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Ready to Re-cycle
Joey Rosskopf to defend his yellow jersey in second Tour of the Valley bicycle race this weekend
By JOHN BASSETTI
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s been almost a year since Joey Rosskopf earned the inaugural Tour of the Valley’s yellow jersey.
By now, however, it should be a yellowed jersey, especially if it’s been kept in a drawer along with other awards.
“It’s probably in a box as a keepsake,” said the 20-year-old cyclist from Atlanta.
“You wear it during the race, but, afterwards, it’s like a trophy.”
While racers like Rosskopf cherish the jersey, they also like the green of the purse, which this year amounts to $20,000 in cash prizes from the 17-race, three-stage event, July 9-11.
The second annual Tour of the Valley, which features pro and elite amateur riders, drew more than 4,000 spectators from the tri-county area last year.
Again, Rosskopf will compete in the Pro 1-2 category.
However, his team affiliation this year has changed slightly — from Jittery Joe’s to Team Mountain Khakis fueled by Jittery Joe’s.
“It’s an outdoor clothing company based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,” the racer said. “They make durable clothing, but pants are the thing they focus on,” Rosskopf said of Mountain Khakis, the title sponsor of his team.
Jittery Joe’s, a coffee company, is the team’s presenting sponsor.
Rosskopf, Oscar Clark and Thomas Brown are the only Mountain Khakis cyclists who competed for Jittery Joe’s in the 2009 TOTV. Brown won’t return this summer.
Besides Rosskopf and Clark, Mountain Khakis’ five-man squad will include Matt Cooke, Will Hoffarth and Evan Burkhart.
Rosskopf, who will attend the University of Georgia in Athens after transferring from Georgia State in Atlanta, said he’s raised his training level this year.
“I can afford to train a little more because my body will take a little more stress,” Rosskopf said of a regimen suited for his age.
His racing season started in late March in California, then New Mexico, Arkansas, Delaware and Virginia were subsequent stops.
Team Mountain Khakis’ highlights so far were Clark’s second-place finish in the criterium at the USA Cycling U23 national championships in Bend, Oregon and Rosskopf’s seventh in the road race.
Eric Shildge was the only other under-23 Mountain Khakis teammate at nationals two weeks ago.
Rosskopf and Co. stayed in Georgia last weekend to train before driving to Ohio.
Last year, Jittery Joe’s riders rented a house in Kutztown, Pa., for most of the summer, but, this time, they’ve just been coming and going from Atlanta.
Rosskopf’s sponsoring bike manufacturer last year was Louis Garneau. Mountain Khakis uses Jack Kane, a manufacturer from North Carolina.
Although only Rosskopf, Clark, Cooke, Hoffarth and Burkhart are coming to Ohio, the Mountain Khakis team has 13 members.
Team riders split prize money equally.
In 2009, Rosskopf said his best stretch of races was worth $1,200.
“I rode in six or seven races — all criteriums — in a week,” Rosskopf said. “It keeps me motivated to race well,” he said of earning money while enjoying his passion for cycling.
“Jittery” Joey Rosskopf’s previous athletic endeavors were cross country and lacrosse in high school.
The basis for the team policy of splitting money with whomever raced on a particular day is that, individually, not everyone would do well enough to get a check.
The 6-2, 170 Rosskopf added, “It also keeps people from riding selfishly if they know that, by helping a teammate win, they’ll split money at the end of a race.”
A team’s effort goes into helping one or two teammates finish well.
“It’s all about team tactics,” said Rosskopf. “Most of the time the guy who wins couldn’t do it without help.”
He said that, most of the time, teammates are breaking wind resistance, among other things.
“Drafting is a huge part of it, like race cars. You ride close behind others to get sheltered from the wind and reduce the resistance for the team leader as much as possible.”
The leader is defined as the teammate with the best chance to win a particular race. He’s comparable to a basketball player with the hot hand in a game.
“If we know one guy is riding well at the time, we’ll most likely work for him as long as the course suits him,” Rosskopf explained. “Some are better up hills, some are better on flat courses.”
A development that requires action on the part of teammates may be triggered by an attack — when someone thinks they can go all the way to the front ahead of everyone else and try to make the finish line by themselves.
“That’s when someone from the group may have to chase them down,” Rosskopf said of trying to catch up and bring them back.
“We want to catch him so our leader has a shot at winning. That’s when the team leader needs teammates to do the work if he wants to be fast and fresh at the finish. It’s about tactics, not pure strength.”
In the strange world of cycling, sometimes you’re the earner, sometimes you’re the earnee.