from Coastin', May 2001 ...

club rider gets lost racing Shelby Criterium

                         Call Him Wrong-Way Blair

 It was a blazingly hot day in July and the race was a flat stage of the 1950 Tour de France.  With most of the peloton content to sit in, an African rider named Abdel-Khader Zaaf broke away, eventually building a lead of  20 minutes.  Under such sweltering conditions, however, Zaaf soon became weary and started to zig-zag on the road.   Thinking better of his attack, he pulled off for a quick nap, only to awake and find that the entire race had passed him by.  He decided to give chase, but unfortunately took off in the wrong direction!  Although he eventually discovered his error, it wasn’t before his ineptitude became known amongst the race fans and he became somewhat of a celebrity.

 Now the story turns to this year in Shelby, NC. Only instead of a 150 mile road event in the desolate French countryside, it’s a downtown event on a closed circuit 8/10 of a mile in length. The category 5 race has just begun and with his strong legs, Blair Craig is competing in his first criterium and leading from the opening gun. The details are a bit murky of what happened next, but apparently Blair was following the wrong motorcycle. Thinking he was leading the race, he was disappointed to find himself stopped at an ice cream shop at the end of a dead end street, only moments into the race, facing a motorcyclist with a quizzical look on his face. Most of the other riders had made the correct turn, so Blair valiantly chased down the field and eventually caught back on. Exhausted from the effort, Blair still managed a top 10 finish! Blair is riding very strongly, so look for him to excel at the upcoming Assault on Mt Mitchell. But let’s hope he sees the Mitchell entrance. If not, it could be hundreds of miles to the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway…