Stage 1 – Time Trial

The Tour of the Valley is a 2nd year stage race held in the Mahoning Valley of eastern Ohio, home to the steel towns of Warren and Youngstown, just upriver from Pittsburgh and on the edge of the Appalachian foothills.  Carbon Racing did a great job with the event, bringing a $10,000 prize list and teams from Mountain Khakis, Team Type 1, Kenda and Panther/Competitive Cyclist to the pro/am race.  The time trial was a relatively flat 9.5 miles out and back, made interesting by late afternoon rain.  Andy and I got a good pre ride of the course to check out the wind direction and turnaround. I told Andy that it would take a 19:00 to win, a 30 mph average, so that was my goal. I started to 2nd to last, 30 seconds in front of last year’s overall winner, Joey Rosskopf from Mtn. Khakis.  I made good progress on the way out, catching 3 riders by the turnaround.  The wind went out of my sails when Rosskopf caught me from behind in the last two miles.  I finished with a 19:17, 3rd place, 37 seconds behind Rosskopf and 8 seconds behind Matt Cooke (Mtn Khakis).  Andy Clarke had a strong ride for 8th, and Kirk was 20th. Hats off to Rosskopf, who averaged 30.53 mph.

Stage 3 – Youngstown Criterium

Coming off Kirk’s strong win in the road race our goals were to retake 3rd place on GC and go for the stage win, as I had dropped to 4th by one second to Oscar Clarke (Mtn Khakis).  The six corner course was dead flat, but rough and bumpy, going past reputed old mafia hangouts that color the history of Youngstown.  Time bonus sprints were on offer at 20, 50 and 75 minutes in as well as the finish at 90 minutes.  Kirk exploded out of the field for the first bonus sprint with me on his wheel, the only rider from the field who could follow us was Rosskopf, who took the sprint but I took the 2 second bonus for 2nd.  The second bonus sprint was similar, except my leadout came from Brent and Andy, and I took that sprint with a bike throw in front of Clarke.  Kirk took the 3rd bonus sprint and I was 2nd, plenty of time to retake 3rd on GC.  Panther again took control of the race for the finish, with Brent and Andy controlling the front, Kirk did another monster leadout, single handedly holding off trains from all the other teams.  Rosskopf jumped our train with two corners to go and with another rider gapping me off his wheel coming into the last turn I ended up 3rd.  A great team effort, we placed a rider on the podium for the stage and the GC, with Andy Clarke 9th on GC and Kirk 14th.

-Paul Martin