G R E A S E M O N K E Y

Club Nationals 2010

2010-07-29T21:46:00.002+12:00

Club Nationals 2010 from Benny Devcich on Vimeo.

The annual Club Nationals, held in the sunny Hawkes Bay. Bici Vida sent a small team down to race it. Alex Ray, Shem Roger, Mark Langlands, Taylor Gunman, and Colin Cornberg.
The race was 170km in distance. With both the Elite Open Men and the U23 Men racing at the same time.
Small breakaway after the second of six laps saw Shem sitting good for the remainder of the race. A bunch of three til the end, with the rest of the race not able to catch them. Shem was 2nd overall, and won the U23 title.

Benchmark Series #3

2010-07-29T21:20:00.002+12:00

Round #3 of the 2010 Benchmark Race Series. This round was from the very beautiful Hanmer Springs, to the coast stunning coast of Kaikoura. The race was fast and hard, an active team saw many casualties out the back of the race. A second place for Taylor and the Teams Prize for the day.

Pure Black Racing Team Launch.

2010-07-28T22:29:00.004+12:00

Looks like I am back in business with the blog, I have been working on quite a few project in the last six months. None more than Team Bici Vida. Tonight we had our Press launch for a new project 'Pure Black Racing'. And what do you know, my web address is published with the press release. Kind of works out fine, I needed a kick in the ass with my writing, time to refresh the blog, and time to start keeping you entertained with life behind the scenes of a Professional Cycling Team. But here is the news of the day. Keep posted, finally the blog is rolling again.

Here is what Pure Black announced tonight:

Pure Black Racing launched today, aiming to become New Zealand’s first international UCI ProTour road cycling team. Olympians, professional athletes, business figures, politicians and government agencies from around the country have shown strong support for the venture by attending the launch in Auckland.

Lead by America’s Cup yachtsman, Star Class World Champion and Olympian, Carl Williams, Pure Black Racing will compete in UCI’s US Continental Tour in 2011 with the ultimate aim of becoming a ProTour Team with entry to the Tour de France by 2015.

“The time is right for a New Zealand-based professional cycling team to compete at the highest level,” says Williams. “Cycling is the fastest growing sport in New Zealand and we have more cycling world champions than we have in any other sport. It’s a perfect time to establish what we hope will be an iconic Kiwi sports brand.”

“To prove yourself you have to compete against the best in the world,” says Williams. “That requires dedication, complete professionalism and a total team approach. We’re not in that position yet, but with the talent we have available, their commitment and the backing of a superb organisation, we know we can be.”

Williams caught the cycling bug while cross training for his America’s Cup campaigns and racing with a local club in Valencia. “In Europe team racing is where it’s at,” says Williams. “Regardless of level, riders race in teams. It’s a really big thing.

“My goal is to see Pure Black Racing competing in Europe against the world’s premiere cycling teams,” says Williams.

Team Pure Black Racing grew out of Team Bici Vida, a domestic high performance cycling team, which Williams launched on his return from Valencia. From day one Williams’ vision was to build a world-class international cycle team in New Zealand, establishing it as a fully professional sports organisation.

Bici Vida launched onto the New Zealand scene at the PowerNet Tour of New Zealand in November 2009. Starting with a core team of talented U23 riders, the team enjoyed exceptional success in New Zealand in its first year.

Achievements include Southland U23 classification winner, 1st and 2nd in the Hamilton Open, 1st in Taupo Street Race, 1st Taupo Avanti Classic, 1st Festival of Cycling Criterium, stage wins at Tour de Vineyards, U23 Road Champion, 1st SRAM Tour de Ranges, 1st The REV, wins at the BioSPORT City Criterium series and most recently 1st and 2nd in the four day BDO Twin Coast Cycle Challenge.

As the young Bici Vida team learned the benefits of making sacrifices for team success, their victories grew. Five of the Bici Vida team have crossed the line first this season alone. After the team’s success and watching New Zealand’s strong cycling showing during the Beijing Olympics, Williams knew the timing was perfect. “We just had a Kiwi take three podium finishes in the Tour de France. What better time to launch a New Zealand team to compete against the best in the world,” says Williams.

