I wish I could tell you more about the events of the day since this seemed to be the highlight of conversation this day and the rest since. The race was quite eventful in that Fraham watched Charlie's wheel so hard that he missed the fact that Grant went up the road with the ability to take over yellow and win the omnium. Sometimes other's strategies puzzle me. That is exactly what happened. Grant picks up 4th and the yellow jersey and wins the omnium. Grant has had a fantastic year. He is the State Road Race Champion. He is the State Criterium Champion. And now is the yellow jersey and omnium winner of Crossroads. Quite an accomplishment. Bravo! Fraham totally falls apart and Charlie takes over 2nd on the podium. One point separates Grant and Charlie. WOW!
Now as far as doping control, here is what I know - remember I wasn't there. I was at home in bed sick from a week of tough races, one crash and nasty case of road rash, late nights arriving home from these rural towns, working full time and helping the promoter set up the race course. As a matter of fact, I didn't ride my bike nor workout, on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. I didn't hear, however, on Thursday of the following week that my number was one of the "random" numbers picked for screening. Very interesting that I would be chosen since I was for all practical purposes last each night, even being dropped in Statesville.
Here is the interesting part... I received an email of a picture somebody had taken of the 35+ list and it contained 10 numbers, two of which were the same, thus bringing the total to 9. I was told it consisted of the top 3 finishers from Saturdays race and 6 randoms. Very, very interesting and frankly absolute bullshit that 4 of the 6 "randoms" were from Carolina Masters. This is nothing but a disguised and cowardly attempt for a modern day witchhunt. So, Grant, Charlie and Ryan peed in a cup so the world will now know they ride and race clean, as does our entire team. I hope the others come out "negative" too... Bixby, TSmith, Dender, Tobbee. And the other "random" was Shane Martin - could have been an error on whoever wrote the numbers down, but Shane didn't even race Crossroads, so not sure of the circumstances behind that one. Oh well. For the guys that might be considering or taking performance enhancing drugs, know that you might have escaped this time around, but there is always your next race. I really do hope that all the Masters guys believe in the philosophy of racing clean. There is absolutely no reason what so ever to race otherwise. You are only fooling yourself, tainting your own body and absolutely without a doubt cheating the others you race against. You are a coward and a disgrace to us, your team and sport. Enough said!
Congratulations Grant McAllister for winning the Crossroads overall.
OVERALL
1. Grant McAllister
2. Charlie Brown
3. Aaron Fraham
No comments:
Post a Comment