Joe Martin Report

Joe Martin kicked my ass this year. Unlike previous years, the field was Pro , 1. There was less pack-fill than normal -- fewer companions for me. Erik and I made the trip down there late, late Thursday night. So late in fact that the guy at the motel in Bentonville didn't charge us for Thursday (as it was so far into Friday). During Friday's road race I was able to hang till we hit Gaylor climb, at which point I was detached from the pack. I rode the climb with Matt Hansley, who rode Superweek as a Cat 3 when I was a 3. By the time we got to the finish, we had amassed six or seven riders and only lost about sixteen minutes. Saturday's road race didn't go so well. I was detached from the first time up the feed zone climb. I rode the three 23 mile laps with a Colavita development rider and finished just under thirty-two minutes down. Ugh. The good news is that the Men's 1,2 field started 5 minutes behind, but never caught me. In fact, they finished about 5 minutes behind me. I went into the time trial with a positive attitude, but no expectations of doing well. I didn't do well, with a time over two minutes more than the winner's time. I took heart in the people near me on the results, but really, that just means that they did poorly as well. Erik and I stopped in Springdale for some authentic Mexican food for dinner. Yum. Sunday is the crit. It's one of those really hard crits. I predicted lasting three laps, but in actuality lasted about four and a half. It was short and sweet. All-in-all the weekend was good training and team bonding. I'm glad I went. The pictures are courtesy of Action Images.