"I ride maybe every other day, but not too much," embattled Tour de France winner Floyd Landis said Sunday during an interview in Bucks County. "Everything else is taking up my time."

Landis is engaged in a legal battle for his reputation and Tour title. A pair of failed drug tests from Stage 17 of the Tour have placed the Conestoga Valley High School graduate's once-golden image under scrutiny.

Instead of celebration, Landis said his days are now filled by discussions with lawyers and examinations of paperwork -- most recently, the French lab's 370-page documentation of his failed tests, released 10 days ago.

Still, the 30-year-old Landis sees brighter days on the horizon.

He plans to undergo surgery on his ailing hip.

He hopes someday to revisit his hometown of Farmersville.

And Landis, who is no longer considered Tour de France champ by the sport's governing body, says he ultimately wants to reclaim his position as pro cycling's king.

"I have to win (the Tour de France) again so I can celebrate it the way I was supposed to," Landis said while watching a sprint stage of the Univest Grand Prix in Doylestown.

Three days after winning the Tour on July 23, results from a French laboratory implicated Landis had cheated to win the three-week event. A urine sample Landis gave after his legendary comeback stage July 20 tested positive for high levels of testosterone -- a stamina-building male hormone.

"As soon as I heard there was a problem with the test, I knew there was going to be a scandal," Landis said.

Less than two weeks later, his backup B sample also returned positive.

"For the last month, I've been focused on trying to figure out this whole system," Landis said.

Landis' defense party will submit a written request to the United States Anti-Doping Agency today asking that his case be dismissed. Landis said a decision on whether to proceed with the case is expected from the USADA panel Friday.

Landis -- who Sunday was upbeat, candid and, at times, comical -- remains leery of whether he can regain his good name.

"Who knows what they will see?" Floyd said of the panel's impending decision.

Should the USADA decide to move along with the case, Landis said his hearing would begin in January 2007.

Landis said his recent hardships are "the same things that happened to Marion Jones."

Jones, a U.S. track star, failed a drug test at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in June. She faced a potential two-year ban from competition but was cleared last Wednesday when it was announced her B sample had returned negative.

After Landis initially tested positive, he said, his team, Phonak, was "politically forced" by authorities to release him. Team Phonak folded shortly after Landis' second failed test. Landis expressed sympathy Sunday for his former teammates.

"I feel just as bad for them as I do myself," he said. "This is a big mess that never should have happened. They all understand that, but it doesn't change the fact they have to find a job now, a team."

Landis said he will visit his ex-teammates at a race in Madrid Wednesday. Team Phonak will participate in events until the end of the year.

Aside from his legal issues, a grueling hip injury has threatened Landis' career. Plans for surgery on the hip, injured in a 2003 crash, have been stalled by the court proceedings over his failed drug tests.

"I keep saying (the surgery) is going to be in a couple weeks," Landis said with a chuckle. "It's going to happen sooner or later, but this has delayed it a little bit."

Landis said he hasn't returned to his childhood home, just south of Ephrata, since winning the Tour.

"It would be fun to go back there," he said. "I hear Farmersville is famous now."

Landis said moving from a strict, Mennonite lifestyle to a professional cycling career in Southern California involved a lengthy adjustment, but he called his hometown a "wonderful place to grow up."

"I wouldn't trade it for anything," Landis said.

On his Mennonite upbringing, Landis said "I had a bit of a different learning curve than other people.

"But, it's certainly a good part of (my) story," he said. "(The media) couldn't get enough of it."