While Bici Vida’s success on the road came down to having the best people in the right places on the bikes, the team’s rapid and successful development came from having the right people off the bikes. Carl was joined by investor and entrepreneur, Greg Cross, as Business Director; former Executive Director at Owens Group, Rick Ellis, as Chairman; and cycling veteran Benny Devcich, as Director Sportif. That same team is now the driving force behind Pure Black Racing.

Greg affirms the team’s professionalism. “Carl’s relationships have enabled us to secure international gear sponsorships from Spanish cycling company Orbea and USA’s George Hincapie. Those relationships extend to the circuit: four of Bici Vida’s eight riders have been placed with the US continental team Rubicon-Orbea for the 2010 US season while we establish Team Pure Black Racing for the 2011 season.”

Benny ‘Wrenchman’ Devcich is a passionate and obsessive cyclist who has served with Batusi Racing, Flexpoint, T-Mobile, Highroad, HTC Columbia, Swedish National and New Zealand National teams. Benny’s international experience, his understanding of team dynamics and his uncompromising professionalism are all important factors in developing and balancing the team’s wealth of young talent.

“There is still a lot of work to do to get Pure Black Racing in the winner’s circle,” says Cross. “Ultimately, to be successful we need the support of not only the New Zealand people, but Kiwi businesses as well.
As an international team, we’re looking to partner with the New Zealand export community as we take a highly visible Kiwi team to the world.”

Announcements on sponsorship, team members and team kit will be made over the coming months. Pure Black Racing is set to debut at New Zealand’s Tour of Southland in November. More information about supporting, following or joining the team can be found at: www.bicivida.com, www.pureblackracing.com.

GP Brissago, Switzerland

2009-03-18T11:45:00.002+13:00

I might get a chance to write a report on the Brissago race in the next couple of days. But in the meantime here is a couple of videos for you to have a look at. Both of them are just a test with my new editing software. And now I think I have some sort of harness hooked up in the car for filming a little bit more stable. But in the meantime enjoy the simple edits.

GP Brissago from Benny Devcich on Vimeo.

With the new software from Apple, the effects and graphics are pretty cool. Here I was just messing around a bit, and the effects are going to come in to a few more vids in the future. But think I could get inspired, stay tuned.

Test reel from Benny Devcich on Vimeo.

Tour of Majorca

2009-03-17T11:49:00.004+13:00

With a little bit of time up our sleeve we managed to get a few of the riders away from the cold of the northern part of Europe to the sunny isle of Majorca (Ibiza is the island next door). This is an island off the coast of Spain, and it’s one of the those popular places that thousands of riders and many teams head to sooner or later when the winter in Europe gets too bad to ride. I had not been there before, but almost all of the riders I had ever met here were familiar with the island, so I was hanging out to ride around it. I had a road bike ready, and the weather was looking good on the island, a much better option than the 0’c, rain and snow we were getting in Holland at the time. First we had a small drive up to Denmark in the sleet and snow, to meet up with Susanne and Trine. Klas was dropping off a car that had to go back to Sweden, and we had another trip to make to our bike guys at Stevens, so it was a multi purpose trip. We flew from Copenhagen, but that’s after waiting for a few hours for the plane to get de-iced in Berlin, before it picked us up, I was look forward to getting some more sunshine, it had been a week since the seeing the sun Qatar, and my endless summer was looking like it was in jeopardy.

