The Joe Martin Stage Race is the hometown race for the Arkansas team members. We’ve raced it since we were category 3 racers and have worked our way up the ranks, usually crediting Joe Martin on our upgrade resume to USA Cycling. This year we maxed out with the eight allotted riders. Noah Singer, Kris French, Zach Spinhirne-Martin, Wade Wolfenbarger, Ryan Knapp, Chris Uberti, Dan Campbell and guest rider Troy Wells filled the roster.

The four day race includes a 2.6 mile opening hill climb prologue, a 110 mile stage, a 92 miles stage, then the 90 minute crit on the final day. I ended up posting my best time and the team’s best in the TT, a 9:02. I was closely followed by my teammates Dan, Wade and Troy. Zach missed his start which gave him a time in the 15 minute window. Luckily for him, they didn’t hold true to the time-cut rule of 125% of the winner’s time and he started the next morning, legally.

Friday’s 110 mile stage was fast and hilly. It had 5,400 feet of climbing and for the first 66  miles our average speed was 27.8 mph. On one of the descents I found myself behind Floyd (yes, that one) and witnessed something truly incredible. He has the smallest descending tuck known to man. I swear I’ve never seen someone get any lower. His entire chest on his TT, his knees damn near above his head. From toes to head I bet he was 24” high. I gave him compliments at the time, and he opened up to conversation immediately. Speaking of, I think he is the only guy in the entire peloton to willingly have a conversation on the bike. Just about everyone else out there is so in the zone, and into their own team alone they can’t spare a few words. Not Floyd. He’s always willing to chat, and a pleasure doper (updated 5/20/10) to chat with.

A break was up the road for the 2^nd half of the race so our trip up Mt. Gaylor made the 6 mile rolling climb more  tolerable than usual. It was steady tempo, and a strong headwind also helped to keep it at bay. The break eventually finished just 25 seconds ahead of our main pack, down from their three minute gap 25 miles earlier.

Day three was the 92 mile lolly pop style road course. Head out 11 miles, do three laps of the 23 mile loop then we head back to Fayetteville. Again, there is a steep climb each lap that usually knocks guys off the back. Last year I was dropped here, and had to abandon the race.  For 2010 I was sitting in the top 10 at the top of the climb, what a difference a year makes. Zach had an untimely flat and never caught back on. Kris was also put under pressure and had to abandon. The rest of us survived what I consider one of the diciest final five miles in bike racing, to finish with the front group. At 50 MPH the downhill sprint finish is a quick one to say the least. The most dangerous part is maneuvering around the guys who have completed their leadout and are falling back. You come up on them at nearly twice the speed, and surrounded by other riders.

Sunday’s crit course is known for being one of the hardest on the NRC calendar. The course was made even more difficult this year when they added four more turns, for a total of twelve 90 degree turns. With no time cut in the TT this year, many more people started the crit than ever before. It was a race to hold on as long as possible. After 45 minutes you were given a pro-rated time for the finish. If you did not finish before that cut-off, it is considered a DNF for the entire week. From lap number one there were crashes every lap after. Broken collar bones took out guys from Bissell, Ouch-Bahati Foundation, and United-Health just to name a few. Wade from our team also fell victim to one of the corners as shown in the video below. He was able to walk away with no major injuries, but wasn’t able to finish the day. The rest of us made it at least to the 45 minute mark and were given a time for the crit and completed the week at last. Also, check out the street art that Lucky Mortenson and his wife chalked up the night before the race. Pretty cool, thanks ya’ll.

To top things off, as if nearly 300 miles in 4 days wasn’t enough, some of the guys motor-paced both to and from the race each day.

-Noah Singer

Thanks to David Henderson for this GoPro video he had rolling during our race. You can view the final few kilometers where you see our team fall into place at the front of the race.  As we hit the brick section of the final kilometer you can see the effects on the camera.  Just before he falls towards the back you can see our final leadout train fall into position. After a perfect execution, Chris Uberti goes on to take the win. For the video below, you may need to pause it and give it a minute to load. You can also see the full length video here.