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Catching Up with Jacob Erker

Canadian Jacob Erker is the performance manager for Kelly Benefit Strategies.

For Canadian cycling fans, the name Jacob Erker is a familiar one. Erker, 35, spent his early career racing for Cyclemeisters in Calgary and finished off his last years racing for Symmetrics and Kelly Benefit Strategies . Over his 19 year racing career, Erker ranks his career highlight as helping then Symmetrics team mate win the Tour de Beauce in 2008. He emphasizes that this team effort means more to him than any of his personal wins and accomplishments. Erker recently decided to retire from racing after a very rough crash at the Vuelta de Chihuahua. Now, Erker works as the performance manager for the Kelly Benefit Strategies, the last team he raced for. He is joined by three other Canadians on Kelly Benefit Strategies: Zach Bell, Ryan Anderson and David Veilleux.

Kelly Benefit Strategies’ race plans were thrown a curve ball this week with the cancellation of flights into and out of Europe due to the volcanic ash cloud issue. In the midst of scrambling to re-arrange travel and race plans for his athletes, Erker took the time to answer a few questions.

What race(s) were you planning to travel to in France?
We were planning on doing Tro Bro Leon, a one day UCI 1.1 race and Le Tour de Bretagne, which is a UCI (2.2) stage race. Both have a lot of historical significance. Unfortunately the volcano ended our hopes of riding Tro Bro Leon. We have rescheduled to arrive three days before Bretagne.

What is the new tentative plan for the team?
We had received permission for a late entry into Battenkill. However we were unable to change our tickets. The airlines were completely bogged down with calls and we were sitting on hold for over an hour just to have them hang up on us. So the priority changed to just getting the guys to France before there weren’t any tickets left.
The guys will take the opportunity to rest a bit more now. Some of our guys have only just returned from the Tour of Thailand. It was a stretch to try and include Battenkill, but it’s a great race and we wanted to support it.

Have you ever experienced such a travelling headache?
Only this season really. I’ve completely changed our travel plans about three times this season. So although the team has done four major races, I’ve booked about eight trips thus far. I’ve heard a lot more elevator music while waiting on hold than I ever care to hear again.

What’s next for the team after this weekend?
Half of the team will race Le Tour de Bretagne and the other half leaves for the Tour of Korea. I’ll be heading to Korea. Our Canadians, Zach Bell, David Veilleux and Ryan Anderson are all heading to France.

Personally, how is the transition from racer to manager going for you?
I retired because of a terrible crash I had in Mexico last October at the Vuelta Chihuahua. I had a compound fracture of the arm and I cracked my hip. My retirement was motivated by my thoughts for my family and how suddenly, we were a long way apart as I went in for surgery in Mexico. I’m still having complications with my arm healing so that has kept me off the bike since my crash. In some ways I assume it’s made the transition easier because I can’t ride yet. So it’s not so bad missing the bike. I’m really just hoping I heal up rather than face another surgery on my arm.

Best part of the new job? Worst part of the new job?
I enjoy my time at home. My little girl is one and a half. It’s really a joy to see her learn new things. But for the job itself, I just felt like I had a lot of experience from a rider’s perspective on what would be the best combination for accommodating the riders, that also saves the team money. The more money we save, the more racing we do. But it has to balance with not blowing the guys out. I can’t book them a red-eye to every race to save 50 bucks. The worst part of the job is when these catastrophes happen. It’s up to me and Jonas Carney to solve it and that usually means about 15 hours a day in front of the computer until it gets done.

Do you still have the itch to get out there and race?
Once I start riding again, I’m sure I’ll get a twinge now and again to get some fitness and enter a race. But one of my goals was to race until I really was finished with it. I was getting there. I raced for 19 years. I thought 20 would be a nice number to finish off with, though I didn’t quite make it.

Do you do much riding now?
I’ve ridden about 2 km with my daughter in tow to the park.

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