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.

Gone Bianchi Gone

I returned by Bianchi to Turin today. I took care of everything I needed to and settled my account. There will be a better time for reflection on the season. Reflection is a process for me that'll take a bit longer, but this has (for sure) been the last season where cycling takes precedence over everything else. As I've said before, life's changing. I can tell you now that I'm disappointed that I didn't get out to the track more, and I hope to make the track the focus of next season. Time for bed now.

Elite Nats

The Elite National Criterium Championships were today. It was raining from the start, yuck. I didn't last too long in the race, but it was exciting to watch. Josh finished second. Bitter sweet he said.

Tour of Elk Grove

While this may be one of the biggest money races in the country, it's also the stupidest. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The course is an "L" shape, flat, and without any type of natural selector. This means that no breakaway stays away and the race is boring. What a waste of sponsor money.

Back on the bike

Rode my fixed gear to work. Felt good.

I was going to ride...

I was going to ride to work today, but after I took my morning shower, my hip was oozing. With the high forecasted temps, I'd rather not take the risk of deterring the healing process of my hip. I tend to think that bacteria thrive in the heat and humidity. I may not be at all correct, but I'm took the train just to be sure.

Photos from ENH Grand Prix

Credit to photographer Joel Lerner for this shot. The Evanston Review had at least one photographer at the race taking photos. The pictures are pretty good and worth a look.

What's wrong with these cyclists?

These frickin' pro riders let me down every time somebody gets caught. Is it really that hard to follow the rules. Are they so greedy and self-serving that inject themselves with performance enhancers? It makes me glad that I demoted cycling to a hobby. I don't have to worry about measuring up to dopers anymore. Cycling is supposed to be fun, but doping would take the fun out of it for me. This sucks. May the winner of this tour be remembered as more than the winner of another doped tour.

CRASH

I crashed at the ENH Grand Prix yesterday. It sucked. The race however did not suck. I didn't feel as well I as had hoped to, but I did feel well enough to bridge John into the winning breakaway. That's teamwork. The two of us came rocketing down the start/finish straight, closing a 15 second gap like it was nothing. I was blown before we got there, but he closed the last little bit and brought home Turin's first NRC top ten.

Coming into the first corner with 2 laps to go, somebody crashed, and I went over the bars. I'm pretty banged up. Rhonda (Dr.) took a look at me and prescribed antibiotics, so we'll see how this round of wounds go. The only thing I'm really concerned with is my right hip.

Sad Weekend for Cycling

A Cat 4 woman died during the Proctor Road Race this weekend. She crashed and was almost immediately stuck by oncoming traffic. Her name was Beth Kobeszka, a recent grad of Northwestern and a member of the xXx Racing-AthletiCo team. I will say no more than that it is a tragedy.

On the lighter side, John and I got 5th and 9th in the road race. We decided to donate our winnings to Beth's family. Today John got in the winning breakaway and finished 5th. The race got a bit out of hand near the end, so no one else did particularly well, but John was able to finish fifth again.

BMC to the rescue

Cyclingnews reported that the BMC team came to the aid of Navigators soigneur Janis Burns the night after the fourth stage of Nature Valley. The article can be found in the first edition news. Apparently a large man broke into the soigneur's room in a burglary attempt. She chased the man to the parking lot where the BMC team had just arrived. "Dan Schmatz body-slammed him and his teammates held him down until the police cruisers arrived," Burns said.

Let me just say, way to go Dan.

Press

One of my quotes was used in the Pioneer Press as the lead for the ENH Grand Prix story. Erin sent the link to me on Thursday, but for lack of internet, I was unable to see it. In the Evanston Review there is also a photo of Chris Mailing, Chris D, and others. I'm glad there's at least a few ripples in the water about the race.

I have to spend the rest of the night preparing for an interview I have tomorrow. I don't want to get excited too soon, but the company, simply put, makes things better. It's been a while since I've gone through the interview process, so I have to get my act together. First thing on the list is compiling a code portfolio.

Tour of Ohio Report Two

The second half of Tour of Ohio was slightly better than the first. Stage Four was a up & down, mile+ criterium. It wasn't really a course for me, but I should have been able to finish it out. I faded during laps 17 down to 12 and eventually got popped. I was disappointed in my personal performance, but extremely pleased with Erik's second place. The announced said Erik was "banging his bars in frustration" as he crossed the line. It was impressive to watch Erik ride with such control for the whole race. Stage Five was a ~11 mile course with a challenging hill at the beginning of each lap. The first time up the climb was the most difficult for me just because I needed to open my legs up and the hill came after only a couple miles of racing. After I recovered from the hill each lap I was able to be active and mix it up a bit. It was a fast course and a break would have taken the right mix. Due to stomach problems I wasn't able to eat during the race and my legs went empty during the last lap. Erik and Jamie mixed it up in the sprint for a 7 and 11th. Stage Six was a boring rectangle with a slight rise on one end of the rectangle. At the front the race was easy, but you had to have your wits about you to stay there. I faded in the last quarter of the race and couldn't hold a good position. I just rode it out and wasn't able to contribute to the 10,11,&12 that the team achieved. Again, I was kind of disappointed with my ride, but I suppose it was at the end of six days of racing.

