Matt Yankow wasn’t content sweepin away in the cozy confines of his Ohio basement and ventured into Coach Joy territory. He also wasn’t content allowing Joy to stay on his wheel. Here’s how it went.
In the words of the honorary MIRT Coach Joy Murphy, herself.
When I found out that Matt Yankow would be in Clermont, Florida (my home state), I knew I had to make a Meet-Up happen. I only had three weeks to arrange everything. Luckily, I am a fantastic party planner. (Almost as good as Angela from The Office).
Unfortunately, three weeks is not a lot of time to get a large group together. I often ride with a couple of cyclists locally, so I knew they would be up for the road trip, so I asked them first.
Robert agreed and drove down from Palatka, Fl. He is in fantastic shape right now after having a great ride at 6 Gap. Sidney and his wife Jessica also drove down from Jacksonville. They were both a huge help in putting this all together.
I then put the word out on the “Florida Man Does Zwift” Facebook page to see who I could get. As expected, October is a busy month, and everyone seemed to have a full calendar. I did manage to recruit Marc Boults and Graham Partain, both members of the Dirt team.
Sadly, after Graham arrived, Benny, his new puppy, decided he missed Graham too much and requested him to come home. Graham drove back home Friday night and missed the ride.
My next challenge was to get Matt a bike because he was flying in from Cleveland with no bike. I did not know anyone that was giraffe height of 6’4,” but Sidney was close at 6’1”.
We had to swap out the pedals and adjust the seat so Matt would have a good bike to ride. Sidney selflessly donated his road bike to Matt and rode his gravel bike instead. At the end of the ride, we decided Matt would be on the gravel bike next time. It’s the only thing we could think of to slow him down.
We planned a 74-mile route that started at Killarney Station, headed north towards Lake Dora, and over to Howey in the Hills. We had Jessica, Sidney’s equally selfless wife, as our fabulous support crew. She met us in Griffin Park at mile 44 with a cooler full of cold drinks and Twizzlers to help us reenergize.
I don’t think she planned on us being there so soon, but we had the Diggler’s pulling at high speeds. I know I had never been so grateful for a rest stop and a Redbull!
Back out on our journey, we head toward the legendary Sugarloaf Mountain. Sugarloaf is a short, very steep climb with a grade that reaches 16%. I may have encouraged a “race” up this climb to see who was the fastest.
Marc easily took the win, but we all had a second chance. We looped around to do it all over again. This time, Matt found his front chainring to make the race more interesting, but no one could beat Marc to the top.
Can anyone say KOM? (editor’s note: More like QOM!)
Thankfully, we had Jessica at the top for our final rest stop. I was a little concerned for Matt, who was dumping ice over himself, clearly not accustomed to the 98% humidity we Floridians take for granted. A little ice and a coke were all they needed to get going again, stronger and faster than ever.
As they rode back between 24-26mph, I spent some alone time thinking I needed slower friends. Digglers dropping me IRL | Ride | Strava
Back at Killarney Station, we looked to see our PR’s and achievements in Strava. Except for Matt, who forgot to start his Strava. I guess he will have to come back and do it all again.
For more great IRL meet-up stories and all other things DIRT check out the DIRT Zwift Team page on The ZOM!
How would you feel about having the honor of being dropped by Matt Yankow?
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Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
