. You know, the way I just articulated and still don't sell them and that's fine. I understand their point of view as well. But I think for that reason, I'd say I probably wouldn't do it. It's it's not not this isn't isn't being defensive here, but it's not really a fair hypothetical anyway, but but put it that way, if it was just me that that took the fall for it and what was still able to live that kind of You know, exciting life for those years, I think I'd do it again. But given the way it affected other people or their perception of it all, I think that that probably outweighs the personal benefit to me.

Pete Turner  16:12  
So, taking a, it's kind of hard to remove, taking all of the performance enhancing stuff out, and just looking at the hip, and I have a follow up after this. Just that part, like when you look at yourself now and you see the road, you know, and you've got to replace tip and those things only last so long at some point. Something has to be done with the replacement because it's not likely to outlive you, you know,

Floyd Landis  16:36  
yeah. So I had a, my dilemma was I had broken it in 2002. on bike riding, and it hips, typically, if they're broken in such a way that it's not displace, they'll heal. Generally, you'll have you know, years down the line, you'll have arthritis issues with those hips, but if they're displaced badly, then they have a much less chance of you dealing in such a way that all of the, you know, capillaries aren't obstructed and in the bone is getting nutrients to the fall of the hip joint. Yeah. And so the medical, you know, diagnosis is called a vascular necrosis, it means that when it heals, the fractured site heals, and it actually is reattached. And now your bone is fine for all practical purposes, except that that scar tissue where it heals is more dense than the bone itself, and there's very little blood flow through to the ball of the hip to begin with. And so over time the hip dies. And that's a result a direct result of the of the fracture, but it happens years later, it happens all the time. So by 2006, I mean, mine was broken pretty badly. And by 2006, it looked like it needed to be replaced and the great surgeons, I mean, they obviously they said look like you shouldn't, you probably should stop racing your bike and find something else to do and preserve this natural hip as long as you can because you're obviously not You're speeding up the, you know, arthritis problem and degradation problem. But for me, it felt like I mean, I might have bought myself a couple years where, you know, maybe I didn't have to have replace till 2008 or 10 or something, but trade off was, you know, quit racing at the peak of my career and the one the one chance I'd probably have to win the Tour and so, you know, I think with that in mind, I, I'd probably do that again. It'd be one thing to say, look, if you you'd never have to have your hip replaced and you but if you want to sacrifice your hip, you should be you know, you can race another year, that would be a more difficult decision. I don't know that I would say yes to that. But given that I knew it was already destroyed. I didn't I wasn't the trade off was right wasn't so great.

Pete Turner  18:52  
When I was watching you race you to the end, if I've got the timeline wrong. I'm going on memory here, correct me but the day before You would, what they call bombed, you'd run out of energy and you didn't place very well. But then the next day, you just went bonkers. And like the announcers were losing their minds are like, No way too early, too fast too much. You just kept going. Would you look at all the rides you've had that day when you just took on the entire field and smash the hell out of them? Is that the ride of your life? Or reserved rather, I feel like that's nothing. I went on a 10 mile ride with my wife. And I wouldn't trade that. So what is is that the ride

Floyd Landis  19:32  
know that one? For sure. I mean, partly because it just ended up defining the whole story and what I lived through after that, but yeah, no, it was it was you know, everything was right that day, just like everything went wrong the day before me. Yeah, it's, yeah, it was. I was proud of that. It's in it's in bicycle racing. You don't often have it least in a given stage. You don't often have, you know, an hour or Least 45 minutes of that ride where you know you're going to win, right? I mean, crashing or doing something stupid, you know, you're going to win generally bike racing, you don't know until the very last, you know, few hundred yards if you're going to win at all. So I had I mean, for that reason it was one of the more I don't know, I guess exciting and memorable rides, I've had other rides where I felt this strong or I felt was good, but that one because I could actually enjoy it while it was happening was was unique.

Jon Leon Guerrero  20:28  
So it seems to me that you have sort of a feeling of healthy amount of contrition, along with standing your ground and saying, Hey, I'm saying this on my own terms. I mean, for our listeners, I want them to know that in this process that you've gone through with the exposure of P of, of the drugs that you guys took and all of that stuff you're you're like you paid the price with your suspension first before You decided to open your mouth and and really say, Hey, listen, this whole system is jack. And to me that was terrible and tough to do. And you know, we could see that but now that you're sort of on the other end of it, and I keep struggling to say that because I don't know if you're on the other end of the yet seems like you are and a lot of us you are, what I'd like to know is, you know, going through that process, you mentioned that you don't know that you're going to win a bicycle race till the last last bit of it. Are you winning this race? You know, in your life and with what you've been through?

