"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - What happened to AJ Smith?

Anyone remember AJ Smith? He won the "Race 2 Replace," an amateur try-out race that Discovery held to find a new amateur talent. As winner, he got to race as a pro with Discovery at the US Pro Time Trial Championships (and didn't do too poorly since he'd been injured). Then when Discovery signed Basso, he quit the team and came out in an article blasting them for signing Basso and saying he wanted to find a clean team to ride for. Haven't heard anything of him since. Anyone know...?

If you really care, I suggest you use this nifty new fangled website called google.com

Tried google. Couldn't find anything from 2007 on him.

He rode(or maybe still rides) for Herbal Life/Bike America Racing Team. That's the last I've heard from him. Not interested enough to look the rest of the story up though. :D

I raced with AJ this past Feb in Belize for a 9day. We shared a room, so I got to know him real well. Great kid, bad gas. We were supposed to ride together on Herbalife this year and do a full schedule, but I decided to "retire" and he moved on to ride by himself, fearing the team couldn't help him, as well as he could help himself.

He got 4th or 5th at SpinCity in Orlando (biggest race in the state) and since I call the races, I interviewed him a bit after. He seemed on track to make a go at the sport, but I haven't heard anything from him since March, so...

he moved on to ride by himself, fearing the team couldn't help him, as well as he could help himself.



Okay, that just seems odd to me.

^^^

Lots of guys do this. They need to get their own results and don't want to sacrifice any races that may help them move on to bigger things. In his case, it may have been a mistake, as the team support and comraderie would have helped his cause more than not.