10 Questions With... Martin Austermuhle

by David Kirkpatrick, Features Editor

10 Questions With... Martin Austermuhle

(GamJams) 1. Most new or would be racers meet some people who are on a team or wander into a group ride and get hooked up with a team that way.  You guys seem to have decided you wanted to race and then built a team to race on.  What was the motivation for starting out on your own rather than just joining an existing team?

(Martin Austermuhle) Well, the team actually formed from a 40-mile Sunday ride put on by The Bike Rack, a store in Logan Circle. A good chunk of the team's current members met on the ride during the winter of 2007, and it was only in early 2008 that we decided to form a race team. I don't know that any of the other guys had been looking at any established teams, so the team naturally came together because we all recognized that we mutually liked riding and wanted to take it to the next level. We also had some great support and guidance from Chuck and Wayne, who own the store, and Josh Simmonds, a local cycling legend himself. Seth, a friend of the store and leader of the Sunday ride, was another inspiring force in the decision to form the team.

(GJ) 2. District Velocity seems to be a pretty tight group.  Is it a case of effective selection of new team members or is the cohesion developed after people join the team?

(MA) The majority of the team's members met on the Sunday ride and had been riding together for months before we showed up in the same kit to our first race. Because of that, the cohesion that we now have as a team was established long before we formally ended up as a team. Since then, most of the team's riders have started on the Sunday ride or come as recommendation from friends of ours. We don't do any type of personality testing, but we do want to see that potential members are committed to the community that produced the team and still serves as our foundation. Once they've ridden with us a few times and come to a team dinner, we get to know them and they get to know what we're about. Because of the organic way the team has come together, we're all both teammates and friends. I don't only respect the guys and girls I race with as athletes, but also because I've gotten a chance to know them as people.

(GJ) 3. A continuing theme of this season is people who break though with a big result and then stay hot for a while.  Certainly you had a nasty streak going this summer.  But in the case of your team, you seem to have developed the ability to pass the mojo to whomever is next in line for it.  How?

(MA) We had a great season, no doubt. And there was definitely a period in early- and mid-summer that we were consistently producing good results. We weren't just placing, but we were working well together during races. I think that since we trained and raced together as often as we did we all had a good sense of who was good at what, who might be hot that particular week, who was really itching to get a good result and how everyone else could help that particular person. There is definitely a "Pay It Forward" mentality on this team -- if someone helped me win a race, someone else on them team will help them win a race.

(GJ) 4. In a short time, DVR has gone from a team of wide eyed 4s and 5s who were doing a lot of on the job learning to a team with a preponderance of 2s and 3s who know exactly what's going on.  What were some of the things that helped you guys along that road, on the road.

(MA) I really can't speak highly enough about training together and becoming friends along the way. We spent countless hours and miles together on the road, so we all got a sense of our particular riding styles, strengths and weaknesses. We also developed friendships along the way that play a big role in creating a strong team. We don't get paid to do this, so there has to be an investment that exceeds the simple act of racing our bikes in the same team kit. I'm more likely to set aside my chances for personal glory for a friend than I am for a guy that's wearing the same kit and that I'm only really meeting when we stage for that day's race.

(GJ) 5. Similarly, you've gone from start-up to established club, administratively speaking, in a short time and even hosted your first race this year.  Without having had a lot of in house team management experience, how were you able to scale that wall?

(MA) Basically, the guidance and generosity of people who have been at this a lot longer than we have. We've figured out a lot of the administrative stuff ourselves, but we've always had the support of other cyclists, officials and promoters to guide us along when we've needed it most. Our race, for example. We wouldn't have known the first thing about putting on a race had the kind folks at Artemis not offered us the chance to co-sponsor the Dawg Days of Summer Circuit Race. Also, it goes without saying -- necessity is the mother of invention. When we've needed to get something done, we've found a way to tap into the well of expertise of our members to get it done. The team website, our first sponsor prospectus, our first training camp, our first order of custom socks -- all of these were the product of team members donating their time and skills for the greater good. (Jesus, how much more socialist can we sound?)

(GJ) 6. Personally, you obviously shoulder a lot of the team management and yet you've still had results that most would kill for.  How do you fight the battle on both fronts like that? 

(MA) I can't imagine how tough it must be to actually manage a large team with substantial sponsors and multiple races. NCVC, for example. We -- Tony, the president; Michelle, the vice president; and myself -- were able to pull it off because we're a small team and had a lot of help, both internally and externally, along the way. But if we were responsible for much more than that I think it would start making training and racing a little more difficult. I'd say we got the majority of the administrative stuff related to the team cleared away in the off-season, so once racing started we were able to focus on that. But if my club were putting on four races, trying to keep big-money sponsors happy and tend to the needs of many members, well, I'd probably have to race a lot less.

(GJ) 7. At the outset of the year, you had Schmitty waving the flag for you guys in the elite races.  Now you've got half the club eligible to race with him.  How do you see the club managing the transition from enthusiastic start-up with a bunch of 4s and 5s to an established club able to address the needs of your elite racers and your novices alike?

(MA) Being that this is just our second season as a team, we've somewhat improvised as we've gone along. And it was easy, too. At the start of this season we were pretty much all in the same boat, but now we've got guys and girls racing at all levels. So the challenge going forward is maintaining the sense of community and camaraderie that got us to where we are while addressing the needs of the many different skill sets and abilities we have on the team. But again, that's where being good friends is a huge advantage. We can talk about this stuff openly and negotiate a way forward that respects what we all bring to the team.

(GJ) 8. What's up with you guys and jorts?

(MA) Ummm yeah, jorts. That's "jean shorts" for everyone else. I don't really know how it came about, but I think it was around the time that Tim Brown was on something of a hot streak. He showed up to the races in homemade jorts and boat shoes, and thankfully the boat shoes didn't become a team thing. But the jorts did. We've got many a variety of jorts, and there was even some discussion of racing the final Greenbelt of the year in jorts. It never came to pass, sadly. I should add that Tim Rugg was responsible for our other contribution to the world of cycling high fashion -- V-neck t-shirts. Seriously. He raced his first ever race in a V-neck.

(GJ) 9. Finish the following statement on behalf of DVR: "In 12 months the team would like to be..."

(MA) Finishing up a third season with as many, if not more, accomplishments as we had this year. And that's not just races won. Sure, we'd all like to win more races, but if your entire purpose for being is to win, then you're likely to be disappointed a lot. It's important to build a strong team and gain a sense of satisfaction from things other than crossing the line first.

(GJ) 10. Finish the following statement on behalf of yourself: "In 12 months I'd like to be..."

(MA) Still having a good time doing this. I know, I know. It's a generic answer. But for the amount of time and money I spend on cycling, that it's fun and challenging keeps me in it. I'm not gunning for a pro contract, I'm not looking to win every race I get into, and I'm not desperately searching to upgrade. As long as I can keep showing up to races and having a good time with the guys on my team and the other people I race with and against, I'll keep doing it. The minute I don't have fun at a race is the minute I turn in my road bike and buy a recumbent. Yes, I'm serious.

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David Kirkpatrick is a Features Editor with GamJams who races for NCVC. He is enjoying growing fame through his blog Flamenco Chuckwagon, and as promoter of the lauded Lost River Classic.