Another masterstroke by DC... the winner of Race2Replace quits after Basso drug storm..... got a feeling this one won't make the paceline.com !
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The former three-time junior national sprint champion now says he has no interest in racing for the Discovery Channel pro cycling team, because it recently signed Italian rider Ivan Basso.
Instead, Smith, 25, will race for Florida-based Herbal Life/Bike America Racing Team with the hopes of being picked up by "a clean pro team" in June. He hopes to race in South and Central America and the United States. Basso was among nine riders who were forced to withdraw before the start of this year's Tour de France because of alleged ties to doctor Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Fuentes is the focal point of a drug probe by the UCI world cycling federation and Spanish authorities, along with dozens of cyclists in this doping-tainted season.
Basso, the Giro d'Italia champion, was hired this year by Discovery, the same team that helped carry Armstrong to his Tour success.
"This sport is the dirtiest sport in the world," Smith said. "There is no other sport that even comes close to the amount of drug use that is going on. It is happening overseas and over here in the U.S. It is happening much more than anyone wants to talk about. It's ridiculous.
"I am not the only junior national champion who quit the sport ... there is plenty of talent out there sitting on a couch or behind a desk job because of the doping problem."
Despite lack of serious training and being overweight, Smith won the 10-lap, 25-mile Race2Replace and earned "honorary" membership on Discovery's team. He won in 52 minutes and 42 seconds, averaging 28.5 mph.
Just months before the race, he dropped the 50 pounds he gained lifting weights as a personal trainer and got back into racing shape. Now at 185, he hopes to slim down to an ideal racing weight of 160-165 by February.
For winning, Smith took home a new Trek bike, Discovery race gear, aerodynamic helmet and $500 in cash. He also got to ride with Discovery at the Sept. 1 USPRO Time Trial Championships in Greenville, S.C., where Smith's home base is and where he runs his health and nutrition Web site, www.mountaintophp.com to help pay the bills.
Even before he quit the sport after the 2000 Olympic Trials, where he lost to eventual gold medalist Marty Nothstein, Smith was outspoken about drug use.
"When I was 15, it wasn't when I was going to or if I was going to dope, it was what age would I start ... that was the whole mentality," Smith said. "It was a constant assault on my mind that if you want to race in Europe you are going to have to dope. I am not saying this just because of hearsay or hearing that someone did this, I know it's going on straight from other riders' mouths."
His biggest awakening was when he went to Australia a month after his 18th birthday to train for the Olympic Trials in May.
"I left the U.S. as a kid who never drank or had ever seen a drug," Smith said. "Within a month of being over there I tried and had done almost everything. I did a lot of things I am ashamed of, but I got myself back on track again."
Smith leaves Monday for three months of training in San Diego. He said he isn't afraid of retaliation from riders or teams.
"I guarantee you I will be hated by at least half of the European field before I even get over to Europe," Smith said. "I am going to do it clean with a strong mind and heart. I could care less what they think."
In addition to "cleaning up" cycling, Smith is ready to resume his winning ways in the sport that catapulted him in the spotlight at a young age. In only his second year of racing, he won his first junior national sprint title at age 15.
"You know A.J. was something special at an early age ... the potential was unbelievable," said Carlos Laborde, one of his mentors and longtime friend.
"I told him even though he was winning he would never be a world-class sprinter, but he would be a world-class all-around rider. I told him he could be another Lance Armstrong. It is a lot of pressure, but knowing A.J., he can do it. He has his second wind."
It wasn't easy getting to this point, Smith said.
"I guess you have to hit rock bottom before you can bounce back," he said. Smith went through "a dark time" that included an impending divorce from his wife Tina, whom he married when he was 19. The two remain friends, he said.
He was nearly disowned by his parents, Andy and Kathy, who live in Port St. Lucie. He told them he was quitting school and using his financial aid at Santa Fe Community College to buy a new racing bike.
"They are on board now," Smith said. "My parents had poured their heart and soul into my racing. My dad was a police officer and mom a 911 dispatcher [in Pembroke Pines], so it's not like we had a ton of money and cycling costs a lot. They broke their backs to get me to where I was because I was born to race a bike. I know I hurt them when I gave it up."
Smith is brimming with confidence and lofty goals but realizes there are still a few more hills to climb.
"Right now it doesn't really matter what I am saying because in the overall grand scheme of things in the sport of cycling I am a nobody," Smith said. "But next year I am going to be a somebody ... and the year after that I am going to be THE somebody.
"It's not even a question of whether it's going to happen ... it's just a question of how long is it going to take. There is no doubt in my mind, it's already happened. I see myself wearing that yellow jersey."
