By almost any standards, it’s been an eventful early season for pro cycling. Despite cold and rain on its first three days, the Tour of California saw a whopping 2 million spectators. Since seven-time Tour de France champ Armstrong came out of retirement (and then fell down and got hurt), it’s been a media Lancefest, with near-daily headlines. And though it’s been somewhat lost in all this, Floyd Landis has returned to pro racing, competing for Team Ouch in the Tour of California, the Vuelta Mexico, and the Redlands Classic since his suspension for testing positive to synthetic testosterone ended January 30.

Years don’t promise wilder roller coasters than Landis’s 2006. He won the Tour of California. He won the Tour of Georgia. He won the Tour de France in dramatic fashion—after bonking in stage 16 to drop from the lead to a seemingly insurmountable eight minutes back, he charged stage 17 in what Velo News called “one of the most audacious and bravest rides seen in the modern era of the Tour de France”, winning back seven and a half minutes, positioning himself to retake the lead and the race, and creating an instant legend in the annals of the tour. And then it all went south—his Tour de France title was stripped after the positive test and shortly thereafter he underwent hip replacement surgery to mend the pain and arthritis that had bedeviled him since damaging the hip in a crash years before.

The bad hip.

Traditional hip replacement surgery is gnarly—the top of the femur and femoral head are removed and swapped with a metal ball and cup—and probably would have prevented a return to competition. But Landis had something called Birmingham hip resurfacing—the damaged part of the femoral head is trimmed away, rather than the whole head, and replaced with a cap. It’s a much more robust and durable solution that’s increasingly common for younger patients. As one hip expert put it, “This isn’t grandma’s hip replacement.”

Landis is now riding for Team Ouch, sponsored by Ouch Medical Center, which performed his surgery. The early races were a mixed bag—after a promising 23rd in the Tour of California, Landis finished 40th in Mexico, and dropped out in Redlands after a mechanical. For now, he seems happy simply to be back, but his sights are clearly ahead. Although hesitant to say anything definitive about committing to the Tour de France—perhaps wisely, since it’s not clear organizers would welcome him—he very much wants back on his biggest stage.

This interview took place via phone on April 8.

What kind of pain were you in during races?
Arthritis pain, I’d never had any arthritis pain before, so it’s hard to relate to somebody if they’ve never had it. But it’s not a sharp pain that prevents you from doing something. It more like aching in the area where the arthritis is, in this case, the hip, and then it kind of radiated down my leg. It would generally be okay for the first four hours of the race. If the race was four hours long, I was more or less pain-free. Then afterwards it would hurt and keep me awake at night. If the race was longer than that it would start to ache in the race, but it never, it didn’t, I wouldn’t say it inhibited my performance in any way. It just was annoying. It was a more a matter of keeping me awake at night and bothering me doing other things than it was so much cycling.

The good hip.

How did you deal with the pain?
Sometimes I’d take Tylenol or a mild painkiller, but you can only do so much with the restrictions we had on substances. Fortunately, if you have a legitimate problem you can use cortico-steroid injections. they’re not performance-enhancing in any way other than they just help reduce the swelling. That was far more effective than any oral painkillers I might have taken. I guess there were times when it bothered me, but…well, I wouldn’t say the Tour de France was necessarily a pleasant experience anyway. [Laughs.]

Tell me about the post-surgical stuff, what the rehab was like and how it felt initially. Once the pain went away, did it feel weird?
I had waited a long time to do my surgery—longer than probably recommended—and so there was a lot of collapse and bone deterioration. There was barely enough good bone left in the femoral neck to do resurfacing. The first doctor said there was the possibility there may not be enough bone to do it, they might need to do a total hip replacement. They were going to make that call when I was under anesthesia and wanted to make sure that was okay with me and I said yes.

Because of the deterioration they had to build it up with cement and so I was not allowed to walk or have weight bearing on it for six weeks. It wasn’t the ordinary rehab—normally you can walk within days. But it felt natural very quickly. After a few weeks I went pretty hard, walking without any trouble.

For at least a year afterwards, the flexibility kept improving as I used it. On some levels it was, the recovery was very quick, at least with the damage from the surgery. The flexibility part took a long period of time until I was back to normal. But now the flexibility is better than it was before the surgery and I don’t have any pain at all. I don’t even think about it.

Do you have any pain now?
No, none at all.

You crashed in Leadville on the same hip after the surgery, right?
Yeah, I’ve crashed on it a few times, four or five times now.

Have you noticed anything unusual when that’s happened?
No, not at all, other than it hurts just like it would on the other side. I would have been skeptical that it would hold up under that amount of impact, but it hasn’t caused any problems at all. Like any crash on your hip, there will be bruising and pain on the outside, but there’s never any pain on the inside in the joint.

It’s gotta be good for your confidence—to bounce back and not have it affect you in any way.
Before I’d fallen on it, I’d trained hard and knew it was fine for racing, but there was always this thought in the back of my mind, what’s going to happen if I fall on it because it’s inevitable if you race your bike it’s going to crash eventually. Once I fell..I fell down and I was down I though, oh man, I’m not sure what’s going top happen when I get up. Once I got up and walked around, I was happy about—the hip, anyway.