Floyd Landis  21:38  
Yeah, no, I think at this point, you know, your kid in your in your competitive like that, that's your personality, then yeah, you're trying to win whatever you're doing, I'm going to win this or I'll win that or, you know, things need to be worthy of boasting afterwards. I think hopefully I'm past that point in my life, but It's interesting that you say that kind of the way, the way you explained it where I, I served the suspension first. And I struggled during that time as well. Part of me look at it. Again, it's hard to put into context where people can really feel it, because they weren't there. But these guys that I raced with, I mean, to at least some extent, we were all doing the same, you know, the same thing to prepare, whether it was training or drugs, or who knows water, just staying focused and not going out and partying. And those guys, I felt like were my, you know, that was, that was my, that was my crew when I'm racing against them or on my team, it's, this is the, this is the environment I'm in and I don't have any animosity toward these guys for what they're doing because I'm doing it too and vice versa. So when the whole thing came out, I mean, I knew in my mind, I knew that the best thing to do for my own life, but it just didn't admit it, but That would have meant, you know, destroying a bunch of other people's lives at the same time. And it took me a long time to kind of come to grips with that I didn't really have a choice on that. And I, you know, to this day, I know a lot of them still resent me for it and feel like I should have just taken the fall but and maybe I'd feel that way if I were them as well. I just, I feel like I did the best that I could do without I mean, this this country has a weird double standard, right? This country likes mafia movies, and they respect the guy the most doesn't talk in the face of, you know, all of the evidence against him because he's got his guys backs. Whereas the when their family is the victim, yeah, that's a problem but but it's a weird thing, right? This the culture of this country sees you as a rat, if you play the game and get caught and then talk. Yeah. And and I knew there was a risk in that. And I thought, you know, at some point in my life, I've gotten pretty bad and I you know, I was In every day all day and taking narcotics and just trying to make it all go away and feel numb, I thought okay, well if they're gonna call me rather than the call me rap, but I'll, I'll tell them the truth and I'll just tell them everything about it and maybe maybe they're right maybe maybe the anti doping agencies are right and they can figure out a way to fix this. I never really believed that they did. I've never seen any kind of evidence that they actually even wanted to really fix the problem. And this going another, you know, another direction with a conversation but at this point, nothing just so you understand nothing has really changed in professional sports. I mean, the anti doping agencies are nothing more than a the PR arm of the Olympic Committee trying to make it look like they actually care about fairness. And you know, I guess I don't want to get I don't want to come out sounding like I'm bitter about the whole thing. And but there that is one thing that I still have some animosity about is the fact that the Olympic Committee themselves which I think is generally accepted as probably the largest, most people corrupt organization on earth could even have the nerve to point at one of us who were just racing our bikes around and say that we're cheating now. So on one hand I was defined against them because you know, fuck them that's not how I see the world. I'll get the I'll get these guys backs and I'll take the fall right on the other hand, just destroyed everything around me and and, and whining is no fun anyway and, and it was a real it was a real dilemma. And I think that you know, a lot of people look at it and they say, this is what I would have done it is what you should have done and it's it's easy to say that and some of them probably right but it's it just took me a while to get my head around all of it and and do the right thing I guess.

Jon Leon Guerrero  25:43  
Well, for our listeners, I want to say I don't know if that's what I would have done. And I don't know, because thank God I had never been in a position to have to navigate a situation that that big and that heavy and how you did it is how you did it and The only thing that we I mean, there's no second guessing you. Not a question. I just wanted to make a

Floyd Landis  26:06  
joke. The drugs helped get me through that.

Jon Leon Guerrero  26:09  
Wow. No, that's not the easiest thing to, you know, the to admit or or? I don't know, man we I think one of the things that made Pete and me both admire your story as its unfolded so far as the candor with which you approached all this stuff and you know that's not an easy thing to do it's not not easy to be on that pedestal and have a personal situation be you know, expose that way and you just came with it and pay well,

Floyd Landis  26:39  
I mean, to just mitigate that a little I did have a lot of time to sit and think and you know, other people this is you know, it's an interesting story of their life to watch it go by but they're not forced to sit alone and think for years at a time about which way is best and which is it not that I came any conclusions but yeah, it's Look, it was it was, I guess deserved. And it was also a little unfair. That's how I feel about it now, but yeah, I'm still here.