____________
The former three-time junior national sprint champion now says he has no interest in racing for the Discovery Channel pro cycling team, because it recently signed Italian rider Ivan Basso.
Instead, Smith, 25, will race for Florida-based Herbal Life/Bike America Racing Team with the hopes of being picked up by "a clean pro team" in June. He hopes to race in South and Central America and the United States. Basso was among nine riders who were forced to withdraw before the start of this year's Tour de France because of alleged ties to doctor Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Fuentes is the focal point of a drug probe by the UCI world cycling federation and Spanish authorities, along with dozens of cyclists in this doping-tainted season.
Basso, the Giro d'Italia champion, was hired this year by Discovery, the same team that helped carry Armstrong to his Tour success.
"This sport is the dirtiest sport in the world," Smith said. "There is no other sport that even comes close to the amount of drug use that is going on. It is happening overseas and over here in the U.S. It is happening much more than anyone wants to talk about. It's ridiculous.
"I am not the only junior national champion who quit the sport ... there is plenty of talent out there sitting on a couch or behind a desk job because of the doping problem."
Despite lack of serious training and being overweight, Smith won the 10-lap, 25-mile Race2Replace and earned "honorary" membership on Discovery's team. He won in 52 minutes and 42 seconds, averaging 28.5 mph.
Just months before the race, he dropped the 50 pounds he gained lifting weights as a personal trainer and got back into racing shape. Now at 185, he hopes to slim down to an ideal racing weight of 160-165 by February.
For winning, Smith took home a new Trek bike, Discovery race gear, aerodynamic helmet and $500 in cash. He also got to ride with Discovery at the Sept. 1 USPRO Time Trial Championships in Greenville, S.C., where Smith's home base is and where he runs his health and nutrition Web site, www.mountaintophp.com to help pay the bills.
Even before he quit the sport after the 2000 Olympic Trials, where he lost to eventual gold medalist Marty Nothstein, Smith was outspoken about drug use.
"When I was 15, it wasn't when I was going to or if I was going to dope, it was what age would I start ... that was the whole mentality," Smith said. "It was a constant assault on my mind that if you want to race in Europe you are going to have to dope. I am not saying this just because of hearsay or hearing that someone did this, I know it's going on straight from other riders' mouths."
His biggest awakening was when he went to Australia a month after his 18th birthday to train for the Olympic Trials in May.
"I left the U.S. as a kid who never drank or had ever seen a drug," Smith said. "Within a month of being over there I tried and had done almost everything. I did a lot of things I am ashamed of, but I got myself back on track again."
Smith leaves Monday for three months of training in San Diego. He said he isn't afraid of retaliation from riders or teams.
"I guarantee you I will be hated by at least half of the European field before I even get over to Europe," Smith said. "I am going to do it clean with a strong mind and heart. I could care less what they think."
In addition to "cleaning up" cycling, Smith is ready to resume his winning ways in the sport that catapulted him in the spotlight at a young age. In only his second year of racing, he won his first junior national sprint title at age 15.
"You know A.J. was something special at an early age ... the potential was unbelievable," said Carlos Laborde, one of his mentors and longtime friend.
"I told him even though he was winning he would never be a world-class sprinter, but he would be a world-class all-around rider. I told him he could be another Lance Armstrong. It is a lot of pressure, but knowing A.J., he can do it. He has his second wind."
It wasn't easy getting to this point, Smith said.
"I guess you have to hit rock bottom before you can bounce back," he said. Smith went through "a dark time" that included an impending divorce from his wife Tina, whom he married when he was 19. The two remain friends, he said.
He was nearly disowned by his parents, Andy and Kathy, who live in Port St. Lucie. He told them he was quitting school and using his financial aid at Santa Fe Community College to buy a new racing bike.
"They are on board now," Smith said. "My parents had poured their heart and soul into my racing. My dad was a police officer and mom a 911 dispatcher [in Pembroke Pines], so it's not like we had a ton of money and cycling costs a lot. They broke their backs to get me to where I was because I was born to race a bike. I know I hurt them when I gave it up."
Smith is brimming with confidence and lofty goals but realizes there are still a few more hills to climb.
"Right now it doesn't really matter what I am saying because in the overall grand scheme of things in the sport of cycling I am a nobody," Smith said. "But next year I am going to be a somebody ... and the year after that I am going to be THE somebody.
"It's not even a question of whether it's going to happen ... it's just a question of how long is it going to take. There is no doubt in my mind, it's already happened. I see myself wearing that yellow jersey."
