Introducing...
Every month, we introduce some of the Kingston Wheelers. For February 2010 you can read the interview with club member Glenn Chamberlin here but sometimes we go beyond the club membership to interview someone else. With the European road racing season about to start, here is Dan Martin.
Dan rides for the Garmin-Transitions team and despite being only 23 he probably has to think about his best momenet on the bike, whether it's making the top-10 in the Tour of Lombardy, being Irish national champion or going head to head with Alejandro Valverde in the mountain stage of the Tour of Catalonia.
Name: Dan Martin
Age: 23
What bike do you ride? Felt F1 SL with Shimano Di2
What made you start cycling? Just growing up in a household where I was surrounded by the sport I guess. Mainly for fun though. go on the Saturday cafe stop ride in the summer, that's what its all about [Webmaster: Dan's father Neil was a pro in the 1980s and his uncle is the Giro, Tour and World Championship winning Stephen Roche].
What was your best performance or ride?Training ride or performance? Training ride has gotta be the coast road from St Feilliu towards Tossa de Mar, but turn right before Tossa up a climb to St Grau. Beautiful road. As for performance: probably Lombardia. Sticks freshest in my mind and to be competing with the best in the world in such an historic race and what was really my first attempt was a great experience.
What was your worst day on the bike? A stage of the 2009 Paris Nice. It was freezing cold but sunny. I had the fatigue syndrome thing that we never really found the cause of but didn't know it at the time. I spent the 200km stage trying to stay awake. I was literally fallling a sleep on the bike. Yawning and just no go. Luckily for me it was a pretty cruisy day with the small break going early so it didnt get hard until about 30km to go, when I promptly got dropped and had to ride in to the finish.
Who is your favourite pro or inspiration? Not really. I admire how professional Christian Vandevelde is, and that's mainly due to me seeing his leadership skills up close. I just have heaps of respect for him. He's like my big brother.
What is your favourite bike food? We're pretty lucky in that we have Clif Bar as our sponsor so we can vary our food. They have a ton of different flavours so it doesn't get boring. A coffee and chocolate croissant is by far the best riding food, although not too practical for racing!
Where is your favourite cycling location? Girona, that's why I live there. More often then not good weather and a great variety of roads that are quite empty most of the time.
Most likely to say after a race: "owwww that hurt" or "or I did my best".
Least likely to say: "I could have gone harder".
Previous interviews
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