 Joe Sailing, contributor to the sport. It's not surprising that Joe Sailing was drawn to cycling because he was born in Somerville, New Jersey, the home of America's oldest continually run bicycle race. When he was a 16-year-old sophomore at Somerville High School, he walked into Pop Kugler's bike shop and announced that he wanted to become a bike racer. Joe worked at Kugler's to pay for his first racing bike and became a member of the Somerset Wheelman Bicycle Club. In 1956, he started racing in Criteriums and at the Newark Velodrome. After high school, Joe joined the Navy. Following his Navy stint, Joe returned to Somerville and dated the sister of some bicycling friends from nearby Flamington. Joe and Dorothy Yard, nicknamed Dottie, were married in 1962. Joe raced in the Tour of Somerville and he went on to win 21 national championships from 1973 to 2017. In elite team pursuit, Masters road racing, time trials, tandem time trial with Dottie, Criterium, Cyclocross, points race and individual pursuit. He became an eight-time Masters World Cup champion and a six-time Masters Pan-American champion. He has won silver medals in Masters World Track Championships and bronze in Masters World Cyclocross Championships. Along the way, he won over 50 New Jersey State Racing Championships. Joe bought Cougler's Bike Shop in 1967 and it was known as Sailing's Schwinn Cyclery until 1981. In 1984, he became an event coordinator for Gantt Challenge, the first nationwide mountain bike series. He was also an event coordinator and an announcer for the 7-Eleven Bicycling Magazine Grand Prix and the Fuji Sundance Track Cycling Series. Many know Joe as the announcer of the Tour of Somerville for over 35 years. He never won at Somerville, but his grandson, Noah Granigan, won the 74th edition of the race in 2017. Joe has also been the announcer for World Cycling and National Championships in addition to the Pan-American Games, Olympic Games and races all over the East Coast. Joe organized the first 4-H Cycling Club in the U.S. in the early 1970s and he also presented bike safety programs and rodeos. Joe has coached at Walden School of Cycling in Florida, international events and for national teams. He is still a member of the Somerset Wheelman and has coached their junior development program. Joe is a member of the Somerville High School Hall of Fame as well as the Valley Preferred Cycling Center Hall of Fame in Trexler Town, Pennsylvania. He was a charter member of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame which started in Somerville, New Jersey. His wife, Dotty, was voted into the Bicycling Hall of Fame in 2010 as a result of her extensive cycling accomplishments. Joe has contributed to the sport on every conceivable level throughout his lifetime. His proud legacy includes teaching and inspiring generations of young riders to experience the thrill of cycling. Join me on my regular series on www.tourofsummerville.org. 2017 Hall of Fame inductee, Joe Sailing.