You know what? I have raced against Kenny on a few occasions, mostly at USA Cycling Masters National Championship Events when they were held in Park City, Utah. In the 35-39 criterium event, I found myself in a 6 man breakaway with Kenny and 4 other riders. It was a technical course with a screaming downhill, and an off-camber turn that seemed to be too hard for most of the field to figure out. Our group lapped the field at least once. At a certain part in the race, they stopped pulling people who were lapped, and it was a clusterfuck going into the last few laps. I kicked myself after that race for not attacking and taking a flier with one lap to go because I’m guessing the other riders would have watched Kenny for just long enough, it would have been game over. But I didn’t. I waited for the sprint. He won, I got 4th.

So, Kenny, I guess I was one of the racers who was out there when you got to “lay the smackdown.” On many occasions after that race in Park City, I have thought about how nice it would have been to win that day, and pull on the Stars and Stripes while holding my baby daughter on the podium. I just got beat by a couple riders who were just a hair faster. That’s life. But then I see the recent news about Kenny testing positive for taking DHEA. Says he only used it on one occasion to help get back in top form after an injury. Says he’s sorry. The problem with dopers is this: where there is smoke, there is fire.

What should his penalty be for failing both A and B samples? Serve 2 years suspension then be able to come back and compete as a 44 year old? I think I just found the motivation to start racing again, since in 2 years, we would still be in the same age class. It would be interesting to see what sort of smackdown old Kenny could deliver on this anonymous Masters racer at Nationals. Who’s with me?

Italian cyclist Gabriele Bosisio (LPR Brakes) got popped in an out-of-competition test for EPO. He was the stage 7 winner of this year’s Giro d’Italia, and was targeted for this out-of-competition due to abnormalities in blood values throughout the season. What did David Millar once say? If someone’s performance looks to good to be true, it’s probably not. Read the whole story.

And in local amateur “donkey-trying-to-race-with-horses” news, a Houston-based amateur named Mitch Comardo (Bike Barn) tested positive for a a whole grip of substances. Not to take the farm animal analogy and further than needed, he claims all of these substances entered his corpus through an over-the-counter male enhancement supplement, but my guess is the old bodybuilder trick of hooking up with a local vet as a supplier. Read the whole story.

“…the blood transfusions were the only “safe” way to cheat during the race without risk of getting caught. Other doping products were used in the weeks and months before the Tour to avoid detection.

“Nothing else, there were too many random controls. Never a testosterone patch,” he said. “Apart from the caffeine, pseudo-ephedrine, painkillers, EPO, human growth hormones, insulin, I took all that before, not during (the Tour).”

Interesting that Kohl describes transfusions as “safe,” to hell with his health, the safety refers to getting caught. In cycling, riding clean to some riders means getting away clean, and nothing more. I guess as we are a few weeks away from the Tour, the distraction of whether or not Lance and Contador will have an inter-team clash will deflect some of the suspicions of which riders are putting extra juice in their morning smoothies. Kohl is an example of someone who went from hero to zero in less than a year, and he’s almost forgotten already. What a beautiful but dirty and cruel sport bike racing is.