Lancaster County native Landis' Tour de France victory keeps cycling on a roll

You won't find a life-size cutout of Floyd Landis in the World Cup Ski & Cycle shop.

Some water bottles next to the cash register are the only sign of marketing for the Tour de France in the store, which is along Gettysburg Road in Lower Allen Twp. It caters to people who don't mind spending $3,000 or more for a racing bicycle.

That doesn't mean shop owner Lee Gonder isn't thrilled over the recent victory of Landis, a Lancaster County native. It's just that road cycling has been riding seven years of popularity because of the record-setting Tour reign of Lance Armstrong.

Owners of midstate cycling businesses say Landis' win ensures that the craze continues.

Allen Holmes had been concerned about the loss of "the Lance factor" after Armstrong's retirement. But, he said, "it couldn't have been a better scenario" than for Landis to win the Tour in the first year after Armstrong stepped down.

"Americans have now won 11 of the last 21 Tours. That's better than 50 percent. Until Greg LeMond had won in 1986, Americans had never won, so there's definitely a trend," said Holmes, who owns Holmes Cycling and Fitness in Camp Hill.

Holmes says midstate young people will be inspired because Landis grew up in the region. Landis' win will strengthen a trend of teens taking up road cycling instead of mountain biking, he said. Landis was a mountain biker before switching to road racing.

At Cole's Bicycles Inc. in Carlisle, not everyone comes in for bicycles or gear. But they all seem interested in the story of Landis, who was raised as a Mennonite in Amish country.

One customer, about 80 years old, came in this week for a new key.

"What about that Mr. Landis? Isn't he something?" Cole's co-owner Cinda Cole Shannon recalls the woman saying.

Ted Witfield, a partner at Pedal Pusher in Harrisburg, said everyone who walks into his store wants to talk about Landis. But that interest hasn't translated into higher sales so far, and Witfield doesn't expect that it will.

Pedal Pusher sells gear affordable for the typical family, as opposed to the high-end racing crowd.

World Cup's Gonder sees more "aging athletes" -- people who want to keep fit but can no longer take the pounding of a sport such as running -- being steered to road cycling by Landis.

Gonder speaks from his experience as an 18-year-old college runner. He knew he wouldn't be good enough to seriously compete in running after college.

That year -- 1986, after seeing the first of LeMond's three Tour wins -- Gonder switched to cycling because it was something he could continue for a long time.