Come on, folks, David Rebellin, Mr. Ardennes Classics, just got popped for CERA from his Silver Medal at the Beijing Olympics? The Rebellin positive story broke on cyclingnews.com today. According to cyclingnews, they went back and tested certain stored samples taken during the Olympics, and reapplied the same CERA test that popped Ricco, Piepoli, Kohl,and Schumacher. The article states this is only based on the A sample, and the rider can elect to have the B sample tested. Gee, I wonder what the results will be? GUILTY!

Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected  with a whole tribe of long lost souls I met back when I was racing bikes in college at the University of New Hampshire. Back then, the only people I knew who had email were computer science majors or research assistants. These were the early days where I was cutting my teeth on the New England scene, trying to see how far I could go on the bike. College racing was really early spring training for the full schedule of summer racing that would follow, but there were some studs back then who could turn a crank, even while taking full course loads. Of course, also thanks to Facebook, there have been the occasional “friend” requests from guys I rode with who I’d have to think twice to not ride into the curb if given the chance. One bloke I was lucky to know back then is Emanuel Betz. When I was a freshman at UNH and a shitshow Cat 4 on a purple Cannondale with pink Benotto bar tape, Manny was the pro-in-waiting who rode for the Richard Sachs team: powerful, intellectual, and not too self-absorbed to take me under his wing and help me clean up my act. I never would have gone on to race bikes in France if I hadn’t been inspired by Manny to do so. I am happy to announce that Manny will be writing some guest posts for IAATB, recounting tales from his experiences racing in Europe back when few Americans did. You had to be tough back then. We’re talking steel frame with downtube shifter tough type stories. We’re talking pack your duffle bag, fly to Belgium, and live upstairs from a smoky bar tough type stories. Those stories which I knew all to well from long training rides with Manny almost could have disappeared forever, but we’re going to do CPR and bring them back to life on the blogosphere. I for one, can’t wait for Manny’s first installment. I may be the only one, but WTF. It’s my blog.