Pete Turner  27:14  
Are you surprised by that?

Floyd Landis  27:17  
Yeah, there was a time where I figured it. I mean, I don't know, I just, I really did get to a dark place for a couple years where I didn't I didn't I didn't want to die. I never felt suicidal and I can see how people could I guess it's just not part of my personality, but I can certainly feel I certainly understand people that that you know, do commit suicide or or want to, I just, I don't know, I always just felt like Well, I guess it'll either get better or won't and I'll just kind of get through it whatever way I can. And, you know, it's it's weird because site cycling sort of attracts people with not just cycling but endurance sports. It's a feast if you look at them and attract certain personalities that are obsessive about things, too, right? And generally, that's associated with more addictive personality. So that's kind of came with the territory. But But yeah, no, I'm not surprised it I never wanted to just end I guess that's, that's one way out. But I, I did always have, you know, at least a couple of good, really good friends around that were always always available if I wanted them but in, in my mind and for me the the best. As much as it was the darkest point in my life, the best thing for me to do was just be alone and try to think and at the same time to stop from thinking.

Jon Leon Guerrero  28:40  
Well, you know, you you had a best friend who committed suicide as well. And so I want to acknowledge your friends who were there for you, because we talked about this a lot. We have a lot of veterans on the show and you know, we support PTSD causes and stuff. So we want to acknowledge the folks who are helping their friends just Yeah, absolutely,

Floyd Landis  29:01  
absolutely. So those guys in net that makes me every time I think about it, and I would think about those guys, I think, man, you know, I can sit here and wallow in my, you know, self pity. Or I can look around and say, Look, there's people that had dealt with far more, you know, traumatic things that, that and I can sit here and try to tell you what it would be like and you might be able to envision what a bike race is like, but no amount of stories is going to make you feel what what it must be like to be in a war. I mean, there's no, I don't think there's even words for that. But so yeah, I mean it sometimes it helps set relativity but that doesn't really make it better for anyone. And if on that subject, that is one thing that I have, I've kind of paid attention to in the last few years and there's I'm glad there's more attention being paid to it for for these veterans that are just kind of, or at least for a long time. We're kind of tossed aside and no one really knew that PTSD was even a thing and everybody just said, you know, and it comes from a macho, I shouldn't say monster that's used a name Attorneys days but like they come from an environment where you don't complain, right man up you deal with it.

Pete Turner  30:06  
And yeah, way worse than me and tell you that, hey, this is Pete a Turner from lions rock productions. We create podcasts around here. And if you your brand or your company want to figure out how to do a podcast, just talk to me. I'll give you the advice on the right gear, the best plan and show you how to take a podcast that makes sense for you. That's sustainable. That's scalable and fun. Hit me up at Pete at breakdown show com Let me help I want to hear about it.

Floyd Landis  30:32  
And, yeah, way worse than me, I can tell you that.

Jon Leon Guerrero  30:36  
Well, let me ask you this because it does attract like you said a certain personality and a certain amount of drive. Are you in your business life now? Because we would have plenty of looking back. Let's look ahead in your business life n ow. Are you that driven or you're in a place where you can downshift and take it easy little bit

Floyd Landis  31:01  
I'm in a middle gear somewhere. I mean, I feel likeFirst of all, what we're doing now is, as much as we grow, you know, marijuana products and process and many other things, really what we're doing is selling something that that helps people. And I'm not a great salesman, I'm not very good at this. I don't mean to insult salespeople, but I'm not a very good liar. If I'm selling something, I believe that I could sell it. And I'm convinced that this stuff helps people with with all kinds of issues. It's not it's not magic, and there, you know, all kinds of claims being made that are unsubstantiated and probably made up but but it does help people with anxiety and it does help people with their dealing with you know, tough times in their life. And I know it for a fact because I've seen it, I felt it. And so to me that the idea of competition doesn't really reconcile with that I'm actually I'm trying to get people to try something that I think can make their life better without taking it past. You know, the level of giving them information on and saying look, this might help and if it doesn't help them then so be it. It doesn't help everybody but it's worth trying. And it's not you know, I'm out there trying to sell it at all costs and unfortunately it is real and it does help people and so it's not that difficult to sell but there are still people that have misguided moral aversions to marijuana and all kinds of other things and so that's that's one hurdle but if you get people to listen and try it it's it doesn't take a huge competitive spirit to try to sell it.

