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FOR IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION
August 31, 1997
Matzger, Baldwin, Burger Prepare for Biggies
  
Team TWINCAM/Roces teammates Eddy Matzger, Scott Baldwin and Dan Burger have been busy putting the finishing touches on their preparation for the myriad of late-summer and early fall classics which loom on the horizon.
All three have their sights set on the 10K National Championships at the US 10K Classic in Atlanta September 7, the Duluth Marathon on September 12 in northern Minnesota, the 100K National Championships in Brooklyn, New York on September 19, and the 87 mile Athens to Atlanta Road Race on October 4.
Rigorous training sessions have included long, hot hours battling cramps on epic bicycle rides, explosive strength training consisting of bounding and jumping, anaerobic threshold training on skates with motorcycle pacing, uphill sprint intervals, and turning laps at an indoor parking structure.
Point man Eddy Matzger is currently the number 2 ranked professional skater on the USA Inline Racing National Points Circuit. With the backing of Baldwin, ranked 5th in the nation, and Burger, a perennial contender over long distances, Matzger hopes to claim the top spot by season's end.
Asked about the evolution of inline races over the 10-year course of his career, Matzger said: "Racing has gotten so competitive in the last few years that good placements are dependent on good teamwork. And I have two most loyal, talented teammates in the country willing to lay everything they have on the line for the good of our sponsors."
Progenitor of the sport Dave Cooper swooped down on Matzger's residence en route to Burning Man on a windswept playa in the Nevada desert. Cooper used 5-wheel inline skates to beat the roller-skating Muse brothers in a 100K race in Malibu, CA in 1989, a seminal moment in inline history.
FOR IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION
August 24, 1997
New England Dives Into Workshop
  
Nearly two dozen information-parched skaters plunged headlong into the Eddy Matzger Workshop, 4 miles from Thoreau's Walden Pond, August 21-23, 1998, in Bedford, MA. Workshop attendees emerged from the weekend sopping with sweat and over-saturated by a nonstop barrage of new material, yet were euphoric about their newly acquired skills on skates and immediately clamored for another workshop next spring.
The workshop drew from a healthy reservoir of skaters in the New England area. Two inline clubs, the Inline Club of Boston and the Racing Club of New England, provided for the majority of participants. ICB leader Tom Keane played a key role in putting the workshop on the New England map.
Numbers were split evenly between men and women and outdoor skaters and indoor skaters. 11 year-old Sean O'Brien impressed with his overall victory in Sunday afternoon's stage race, as did 15 year-old Laura Morris with her smooth skating style. Students with gray hairs also gave lots of hope to younger bucks and does who found themselves engaged in a wonderful lifelong struggle to improve.
Attendees were unwittingly showered with goodies from Eddy's sponsors as an added bonus to the already chock-full program. Each participant received 20 virtually maintenance-free TWINCAM ABEC-5 bearings from Asia Access, a set of 10 Explore urethane wheels from Elasco, Transware sunglasses from Transpack, inline skate socks from Wigwam Mills, and an Eddy Matzger Workshop skate survivor T-shirt designed by Raymond Verdaguer. Roces USA and Transpack provided other coveted prizes for winners of various mini-competitions sprinkled throughout the weekend.
Weekly updates of Eddy's activities as well as inline skate images can now be accessed by surfing on over to www.SkateCentral.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION
August 19, 1997
Matzger Charges Hard at Embarassingly
Short National Criterium Championship
  
Team TWINCAM's Eddy Matzger put the hurt to the pack on
"Anni" (pronounced "an-eye") hill during the amateurish
15-minute plus two lap race that served as the Men's National
Inline Criterium Championship, Sunday, August 16, 1998,
in Downers Grove Illinois. His all-or-nothing attack on the
final lap nearly went unanswered, but was reeled-in two turns
before the finish by a handful of skaters, relegating him
to ninth place.
The hotly contested championship was laid in the laps of
sprinters when the race was shortened at the last minute,
allegedly due to time constraints. Americans Chad Hedrick,
Derek Downing, and Keith Turner claimed the top three spots
respectively.
The decision to reduce the race was not nearly as suspect
as the circumstance which unfolded after the race. Barely
had skaters had a chance to catch their breath and warm down
before the United States Amateur Confederation of Rollerskating
officials had vanished, without either posting results or
disbursing prize money.
In the womens championship, Julie Brandt exulted in victory
in the 20-minute plus two lap race. Brandt's teammate Cheryl
Ezzel ensured her comfortable margin of victory by pushing
the pace hard during the race. Teenager Michelle Bizeau,
barely old enough to drive, took second.
In Saturday's action before the bungled championship,
Matzger missed the start of another race apparently
because officials decided to start the pro men before
junior racers had cleared the course. Rather than watch
the race from the sidelines, Eddy jumped in after half a
lap and contributed mightily to the cracking of the pack
with his repeated breakaways on "Anni Hill." Post-race,
Matzger traded-in his respectable 7th place finish for a DQ .
FOR IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION
August 11, 1998
Eddy Coaches Kids, Leads Workshop, Skates Pikes Peak
  
TWINCAM's Eddy Matzger was a huge hit at the Indian Ridge Elementary school in Aurora,
CO, where he entertained and instructed two groups of twenty-five fourth and fifth-graders,
on Friday, August 7, 1998.
Matzger first underscored the values of hard work and dedication in a half hour show-and-tell
period. Eddy displayed his racing skinsuit and racing skates, as well as spun the
wheels of the skates that climbed Kilimanjaro. A music video with clips of Eddy's skate adventures in Indonesia, Japan, and Africa was played, followed by a brief
question and answer period, and then a one hour skate class.
Eddy's class will be expanded into a physical education course offering thanks to
the thrilling donation of 30 sets of Roces protective pads and 30 Roces helmets by
Roces USA. Denver workshop hostess Sandy Gregory will assist the school's physical
education teacher with the program's implementation. Furthermore, according to the vice-principal
at Indian Ridge, Eddy's homemade music video will be used during recess breaks when
thunderstorms prevent going outside, instead of the usual cartoons.
Eddy went straight from the little kids to the big kids -- ages 30 to 50 -- in attendance
for Colorado's first Eddy Matzger Workshop. Although small in number, at 8, the workshop
was nonetheless huge in heart, with a diverse and eclectic group that bonded together in mutual effort.
Friday's social skate along the Cherry Creek path blossomed into a breath-taking training
run as the Rocky Mountains were gilded by the setting sun.
Workshop participants were so enthralled by Saturday's learning experience that they
had no hesitation in forgoing a local race in order to extract the maximum possible
gain and fun from Eddy on Sunday, when the double push, hills, teamwork, stopping,
and stage racing were served.
On Monday, August 10, 1998, Eddy set off on skates from Manitou Springs, CO, and skated
to within 500 feet of the summit of America's most famous mountain, 14,110-foot Pike's
Peak (American army officer and explorer Zebulon Pike, 1779-1813, had declared the peak unattainable by mortal man after failing to reach the top himself). After battling
hail, snow, dizziness, and time pressure, Matzger traded skates for flip-flops and
scurried to the summit for the last train back down on the tourist railroad.
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