Joe Martin Stage Race and ATC Racing

ATC Racing and the Joe Martin Stage Race

A few of us are going to have a try at the world of road racing. So we packed our bags and bikes and headed to the great north. Fayetteville, AK. The Joe Martin Stage race consist in our division (CAT 5) a 2.5 mile uphill TT, a 46 mile hilly road race, and a 30 min. crit.

The details:

Stage 1 the uphill TT:

Patrick Darragh is an animal on the bike when it comes to a TT. He proved this by coming in first and putting a minute into the second place guy. I came in third (I felt like I held back way too much). Corey, who isnt a climbing specialist came in 12th. So ATC Racing takes 1-3-12.

Stage 2 the road race:

The first 10 or so miles was in pouring rain! What a bummer. The spray from the other bikes was a large nuisance. Right around mile 11 we came to the first large climb of the race. Patrick was at the front of the pack and I was sitting in around 8th. I saw a gap start to open after the 4th rider and no one could close it. So I decided to put the hurt to the people in the back and charged to the front and opened a 70 meter gap on the group. No one went with me so Patrick sprinted up to catch me so we could work together. Once Patrick and I were at the top together it was all over for the rest of the field and we went full on TT mode. In the end I won the road race and patrick was second by 8 seconds. Corey came in ahead of the main field in 5th. Patrick and I averaged over 23 MPH for the hilly 46 mile course.

Stage 3 the crit.

The crit was scary. It was raining, it was fast, and there were a lot of turns. Patrick and I decided we would hold back and ride safe since our GC standings were safe. Corey decided to hammer it from the gun and quickly broke the field in half. In the end we were 8-9-10 in the crit.

Overall Standings in the GC for ATC Racing:

Pl Bib Name Team Time Behind
1 604 DARRAGH, Patrick USA Atc Racing 2:39:20 00:00
2 622 STROOBANDT, Adam USA Atc Racing 2:40:03 @ 00:43
5 614 MAY, Corey USA Atc Racing 2:55:55 @ 16:35

It was a lot of fun and we are hoping to do much more in the future. Hopefully we will be CAT 4s before too long.