Jon Leon Guerrero  32:33  
Hey, let's plug your business

Floyd Landis  32:35  
Yeah, what so I are the business I started initially was was only marijuana this was kind of before they have CBD thing became widely talked about, you know, four or five years ago because I was living in Colorado I qualified for to apply for the marijuana licenses. And so I started a company that we took the role of plant Material processed it into oils and things like that to get used in in edibles that people use or they they products. And since then I've moved on to processing hemp because CBD became a much more widely accepted and I think to some extent it became a vehicle to help people actually understand marijuana and its medicinal benefits that because before that, either you know you liked marijuana because you were stoner or you had convinced everybody that that had medicinal properties but they all thought it had to do with THC and turns out there's a lot of other compounds in marijuana that benefit people and possibly THC is not even the most important one. But so I started started that company and because I, you know, had used marijuana to get off of opiates, and it's something I cared about and and it wasn't I didn't know where it would go but I liked the subject and also like being around it. It was good energy in Colorado when it first got legalized with something new and everyone involved was excited. It was fun. And so it was it was actually a real kind of a turning point for me and getting out of the obsession I had was the cycling and what had happened and all those feelings that I had about that so since then yeah, we've we've acquired a couple of dispensaries of dispensary in Leadville, Colorado and then for dispensaries in Portland, Oregon. They're called floyds fine cannabis. And then we have a line of of hemp derived CBD products called floyds of Leadville. And we sell those and ship those and shipped all 50 states and we sell through bike shops and convenience stores and things like that and you try to just make it you know, high quality stuff and ask people to just try it and you know, there's, I would say, you know, probably wanted one out of 10 people doesn't really get a benefit from it. But depending on your, on your personality and your you know your levels of anxiety and in other things you deal with in life, it can be a tremendous benefit for people,

Pete Turner  34:59  
my hips. from combat are pretty shot they're not all the way shot like your hip was but they're not getting better as you get older and I've been thinking seriously about, you know, figuring out some kind of CBD based treatment just because you know, they're I don't know pre arthritic arthritic who knows where they're at, but they sure as hell don't feel good Floyd.

Floyd Landis  35:18  
Are they hurt hurt during the day or is it is it a nighttime pain?

Pete Turner  35:21  
Yeah, the whole time. The whole time sitting in this chair right now I've got reactivate my hands to make him not hurt. You know,

Floyd Landis  35:29  
I'll tell you one thing I mean, look, CBD is a pain mitigator and it's also a there's there's things about pain that are are directly connected your mood as well, right? Like when you're in a good mood, the same kind of pain doesn't feel as bad when you're down, then you fixate on it. So in some ways, it helps because it helps your your anxiety levels and I don't know how you know how much you have either one of those, but I will tell you this. Mine was replaced 2006 so 13 years ago and it's I mean like until people Bring it up, I forget that that it's there, the flexibility is almost as good as the other ones to the point where I unless I'm doing something unusual, I would would not notice it. And the pain is completely gone. I mean, it's been 13 years, I think the technology on the hips now is quite good. And yeah, you're young and you might need a second revision at some point. But it's an outpatient surgery. And it's a couple of weeks of, you know, the soft tissue healing from the incision and everything else. But it's, it's miraculous, like, it's as big as it is big and physically large as it sounds, I got to replace this huge joint. It's actually one of the one of the things that medicine has gotten so good at that. It's it's hard to advise somebody to just wait if they're in pain.

Pete Turner  36:42  
Yeah. Interesting. Well, what I'm dealing with is tolerable. You know, and I'm hoping to hold out but you're right. So

Floyd Landis  36:49  
they tell you, right, they say we'll just put up with it as long as you can, like I can put up with it my life if I have to. Yeah, there's no way to say what that threshold is. But if I tell you what if it affects your life, in any meaningful way, the relationships because you're in pain too much, then it's time to get rid of it. But it's worth trying to see beyond if you tried it. I mean, there are different different strengths and different doses and it depending on the kind of pain and that's one type of pain that it probably would help with. But it's if you have real arthritis pain, you know, bone on bone kind of arthritis, it's going to be hard to manage without some kind of surgery.