You’ve been back for three races, Tour of California, Redlands, and Mexico. How’s your fitness, how’s your head? Are you enjoying it?
Tour of California was a bit of a circus because Lance was there and it was the first race I did and there was a lot of press so I didn’t really have that much chance to enjoy it. It was more of a nonstop whirlwind, but that’s how the big races are. I would have preferred to started it on a smaller race where I could ease into it, but that’s the way it worked out.

I got through that and then I did the Tour of Mexico. That was a lot more fun. It was a harder race than the Tour of California because it was all at 8,000 or 9000 feet or higher and it was just really difficult stages. But as far as the chaos surrounding the race, it was nothing near like California, so I could kind of relax. So that was better for my head.

It’s going to take a few more races. I was hopeful that I would be in better shape for the Tour of California. I did the best I could without racing at all. It’s just going to take a little bit of time. But I’m having fun. Between my hip being fixed and the other drama I’ve been through in the last couple of years, I feel much better now.

Well, 23rd after no warmup races—you have to be reasonably stoked with that.
Yeah, I was happy with it. I thought just training alone would get me in shape to be in contention for the win, but it’s been a long time. Two and a half years is a long time without a race. I guess it’s going to take a few more races. But, yeah, I can’t say I’m overly disappointed. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

What has your training been? Have you been road, mountain, cross, road only, mix? What kind of riding have you been doing to get ramped up?
Mostly on the road. I’ve done some mountain bike races, some 100-mile races like Leadville, but it’s totally different from road racing. So I’ve done most of my training on the road in the months leading up to the Tour of California. Fortunately, in Southern California, we’ve had a really nice winter, up to that point at least, so it was easy to do long rides in the sunshine. That’s always motivating. Once the race started that was a different situation all together.

You once said about training, “There’s only one rule: The guy who trains the hardest, the most, wins. Period.” Are you still adopting that mentality? Are you back with the power meter and graph paper or are you winging it more?
That certainly is the rule. There’s obviously more to it than that, but the person that trains the most and recovers from it is the strongest guy. In the past I had done more with power meters and more with monitoring it, but the last six months before the Tour of California I kind of left all that off. There’s a lot of climbs here in Southern California that I’ve done hundreds of times, Mt. Palomar as well. I know what my racing times would be up those climbs, I know how it feels, so I’ve been going by feel. But I still stand by that statement, if you can train harder than the other guys and still recover from it, you end up stronger.

You’re 33 now. Have you noticed any difference in your recovery times as you’ve gotten over 30?
Some things are better and some things are a little slower. It’s hard to describe why it’s better. If I do something out of the ordinary or a longer ride than I’m used to, I might be a little more sore than I used to be. I’m able to ride longer and harder when I’m tired than I used. I don’t necessarily feel better, but I’m able to do so. It’s a tradeoff, I guess.

It’s well known that it takes many years of hard cycling to become the best that any given person can be, so you keep forcing it until you get to some kind of limit. At some point you stop improving. I don’t know that I’m still improving, but I know that I’ve made the top before, and I know that if I keep working on it I can get back there. Yeah. There’s more aches and pains than there used to be. Maybe I didn’t notice them before, but once I’m on my bike and riding it’s not a factor.

If you could put a number on it…say in 2006 if you were at 100 percent, where are you now?
If 2006 was a 10, then now it’s 7 or 8. I’m not far from where I was then, but there’s very slim margin between the guys who are winning the race and who are finishing in the back. Once you get to the pro level, everyone is close to each other.

How did it feel being back in pack in a race?
It was a little stressful at first. It takes a lot of mental focus and it takes a lot of racing until you’re relaxed riding in the peloton. Having not done it for a while, I was a little anxious, but it didn’t take long until I was comfortable again.

Are you going to do Leadville again?
I wish I could, but we’re doing the Tour of Utah and it overlaps with Leadville. But one of these days I’ll get back there. Somebody needs to beat Dave Wiens.

Somebody will eventually.
I don’t know. [laughs] That’s what I thought before.

What is it, five or six times in a row?
He’s living up there at altitude. He’s a strong bike rider, man. He deserves to win. It’s not like he wins because no one shows up, but yeah—one of these days somebody will beat him…hopefully.

So, what was going through your head the morning of stage 17?
Up until that point in the race…well, stage 15, things went pretty smoothly. There’s always bad luck in the tour, but there was never anything that would have prevented us from believing that we were going to win the race. But then stage 16 went exceptionally poorly. I lost a lot of time, so there really wasn’t high probability that I was going to win the race. The only way I was going to do so was the tactics that we used and then a little but of luck and hope that I could get enough time before the other guys where I could actually stay away.

There wasn’t any misconception in my mind that I might somehow just ride away from everybody and win the race. I wasn’t expected the stage to work as well as it did. So, what I told the team was, look, your job is to make this race as hard as possible up until the start of the first climb and as far up the first climb as you can and after that it’s up to me. Then we just have to hope that luck is on our side.

