Gap. March 29, 2014 - The writing has been on the wall for a while. He's been crushing the Ronde and recently dropped Dean "like a bag of hammers".
After spending most of the winter sweating intervals in trainerville, Mark Allain is back on the road and scorching it. So it's no surprise to hear that The Bull has recouped his entry fee and then some. And it's still March.
On a cold and wet day, the guy who shirked the deep freeze by riding a trainer in his basement chased down an early break and in the process left the field to it's usual desperate tussle over the leftovers. Shirk's stalwart Dusty Stone, crashed by a dude who didn't realize that hay bales are hard to move with a wheel, recovered to ride the rest of the race solo and claim last place. He recalls how his teammate rode away from the field:
"Half way through lap 2, The Bull soloed over to a skinny and fast U19 kiddo who had slipped off the front unchallenged and mostly unnoticed. The two of them proceeded to drop the field which, at that point, was already choking on 20 rooster tales of liquified horse manure."
"The Bull then took the protege to school, leaving him to sulk in the arms of a proud papa over what could have been."
Later in the day, from the comfort of his poofy chair, Allain decribed his effort as 'exhausting' and gave a nod to 'all the guys who raced in the cold rain'. Especially the kid.