Jon Leon Guerrero  37:22  
Yeah, you know, what would help you out is if you go to floyds of Leadville, calm, you can get soft gels to see like I said, I'm not a very good salesman. Yeah, there you go. Also $5 shipping and free shipping on order book. So have you helped us out a little bit? Yeah, man. You know, the technology on a lot of things is changing and for us to have a product in, you know, in the American side guys right now, where we can kind of go back to nature, I think is a refreshing change, not that I'm not for technological advancement in nutrition and Awesome stuff, because I certainly am. But that's one of the things that you know, with with CBD be being, you know, mainstream as it is and growing by the day. I think, you know, you're you're able to help a lot of people out when I asked the question about your drive and you know what gear you're in sort of in you said, you're kind of in a middle gear. You know, it's not necessarily the competitiveness, but it's the amount of work. This is what I'm curious about the amount of work that you get up and do. Are you still in the mode where, you know, you get up early and you go hard, like you have trained and lived for so many years? Or, or have you reached a point of normalcy where you're going, like, you know, the rest of the world doesn't operate at that level?

Floyd Landis  38:45  
No, I'm still there. And I'll tell you why. I mean, partly, it's because I like what I'm doing and I care about it. And so that makes it easier. It doesn't feel as much like work but even when it does i and this I guess this is just some this Lancer your other Question to whether, you know, out the other side, if I have too much time I sit and think and some of these some of the, you know, some things don't have answers, right. And so, if I sit and think about the past and become unhappy about it, it doesn't serve any purpose for me. So it helps me to have this. And the other thing that helped me in life and I, you know, I used to kind of laugh at people they'd say, all that they talked about how great their kids are, but have a little daughter that's five and I like that. That's another thing that helps take my mind off of which I guess it's just a selfish thing anyway, just focus on me and things that didn't go right that I wish had had gone differently. But between her and working it, therapy for me, in a sense, that's what it feels like, at least if I sit and think about it.

Jon Leon Guerrero  39:48  
Well, again, I'm going to, you know, sprinkling this with statements as well as questions but they're, they're all to advance the conversation. I was. I think it was Dave Chappelle, who recently was talking about Muhammad Ali and what Muhammad Ali went through with his whole, you know, the Vietnam issues that he went through and somebody called him the, you know, the Muhammad Ali of comedy and compliment, like, you'd really paid a price for this whole thing that you went to Africa and all that shit. said, You know, I appreciate that compliment, but I wouldn't recommend it. No. Man, that guy's great. I'm glad he's back. Yeah. Okay, well, and I'll say it, we're glad you're back to

Floyd Landis  40:36  
know I appreciate I appreciate it. And also, you know, I want I wanted to add one thing on the on the CBD side of the marijuana side. You know, I there's still a lot of people in this country that that view marijuana as you know, morally objectionable or believe that it should be illegal and a lot of that as a result of, you know, the Reagan administration of the war on drugs, which is a lot of propaganda anyway. But on the other hand, there are you valid arguments for controlling it and not, you know, letting kids use things like permanently alter their mind and there needs to be a waiter. A way to actually, you know, regulate it and make sure that at least minimize the amount of damage that it can do because too much of anything can be harmful. Right. But the worst part about the whole thing is that, you know, it's created this situation where, well, the war on drugs in general created this situation where a bunch of poor you know, underprivileged, mostly black kids are in prison over it. And there's, and we still have people feeling like, Well, you know, this this stuff should should be illegal. But what I would ask people to do is way not and again, this is similar to, you know, the way I view what happened with me is life's not black and white, right? There's some nuances to it and you also have to weigh what your best possible practical solutions are not just what this sometimes this country gets caught up in this you know, these rights Wars where we just believe something's right or refuse to just actually look at it objectively and say, what's what should we do here? That's the most rational and given the alternative, which is to put a bunch of poor kids in prison over it, you know, I it's hard for me to understand how somebody that's objective can look at this the whole marijuana thing and say, we shouldn't come up with a better way than than that. So that's kind of my my rant for the day. But again, it's another subset of people that makes me actually feel better about myself. And I see what happened a lot of them I mean, here they are many of them in prison for life. Looking at looking outside saying this stuff is now illegal, and there's a bunch of you know, privileged white people selling it, and here I am, and no one's gonna do it. So, I mean, I guess the world's got a lot of unfair things and for what it's worth, mine was the least at least at the problems.

