Joe Holmes
I met Joe Holmes in 2010 when he was the Sport Director for the Hagens-Berman cycling development team and brought members to the Tour of Utah. Joe knew of me because he is also a climber, and grew up in that sport reading my writing. He made contact because he also knew that I was racing my bike, and asked if I would like to ride in the team car during one or two stages of the race. I leapt at that chance and it was an unforgettable experience. Joe wrote about it HERE.
When it comes to bikes Joe is a lifer. His first ride "of any note" happened in 1980 and he has been doing it ever since, a student of the game, a racer, as well as an educator and coach.
He is a USA Cycling Level 1 Coach and holds the UCI Coaching Diploma, which only one other American has earned (at this time writing). He was the Associate National Team Coach for the European Development Program between 2014 and 2019, where he guided Juniors through their first seasons abroad in the hectic and intense European racing scene. Joe has coached racers to US National and also World Championship titles, an Olympic silver medal, and helped them earn professional contracts.
During the era when most of the Sermons were written Joe was involved in the program, becoming a fully-certified instructor, and also sensing the poison when it slowly began seeping in. Because he came from climbing, he understood the foundational philosophy, my spirit, and their value, and as those became diluted he was one of the first to jump ship and leave it to the rats. His essay on that topic has been widely read.
Joe and I have shared some incredible bottles of Italian wine, meals, some memorable hangovers, live music events, a lot of coffee, and splendid bike rides in Southern California, Utah, and the Kitsap Peninsula. He has encouraged, admonished, motivated, and accepted me, which is why he is a true friend, and one of the very few who I welcome to sleep on my couch. Best of all (for me), he holds a BA in Political Science from The Ohio State University, which he earned on the five-year-and-then-some plan, and I never saw that coming.
Joe was on the NonProphet podcast before it was the NonProphet podcast and has returned too many times for me to recall but here are the highlights:
Episode 86 (one of the best ever)
Tour of Utah Hand-up video
Kitsap Peninsula and a buddy flap on the fender …
Morning after the Peter Hook show 2016
Pinky Out! Pre-gaming with Campari before the American Alpine Club annual meeting 2017
