Mennonite Floyd Landis Set to Win Tour de France

Parent Cafe
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<p>A classic American story…the Europeans must be spitting the dummy…</p>

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<a href=“http://msn.foxsports.com/cycling/story/5795584[/url]”>http://msn.foxsports.com/cycling/story/5795584&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<a href=“http://www.swissmennonite.org/feature_archive/2002/200211.html[/url]”>http://www.swissmennonite.org/feature_archive/2002/200211.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Fascinating. Thanks for posting.</p>

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<p>Mennonite?</p>

<p>Does that he mean he rides a horse-driven bicycle?</p>

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<p>That reminds me. Why did the hooker leave Lancaster?</p>

<p>Too many mennonite.</p>

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<p>My family and I are huge Tour/Lance fans, though we haven’t been keeping up as regularly this year. Today’s TT (time trial) was quite a nailbiter; I though Pereo (spelling?) might have been able to pull off a few tricks and keep the yellow, but it was not to be. I’ve surprised it is and American in yellow and even more surprised that Floyd is the-all-but-official champion and not Discovery’s Hincape who was my pick top win after the dismal of Ulrich and Basso. The final stage is always fun for the fesitivities, though.</p>

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<p>For the uninformed, there are many different types or orders of Mennonites and Amish. Around Lancaster, PA there are many old order Mennonites that drive horse and buggies and do not have electricity. I’m not sure what distinguishes old order Mennonites from the Amish, but there is a difference.</p>

<p>According to an article I just read in my local paper, the Landis family (parents of Floyd) has a telephone and do drive cars but they did not own a tv. They got (or borrowed) one to watch their son in the tour de France.</p>

<p>We have a lot of Mennonite churches up my way (about an hour from Lancaster county) but they are not old order. </p>

<p>Thanks for the post, cheers, good to see another American win the race, especially with that hip.</p>

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<p>Landis left the Mennonite faith and moved to California in his teens. He comments often about how he was raised to believe in hard work and persistence but that the faith wasn’t for him.</p>

<p>As for his Tour win (fingers crossed because it’s not over until it’s over), it was expected by many of us who watch cycling all year and not just the Tour. Floyd is simply the best and strongest cyclist out there–especially with the four men who finished 2-3-4-5 to Lance last year removed for doping two days before the Tour started.</p>

<p>Floyd did do an amazing job this year, especially his comeback stage win in the Alps after falling more than 8 minutes behind. What he did is simply unprecedented. And he did it alone, without his team, who have been unable to keep up with him.</p>

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<p>Particularly touching was hearing about that time when all those people came from miles around and helped him build his bicycle is just one day.</p>

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<p>Yea!!! you mentioned Murrietta!!! I expect tomorrow’s local paper to have a great headline.</p>

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<p>Yay! Third American Toure de France winner is from my home county!!! I surely hope they will welcome him to his hometown with a parade! </p>

<p>I watched the Toure for the first time yesterday and was quite impressed with the coverage. If I knew it was covered so well, I would have started watching sooner. I unfortunately had to miss it today though :(.</p>

<p>As for the Mennonite thing…</p>

<p>There are actually many different types of Mennonites in Lancaster county. There are some old order ones, some that were called “black bumper” Mennonites (they would paint their chrome bumpers black as they don’t like to flash around wealth), and some normal Mennonites (they dress plainly, but will go shopping at the mall, drive cars, and wear the newest sneaker styles).</p>

<p>I’m not up to par on the exact differences religiously between Amish and Mennonite, but Mennonites adapt to society more than the Amish. For example, I worked a few years during high school at a retirement home (very modern, expensive and fancy) that was run by the Mennonites. The Mennonites also don’t seem to be adverse to contemporary Christian music. Purple Door, the largest contempory Christian festival in Lancaster County (includes Christian punk rock and the likes), is held at Lancaster Mennonite High School (the only private high school I know I would have been happy at :)).</p>

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<p>Sounds like a funny guy
read about the anti- Lance in last months Outside.
<a href=“http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200607/tour-de-france-2006-floyd-landis-1.html[/url]”>http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200607/tour-de-france-2006-floyd-landis-1.html&lt;/a&gt;
The essentials of the Landis biography tread perilously close to myth: He was born in Farmersville, Pennsylvania, the second-oldest of six children in an observant Mennonite family. Rules were simple: no television, movies, uncovered heads for women, dancing, or anything that brought glory to the self instead of God. When Landis discovered mountain biking (which was permitted, so long as he covered his bare legs with cotton sweats) at 15, he improved so fast that, when he told his parents he wanted to pursue it as a career, they warned him of God’s wrath. When he wouldn’t listen to Scripture’s logic, his father, Paul, tried a different tack. He saddled Floyd with an endless list of strenuous chores: fixing the car, painting the barn, digging the septic tank. If the boy was too tired, the logic went, he couldn’t ride—a theory that Landis quickly disproved by training at night, often returning to the house at 2 or 3 a.m
“My parents are good people; we get along fine now,” Landis says. “But that life wasn’t for me. I was determined to get out, and I knew my bike was the only way.”.</p>

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<p>And I hate to lead this thread further astray with more Mennonite talk but … In my area, the Mennonite churches are very popular. In fact, my town has one Presbyterian church, one Catholic church, no Methodist churches but at least six Mennonite ones. Lutheran’s and Moravian’s are also pretty common. But all the Mennonite people I know do not dress plainly or lack any modern things, they’re just as computer knowledgeable as anyone, drive cars, go to bars, etc. It’s funny how the same religon can be so different within the same region.</p>

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<p>I get the Mennonites and the Amish confused.</p>

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<p>I know the difference but was just having a little fun.</p>

<p>Someone please tell the Mennonite protesters camped on my front lawn to go home now.</p>

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<p>EK, that was a great article abour FL. Thanks.</p>

<p>BTW, wasn’t Bobke great on the TDF telecasts?</p>

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<p>Thanks for sharing–I’d just begun hearing about him, but hadn’t heard about his past.</p>

<p>I had a great tour at Eastern Mennonite College (in Virginia). I didn’t know what to expect, really–I knew they weren’t as strict as Amish (support of higher education being an obvious difference!) but had some similar beliefs. Our tour guide was herself Mennonite, very well-spoken and thoughtful–and wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts. She noted there were Mennonites of all stripes on campus (and in the world).</p>

<p>A few weeks ago I read an article where a respected orthopedic surgeon said that on a scale of 1 to 10 the pain from an untreated hip like his would register about a 50. I mean, to normal people. Zoinks.</p>

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<p>Yeah, it’s pretty nuts that Floyd won. He grew up a few miles away from me. I remember hearing about him riding his bike at midnight and such. (Not the safest thing to do!) My cycling and cross country coach raced him when he was a teen, in a mountain bike race (my coach was in his twenties and pretty good). Needless to say, my coach got his azz handed to him. Floyd’s the man.</p>

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<p>Looks like Landis failed the drug test. It is all over the newswires. Too bad.</p>

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<p>It says too high a testosterone level…what is a normal level for men? Or women? We know that every person is different in what is normal hormone levels, so just wondering if this was his “natural state” or if indeed he was enhanced…</p>

<p>Too bad indeed</p>

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<p>I don’t have time to look it up right now, but how long do steriod shots register in a person’s system (normally). If it’s anything like other drugs (minus some hard drugs), wouldn’t it register in other samples down the line (I assume they take samples after each stage)?</p>