Jon Leon Guerrero  42:50  
Well, amen on those points, whether yours was the least of the problems are not subject of debate. But this is one of the things that We enjoy having sports figures on the show about is because we can, you know, like I said, we can admire your achievements. But there's a bigger story and there's a more human story. And there's a more relatable struggle. And I think that you having been through a, you know, a bunch of dynamics around what happened in your sports career is what's going to stand the test of time in terms of your story. Yeah, I'm teetering on whether to ask you this. And I'm going to ask it and then if we, you know, if you don't like it, we can cut it out. But I'm just curious about whether you have or whether it's even worth it. Whether you've repaired your relationship with Lance Armstrong, or whether you give a shit because he seems to have been through some things that created some confusion for him to

Floyd Landis  43:53  
Yeah, it's interesting question. I I am you know, I haven't talked to him in I've seen him face to face a few times because of the little, you know, things we went through. But I haven't talked to him in probably 10 years. And he and rightfully so he was, you know, he blamed me for a lot of the way things went when it took the turn, when I decided, you know, kind of expose everything, and he he did unfairly get, you know, blamed. I don't know that he unfairly got punished necessarily by the rules themselves, but just the response of the fans and everything else that and some of this is his own his own fault, but some of this is the result of him, having been the only guy that people recognized anyway, yes, worse. You know, he got more of the blame when he got more of the upside and he got more of the downside. And he blames me for a lot of that and, and I understand that. I don't have any animosity towards him now. And I don't know where he stands on that. I Look what what made him a great competitor is is he's hard, hard headed. And he likes light. So I suspect he kind of still resents me. And I don't really foresee us, you know, being friends, but I don't have any. I hope I hope he's doing well, the guy paid a very dear price. And if that's not enough for some people that I think they're misinterpreting his actual place in society from beginning. You know, some of them feel like he he used this is the story about his cancer to somehow, you know, promote himself and he did, but that was his story. It's not like it was a sinister thing just happened. So, I have not spoken to him. I don't know how he feels about me. But if I had to guess I'd say he probably isn't going to call me anytime soon.

Jon Leon Guerrero  45:49  
Yeah, I don't expect that he'll pick up the phone necessarily. I don't know. I mean, my own self selfish desire as a fan and as a human being and I hope you guys are forced into a room at some point you have to look at you clearly I and I hope you, I hope his attitude about what has happened is as healthy as yours. I, you know, the things that I've seen about where he is now, I heard a story that he was walking down the street and a bunch of people were sitting outside at a cafe and they started, you know, hey, there's Lance Armstrong. And then somebody piped up and yelled some shit. And yeah, and then he ended up calling the restaurant, like buying the whole balcony their dinner or whatever. Good. That's good. That's good. You know? Yeah, I mean, I think it points to a healthy thing. But like you said, he paid a dear price. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not belittling that price because I've never had to go through anything of the sort but Well, I mean, at it to pay because of, you know, like you said he experienced the downside and the upside.

Floyd Landis  46:49  
Well, when I when I say paid your price, I mean, what and this is hard for people. It's weird ranking them. And the reason you asked that question, obviously, it's all thought it through and and realize that It, you know, he and I are probably the one person that can see things as closely as, as he does on Earth. But he, but but the real price that he paid is just this public humiliation and this is something that unless you've been through it, it's very hard to understand how bad it can be unhealthy how much it can actually affect the way you even view yourself. And, you know, having lived through that on a even a smaller scale than he did, it's, it's painful. And you can say, you know, he's still got lots of money and you could you could, you can make all kinds of arguments, it came out of it. Okay, but that that amount of public humiliation, I don't think there's nobody on earth that isn't affected by that other than maybe Donald Trump from what I can tell. And he is he doesn't seem to care people ridicule him, but everyone that has any feelings at all has has some level of harm done when when the whole world starts pointing fingers at you and they they don't really give you a self you don't give you a platform to in the middle of it at least in the middle of the hysteria to Explain yourself, whether they would agree or not, it's not the point. But you don't even really get to argue you just have to sit and take the abuse on the internet. And it's, it's painful.

Pete Turner  48:10  
So, when when is enough enough? I mean, this is it's one thing that Okay, you guys deserve some amount of punishment. And I was thinking about Lieutenant Clint Lance, who was just pardoned by the president for killing Taliban guys, you know, he went to prison, he made a book called, lost his entire military career went to prison for six years. Sure, he's got a pardon. But aren't we in the zone where maybe he's done enough and you'll have to continue to bear this this burden? Oh, yeah. He's famous for that. Now. That's who he is. He's become this guy. Right?

Floyd Landis  48:41  
I don't know. It's a very bad punishment in my mind. And I've kind of was paying attention to the story because you can you can see on his face that he wants to be defined, but he also doesn't want to be in the middle of it at all. Like that's not what he signed up for. Right. And, you know, you never know the whole story and both sides of his story. I've got all kinds of, you know, crazy Claims but the guy was in a war if the president pardons him and he's already been abused to, you know, in on the cover of The New York Times for four months, I don't know what more you can do to the guy. Right. Right. Serve anyway, that's the other thing.