But we still had to get motivated. It’s always hard to get motivated after you think you’re going to win the race and then you pretty much have to accept that you’re not going to win. At that point in the race, you’re pretty tired, too, so a lot of what keeps you going in a race like that is being able to see some sort of goal at the end. When it’s taken away, it’s tough to think positive and wake up in the morning and be all that excited about racing again. But the only chance I had was the last mountain stage and so we had no choice but to take a risk.

At first, I thought, okay, in all likelihood, we’re just going to look stupid, but whatever. I mean, I looked stupid the day before as well. It’s humiliating to be in the leader’s jersey and have all the cameras around as you’re losing minutes on climbs that you were riding the day before.

So, as the time gap went up and got to six and seven minutes, then I was really excited. I still wasn’t motivated by excitement so much as to make a point that I wasn’t there to quit. And it got up to nine minutes at one point, then I was pretty sure that I was going to win the stage and at least be back in contention for the podium. There was no way of knowing how fast the guys would go up the last climb or I was going to be able to keep all that time. But at least then I was motivated that I was going to make my point, that we weren’t going to show up there just to give up easily.

And, the rest of the story, you saw what happened. Some of it was just luck. Had I only lost two or three minutes the day before, then there’s no way the other guys would have let me go in the first place. It was a long string of events that led to that stage being as dramatic as it was. It’s fun to watch on TV, but I’ll tell you, that’s not the way you want to try to win the Tour. It’s the most stressful way to do it.

You’ve said that you haven’t made the decision about the Tour de France for next year. Do you know when you will?
Well, I think I would have to make a decision by the time this year’s tour comes around. It takes a single-minded focus to win the tour and I don’t want to go back there and just ride around for three weeks. By the time it comes around this year, I’ll have to make the decision. I’ll either have found a sponsor to take this team to the next level or find another team. I would prefer to take this team if we can do so. We’re working on some things right now…things are a little up in the air.

I’ll say that I would like to go back. I would not wish my career to end on the note…if I can go back there, I’d be happy to do so.

Are you feeling pretty good about your chances?
Yeah, I really would like to. There are a few things I’m unsure about. There’s politics in cycling that sometimes don’t reconcile well with…

There’s politics in cycling? I’ve never heard that.
I don’t even know if you should call them politics. That’s being generous to call them politics and not just some kind of childish behavior. [Laughs] We’ll call them politics for now. That part, I have no control over. I can’t worry about that. What I’m focused on is the practical means to get there. The rest of it, I’ll hope for the best.

So you want to do it. Are you happy with season so far, your performance, your team?
Yeah, the team is great. The guys on the team—it’s an exceptional team. The management—everything about it is first class. I’ve very happy to be back racing, to be in the part of cycling that I spent 15 years of my life being involved in. I would have been disappointed if I had to end my career without making a comeback after my hip and everything else that’s happened.

If it all ended now, I’d still be a little bit disappointed, but I wanted to make sure I came back on a positive note.

There’s been a tussle recently over the French anti-doping authorities and Armstrong. Do you think they’re unfairly targeting him?
It’s certainly not standard protocol to send out a press release about what happened during a test. Whether it’s unfairly singling him out or not is overshadowed by the fact that it’s just breaking their own rules. No agency, no authority will ever gain moral authority over the people that they govern—or in anyone else’s eyes for that matter—until they start following the rule book and they’ve proven that they won’t do that in my case and now with Lance…whether it’s unfair is secondary to the fact that it’s just plain senseless to be claiming to push rules and then breaking them at the same time. Until they do that, they’re not going to gain any sort of respect.

Any picks for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix race?
Oh, man. That’s a tough one. [Tom] Boonen’s going to be there. I would say my first choice is Boonen. He was strong in races this spring and he knows the course well. It’s one of the best races to watch. It’s drama. I’ve done it a couple of times and it’s not exactly pleasant experience, either. But for television, it’s the best race around. I’ll be watchin’. [NOTE: Boonen did in fact win.]

Speaking of that, what’s the most enjoyable race for you?
The Tour de France is the best race just because it’s the most important. It has the most energy around it. While you’re doing it, by the end it seems a bit much and it’s exhausting but it comes with its up side, too. It is the biggest race. Everybody gets excited for it. It has the most of everything. As much as I say it’s not pleasant, it’s still the first choice.

The Tour of California, I would say, is a very close second. First of all, because it’s in California. Secondly, it’s gotten very prestigious to win it. Hopefully, they can keep it up. It’s been a spectacular race so far. I would prefer that weather wasn’t quite like it was the first three days this year. It’s not my favorite experience on a bicycle. But everybody has to ride in it, it’s not like it changes the outcome of a race…but I prefer sunshine.

And speaking of France, it sounds like you’ve decided…
I only have reservations because I’m skeptical…well, I don’t know what’s going to happen with a lot of things. I can’t make any commitments that I’ll be there because I don’t know the possibility. But I would like to.

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