Even amidst The Cracked Pot’s issue focusing upon the theme of driving, biker Alder “Alderman” Martz brings an important reminder; another common form of transportation utilizes wheels too.

Currently a freshman living in Charlotte, North Carolina, Alder became introduced to serious bike riding at the age of nine. While visiting a children’s clothing store he picked up a brochure advertising a ride called the MS150, an annual race in every state sponsored by the National Multi Sclerosis Society. Intrigued by the race, Alder and his father raised two hundred dollars for the society and entered in the 150-mile ride stretched from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach. Alder said, “Previously [my dad and I] went out on some 20 mile rides, but [the MS 150] was the longest I had ever done. We completed the first day, which was a hundred miles in ten hours, and the second day, which was ninety miles in nine hours.” Since then he has done the MS150 every single year.

Afterwards Alder still continued to focus on his primary sport at that time, soccer. Then, in 2003, his dad offered to buy him a bike if he took up cycling. Alder said, “I couldn’t resist. Mom and Dad hired a coach, we bought the bike, I raced in my first race, [finishing] dead last, and haven’t looked back.”

Indeed, since then Alder has hardly glanced back. In 2005, his most productive year of cycling to date, he raced in thirty to forty races, winning three of them, from the end of February to the middle of October. This year he plans to continue racing in a similar number of races and will also race in the Nationals at Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

Alder, currently ranks as a Category 3 cyclist, one step below the professional level. Cycling separates cyclists into five categories, ranking from Category 5 to Category 1, with Category 1 as the highest and Category 2 as the beginning of professional racing. Nonetheless, it took much hard work for him to get that high.

Originally starting from Category 5, Alder frequently finished in the top ten, including numerous times second or first place finishes. At Winston Salem, he finally won a Category 5 race, which allowed him to move up to Category 4. Alder jubilantly recalled the final laps of that race, “My teammate attacked with two laps left to go… I immediately went to chase him. When I did catch my man, I blew past him and held off the rest of the group for the win. It was so amazing, I felt [like I was] on top of the world!”

In only his second race in Category 4 Alder won his first Category 4 race. Yet, the obstacles he had to overcome made that victory even sweeter. This race, a type known as a criterium, required him to race forty laps on a half-mile course. Alder described the problems in that race, saying, “The race started, and I kept losing ground because of crashes, being behind the wrong person, and getting pushed off of the good [spaces]... Halfway through the race, I thought, ‘There is no way I can win this thing. I’m too far back and there’s barely enough room to move up [with] the corners… coming so fast.’”

Nonetheless, his spate of problems began disappearing towards the end of the race. Describing the close finish, Alder said, “With ten laps to go, I saw two [cyclists] attack [and] accelerate to get away from [the] group. So I followed... With about seven laps to go, another person did the same thing. I went with him. We caught the two guys in front, and then everyone slowed down and looked at each other. It was at that moment that I attacked. It caught everyone by surprise… So, I got about twenty seconds [ahead] and put my head down and held the gap.” Although that gap slowly dwindled Alder managed to hold on for the win, “My coach estimates that I was going at about 30-25 miles [per] hour during those five and a half laps, which is pretty good. The time gap slowly came down, but I won with about ten seconds [left]. It was my greatest win because it was a really tough race, and my family had seen the whole thing.”

Alder closed out by telling me about one of the other cool experiences he had in a race he he won last year, “I was in a break all by myself for most of the hour-long race. To keep me going, I said [Psalms 23] over and over again. It was the coolest thing… which kept my legs ticking over. I just had to point my arms to the sky for that victory because that Psalm had kept me going.”

Although Alder respects a number of cyclists, but he said that he looked up to riders Jens Voigt and George Hincapie in particular. Alder said, “[Mr. Voigt] has such a great attitude and is a great cyclist… George was Lance [Armstrong]’s right-hand man… I have ridden with George before, and he is a really down to earth guy. He is also so humble about what he has achieved.”

If the opportunity presents itself in the future, Alder said that he would look to continue racing as a professional, “If it is God’s plan, I would jump at the opportunity to go race as a professional. But, only if it were in Europe, because here in America, cycling isn’t as big as it is in Europe. My coach and I have mapped out a plan so [perhaps] when I am eighteen a team will take notice and take me to Europe, where hopefully a contract waits… If cycling doesn’t work out, then I would like to be a commercial [or] ad producer. But right now, I would love to be a professional cyclist.”

In his free time Alder continues to play soccer, basketball on a casual basis, in addition to a bit of juggling. To do strength training he participates in the Pilates program. He likes to follow college basketball as well, as a fan of the Duke Blue Devils, and regularly watches football on Sundays, although he notes jokingly, “I couldn’t throw a spiral if my life depended upon it.”

When asked about God’s role in his cycling, Alder said, “I thought long and hard on this question. Unfortunately, many cyclists are not Christians. There are a lot of rides that I miss on Sunday mornings, although some have been moved to the afternoon... I think that God has placed me in this position to show how to act. I don’t cuss, which many people do in [professional cycling]. I don’t fight with words or arms, but with my legs, and I hope that I set a good image of what a Christian and homeschooler looks like.”