Pete Turner  49:16  
Yeah. Have you been Lance and George and all the guys, I have you guys, in my mind You've done enough. I mean, everybody was doing this Heck, there's not even a winner from one of the years because it's just like, well, we can't keep cutting to 17th place.

Floyd Landis  49:31  
So I mean, that's the most bizarre thing ever, honestly. did not have a winner at all. Like it didn't even have.

Pete Turner  49:37  
Yeah, yeah. I mean, have you guys have you guys paid? You know, I don't want to put you on the spot. Man. Let me just say this. I think you guys have paid enough for that. I mean, you've got it, you get a chance to redo and start again and move forward. You know?

Floyd Landis  49:51  
I hope so. I mean, I feel like there's still I know there's still people out there that not then most of these people are involved in cycling some way or another and that can be sometimes it can reduce the size of your view of the world to something unreasonable. But I think most people that aren't hardcore cycling fans that just sort of watched it passively. I think I would say these guys should be punished anyway I don't know what else there would be to do. I mean, what what more can you take and the story so old now that the truth is out there, it's not like it's not like there's anything we could do to undo any of it. So I don't know what

Pete Turner  50:28  
left of what and let's be honest to a lot of folks lose sight of the fact that if there was a pill that they could take and they would do their job 15% better and potentially make a lot more money for their family. That'd be motherfuckers nightline taking that pill, even if it costs them 10 years in the back end of their life, they would take that

Floyd Landis  50:47  
they would take it there's nobody that if if they understand this the situation that Lancer I was in or any of these other guys and are honest with themselves, there's not nobody that would say they wouldn't have done it. That's just the fact of the matter.

Pete Turner  51:01  
Yeah. And again, like if you wanted to find the one guy that wasn't doing it he so far back in the pack

Floyd Landis  51:07  
He's not going to make it to the point where they would offer it to him. That guy doesn't have it. What are

Pete Turner  51:14  
you doing now? 

Jon Leon Guerrero  51:15  
About what you're talking about? Pete, you're talking about Adderall? Yeah. Oh, yeah. People talking about bear aspirin.

Floyd Landis  51:23  
Yep. All the

Jon Leon Guerrero  51:24  
way down through whatever it is. It's just you guys were right at the point where they decided to enforce rules that were written as opposed to the whole stack of unwritten rules that everybody understood. Yeah,

Floyd Landis  51:37  
yeah. What made it even more complicated on that level, I would say is that they actually did have written the rules, but and now now we've got this hypocritical position where we're pointing at Russia and the Russian Olympic Committee for covering things up. I mean, we had an entire generation Carl Lewis and the anti doping agency then was actually part of the US Olympic Committee. And, you know, Don Catlin ran that thing and they covered up every single positive drug tests for Many, many, many years right up until it came to us. And then they just decided we're going to change the rules. And we there's no way we could have known that was coming. And for that matter, to some extent they're guilty of actually perpetuating the fact that it was all available to us. And then when we decided to do it, they said, Okay, well, those aren't the rules anymore. I mean, the whole thing is just, it's bizarre.

Pete Turner  52:20  
Yeah. Yet, Carl Lewis tested positive, but no one seems to care about that.

Floyd Landis  52:25  
Yeah, of course. And he'll still say he didn't, which doesn't make any sense, because it's clearly not true. But I don't know Carl Lewis just and I used him as an example that everyone knows his name. And everyone from that generation accepts that some shenanigans went on but don't care to even talk about it. But then one day, they changed they changed the rules and said, Okay, now now we're not doing that anymore. Although I will say they did that for a very short period of time and now we're back to Okay, that didn't work. Let's just let everyone do 

Pete Turner  52:51  
whatever you want.Hey, so what's what's replacing, you know, you're driving your passion in terms of like, you know, record breaking your world championships, like a going to try to break the record for most korres on your elbow and then snatching on your one hand

Unknown Speaker  53:04  
or no, I think I'm done trying to break records. Honestly, I, I don't know. I feel like you know, when you're young and you're all fired up and you're going to take over the world, that's all great but at some point yeah, hopefully outgrow it. I mean, I don't know, I assume I would have anyway but I think given everything I went through I, I'm not trying to I'm not trying to win anything. There's there's a lot of ways to win and one of them is just figuring out how to be happy in your own skin and that, for me, that's hard enough.

