DISCLAIMER: I am not accusing anyone in this post but myself of “ASS-(of)-U-(and)-ME”…..assuming in another. By the way any of you assholes out there that accuse me of taking performance enhancing ROCKET SAUCE can…in the words of Double D “HAVE A DAY!” now read on please……………………………..
I was wondering when this photo would get circulated through the peloton blogs/cycling cyberspace and end up coming back to haunt me. You want the story well here goes…..
So there is this guy named Kayle Leogrande that a friend introduces me to back in the late summer of 2006. Well Kayle seemed like a great guy and pretty damn funny, so I do not mind talking with him at all. Kayle mentions that he is very interested in winning the up coming Elite Criterium Nationals in Downers Grove and asks me for some advice as I won the Elite title in 05. I talk with Kayle a few times and attempt to help calm his nerves about the big race while providing him with all the “in the race tactics” that I can think really helped me to achieve my dream of winning crit nationals. NEVER NEVER ONCE was there talk about anything else but actually racing our bikes. So the big race day comes and I find out that Kayle actually won the Elite race, he achieved everything we had talked about on the phone so many times and I was ecstatic for him. Now I have to use my own race advice to hopefully achieve my dream of winning back to back Criterium Championship titles….although not Elite/Elite but Elite/PRO! With amazing team work and some pretty damn good riding on my part I was able to achieve my personal dream of winning….well best placed American which still gets me the Championship Jersey. At this point I can not believe what is going on, the fact that both Kayle and I won, just like we talked about would be so crazy if it actually did. So I see Kayle as I am heading up to….no shit…..doping control….and I give him the biggest hug and we both are beaming with glee with what we had done. So his girl friend starts to take our picture and me being me I just reach over and gave Kayle a big kiss.
Kayle went along with it well…actually his girl friend was a little more freaked out than he was. So that is how the kiss came about.
Since then Kayle has been under direct fire, several of my friends kept asking me why in the hell I was even talking with that guy and/or calling him my quote un quote friend when he obviously lied to me, and probably much more than I or we even know. So am I upset with all that has come up over Kayle? YES! Have I confronted to him (via phone) about certain information that I heard concerning him? YES! Did he understand why I would be so upset with my name be involved with his if all the information comes out as true? YES! Am I still pissed? YES! Have I expressed my anger to my close friends? YES! Am I happy with his choices (if they are correct)? NO!!! Although you know what, after talking with Kayle (not recently, but several several months ago) I really feel for the guy. We talked about how quick people are to point the finger, how quick they are to judge, how terrible this sport of cycling can be on the mind, how much cycling requires of an individual, how unfair it is how certain individuals in the sporting world (not just cycling) are considered GOD’s even though they have been slapped on the wrist once, twice, or even more times than that, and what are we really doing wearing all this spandex anyways? So is Kayle on my shit list? YES! Would or will I still be Kayle’s friend? ohhh this is a tough one….yes…..because well…I am too nice as Friedman would say…even though I think that Kayle could care less. I really hope this helps shed some light on Kayle Leogrande and myself?