All in all the Tour of Ohio was a good experience. It was good to spend the time with my teammates and work on team building.

Tour of Ohio Report One

The first three days of Tour of Ohio were a rollercoaster for me. Stage One was a flat, short, eight-corner criterium. I got a terrible starting position, and consequently my race was over before it started. Everyone was really skiddish and many people crashed in ones and twos. Stage Two was bad. It was a torrential downpour before the race, and the rain hadn't stopped by the start either. I lost any nerve that I had and rode at the back. It didn't help and I was eventually dropped. Both Erik and Derek flatted. Bad day, let's move on. Stage Three was the king stage. There were many 300-400 foot climbs that stung out the group. Fortunately I was feeling much better, and was able to get to the front before the climbs and survive. About half way through the race I began to feel more confident and started to mix it up at the front. That was a mistake because just past half way there were two tough climbs back to back. I sank through the back like a rock sinks in water. I was just able to catch on by the second climb, only to get dropped even harder. The picture was the taken at the bottom of the climb where I got dropped. All in all I felt better about how I rode.

Leaving for Le Tour of Ohio

Today has been event packed so far. After breakfast Erin and I took a bike ride north along the Greenbay Trail to the Ravinia Metra stop. It was really nice to finally go for a bike ride with her. By the time we got back home she was ready to be done. I forgot how people who don't ride all that much don't have much of a tolerance for sitting on a saddle for extended periods of time.

After showers we went down to Wicker Park to look at an apartment owned by friends of the family. It was small!!! Erin and I need to readjust out expectations for an apartment in Chicago. I think I'll need to land a job before we can start think about paying rent for any place that we'd find acceptable. The trip wasn't a bust. We got an idea of the kind of apartments that we can expect in the city and got to have lunch with Emily.

I had to stop at Turin to get supplies for ToOh on the way home. CC gave me the briefing on Ohio and then I came home to pack. My computer is the last thing to pack before I'm ready to go and the adventure begins!

Judson Ride without sprints

Looking forward to next week's Tour of Ohio, I chose not to sprint during the group ride this morning. This past week has been fantastic weather. I hope it keeps up!

The ENH Grand Prix

I got my picture taken today as part of the announcement/press realease for the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Grand Prix of Cycling. It's the new Evanston Superweek race. Not only is Turin a sponsor of a Superweek race, but it's been designated as an NRC race as well. I'm excited. After the presentation, CC and I answered questions for a Pioneer Press (Evanston Review) reporter. I didn't get his name, but I hope to be quoted in the paper!

When I was a Cat 3 I won the Bensenville Superweek race. As far as I can remember, that was the last time that my parents saw me win a race. Now, I know I can't realistically win an NRC race in my current condition, but I will be mixing it up with the field in front of the residents of the town I grew up. Eddy Van Guyse will call my name with good reason that night.

Fifth Day of Racing

After a day of packing/cleaning, I decided to head over to Carondelet to do the Tuesday Night Crit. I don't know if I'll be back in St. Louis again this year for the crit. I'll miss it. I also set up an appointment for Thursday afternoon to see Dr. Shawn for chiropractic x-rays. As a consequence, Erin and I will spend another night in St. Louis. I'm exhausted.

Quad Cities Crit

Quad Cities was our best team race to date. John, Jamie, Derek, and Erik were near the front the entire race. Everyone followed important moves and worked well together. The team plan was to make sure that neither Brian Jensen or Adam Bergman got away. They made the decisive breaks everyday that weekend, and I figured that the same would be the case today. It was. Unfortunately we still missed the break. I was of no use because I wasn't close enough to the front when it went. Jamie, Erik, and I got to the front at the end to scrap together a 10th, 17th, and 26th. It was good to finally make some money! It was a long trip back to St. Louis, but Erin and I are back for the final time to close out the apartment.

Melon City

Today was the Melon City crit. CC was supposed to meet us two hours before the race so that we could take team pictures and talk race strategy. She was speeding on the way over and was stopped and ticketed so the pre-race schedule was tossed out. The six of us still met and talked race tactics. I don't particularly like this course, but I rode it better than I ever have. The team raced well together, and many lessons were learned. John and I finished 28th and 32nd respectively. We took team photos in Cobb Park after the race. It was quite a scene and took much longer than it should have. After post-race showers Jamie, John, Lindsay (John's girlfriend), Erik, Sean, Andy, Derek, Dr. Sean (team chiropractor), CC, Erin, and I went out for dinner at Salvatore's. We ordered four 20" pizzas. I can't believe we ate as much as we did. I credit Derek with the bulk of the eating.