Jon Leon Guerrero  53:33  
Well, I think that's the biggest way to win for our listeners looking for ways to win. I'm going to do this again. Go to floyds of Leadville, calm, CBD products, soft gels, etc. and enhance your physical performance and feel better and get through life a little a little easier with things that are legal. Thanks, john. Appreciate that.

Floyd Landis  53:55  
You know, it's this is sort of a

Jon Leon Guerrero  54:00  
I have to say, because we're in the homestretch that we're, I'm really elated that you know the year is open about these things. And this episode is I don't want to speak repeat but for me this is what I was hoping that we'd get to talk to you about not appreciate it.

Floyd Landis  54:17  
There was a long time where I felt real anxiety, even talking about it. And I don't know exactly why that was I think it's because I didn't really know if if people would understand or cared enough, but I think I think it was mostly I was concerned that that would say something that would be misconstrued because I when I was in the middle of it, and and anyone who's lived through any kind of public humiliation knows that your best not saying anything, I learned that the hard way, just don't talk because whatever you say is going to get used to whatever and they've already predetermined. 

Jon Leon Guerrero  54:50  
What I turned that backwards,

Floyd Landis  54:51  
yes. And I think and I can talk about it without, you know, feel like I need some whiskey.

Jon Leon Guerrero  54:56  
Yeah. Wow. Well, then, you know, just to give the flip side That rather than misconstrue something. What is the question that I should ask you?

Floyd Landis  55:06  
Oh, man, I don't, you know, I don't know, that I looked at sometimes when when people bring up something that that, you know, over overarching my my first thought is to say, look, maybe maybe this country's a little obsessed with professional sports in the first place. And yeah, I benefited from it tremendously. So I don't mean to take away anyone else's opportunities on that. But it's it gets held to this to this standard into this level that I mean, if First of all, everyone's you should just assume that these guys are people and they were, in some sense, lucky that they had genetic makeup to do what they can what they're doing. They also worked hard to take that away, but they, without that luck wouldn't be there. And they're still just people and so they're probably going to disappoint you if you make them into your hero one way or the other. Yes, that's it.

Pete Turner  56:02  
It's kind of funny to that we picked vo to max as a way to measure our athletes. You know, I always want to add some other element in Floyd like, okay, Michael Phelps has to swim across the pool 400 meters and deliver 15 live chickens at the end of that, you know, like there has to be some other elements. So that's, you know, you get on a bike like that I

Floyd Landis  56:25  
always laugh at they talk about how he wants so many, many medals but like the end the basketball team only has one game they don't have another game that's 40 minutes long. Another game that's 10 minutes long and one with a 12 foot hoop they could make 400 different basketball very.

Yeah, what do they

Pete Turner  56:42  
What if they had donkey basketball?

Floyd Landis  56:45  
That's actually worth putting in the

Pete Turner  56:47  
Yes.

Floyd Landis  56:49  
I think you Americans would crush that one. I don't think that's a big, big, big game elsewhere.

Pete Turner  56:55  
Yeah, like if they took all the bicycling disciplines, you know and add because I mean, that's what swimming is. Right, like the strokes and different combinations of strokes, and oh my gosh, it's just forever. And then and then. And again. I love Michael Phelps, you know, it's great.

Floyd Landis  57:09  
No, I wouldn't need to take a dig at him. But yeah, he's got it a little easier because he's got more metals available, that's for sure.

Pete Turner  57:17  
Well, listen, man, I don't have any other questions for you. I appreciate your time. I'll let john close out.

Jon Leon Guerrero  57:21  
Well, I would like to point out that we have discussed, of course, your history in sports and in cycling, we've discussed American obsession with professional athletes. We've discussed athletes place in society, the impact of the war on drugs, expanding the spectrum of Olympic events. We covered a lot of shit today. So hey, for going on this ride with us and for allowing, well, you know, you kind of had no choice but you did allow us to all peer into the world of professional sports in a way that nobody else had done until You came along and I know you didn't choose it but you did endure it and for the human lessons there that we have yet to completely learn and realize. I just want to say thanks on behalf of sports fans. Thank you guys for having me.

Floyd Landis  58:12  
Appreciate it.

Jon Leon Guerrero  58:14  
So very is everybody Floyd Landis? Go to Floyd's of Leadville com Get plenty of CBD products to enhance your own performance. Thanks a lot.