But we were soon on our way, and the week’s weather report in Majorca was looking great, fine weather and sun for the week. I was keen on a bit of riding, it had been a few weeks since my last ride, and so I was keen to stretch the old legs again. The riding was sweet, after a couple of days I took a day off the training, to be a tourist for the day, a good chance to get a good look around the place. The city was dripping with history, a very old Roman city was still in place (amongst some newer buildings) after all the centuries gone by, most of it still stands. The streets were fantastic to ride around, just wide enough for a small car to drive slowly down, the bike was perfect for a good reconnoitre, and for taking a few pics on of course. The towns Cathedral was pretty amazing, and with my addiction to churches (mostly the outsides) I was in heaven. This was a pretty impressive building to say the least, and the surrounding areas looked pretty original as well, with the small streets packed closely in to the Cathedral, it was a great day. As always, while looking for that ultimate shot, I stumbled on to a wicked old furniture workshop, it looked like it had been there for hundreds of years, unchanged to this day. I have seen a few of these similar looking workshops around my travels, I dream of the day when I find on old bike workshop that looks as old as this. With clutter and spares in every nook and cranny possible, with an old man in an old leather apron with his head down, concentrating on his work. If I don’t find one, maybe I can make one for myself to retire to, and people wandering by just like me, poking their cameras inside to capture a slice of life you don’t often see in this modern world anymore.

The riding was fantastic as well, with small country roads leading all over the place, there was something for everyone, and some great sights to see. I didn’t take my camera with me on the bike, except for one day (I was trying to save weight as there was some big climbs to contend with, I was not that fit yet), so you will just have to take my word for it. I did manage a video of a days ride around the very beautiful coast, but you will have to wait until I find some faster Internet before I post it up for your pleasure.

In the meantime have a look at a few shot of the city and surrounds HERE.

Found some, so have a look at a bumpy ride.

Tour of Majorca from Benny Devcich on Vimeo.

Or here if you have the right viewer for a higher quality view.

Teams Presentation

2009-03-05T05:08:00.009+13:00

With all the new clothes and the new bikes we had an official engagement to attend finally, our Teams Presentation. This is where we present the team and ourselves to the media and sponsors for the year. It’s kind of a drag, but an important part of any teams existence. It gives us a chance to take some press quality photos (we had hired professionals for this) of the girls and the team as a whole. These will be used for promotions, websites and assorted other uses throughout the season. It’s one of those times when a cyclist is really out of there comfort zone, having to look good standing still, feeling naked without a bike and helmet to hide themselves.

But I suppose there are some of the team that like to show their feminine side of their character for a change, and come out with full makeup and hair do’s, I hardly recognise some of them sometimes. Unfortunately Susanne was sick up in Sweden, so she had decided to stay at home, rather than infect all the rest of the team with her bugs. So we had the other nine riders to deal with for the day. But it all worked out well, after a bit of lounging around, waiting for the press to conduct interviews, and some talking with some of our favourite sponsors, the photos were all done. Now just the crowded room to deal with, as they called us one by one up on to the stage, for our introductions. I thought I had escaped the show by hiding near the front of the stage, taking a few photo’s of my own, but near the time I was due to go up, the events lady dragged my from my hiding place, into the limelight, for my 5 minutes on stage. But it was nice, as the crowd was silently stunned with such a fantastic looking team.

From the left, Trine, Loes M, Loes G, Saskia,Mirjam, Iris, Jacobien, Elisabeth and Anna (Susanne missing).

We looked good, new riding kits, two very clean shiny bikes, flanking the stage, what more could the media and public ask for. A good meal, with a team member on every table for added entertainment value, and it was getting late, a very long day for the girls. I had plenty of wheels and bikes to prepare in the coming days so we all looked to each-other to get out of there, our job was done for another year. I gathered the bikes and equipment up and made a dash for it, the girls were start to get a bit grumpy, so it was a good time to leave.

Some more phots HERE.

Het Nieuwsblad

2009-03-05T04:55:00.006+13:00

After spending a week putting the new machines together, it was finally time to give them a bit of a spin, and what a great test, with the first race of the European season, Het Nieuwsblad (renamed Het Volk). I have a lot faith in my own mechanical work, and I wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t a bit worried, with eight new bikes, being raced over some pretty shit roads. Also to top that, we had four or five sections of pretty bad cobblestones, some of them up to 3km long, and these are a real test for any machine, let alone a lightweight race bike. But I was feeling confident, I had checked the bikes over twice, and then a third time for good luck, I could relax in the car, knowing there was nothing more I could do. We had a bit of colour on the bike this season, so they were looking all new and pretty, lined up before the start. The new team clothing had arrived during the week as well, so the public would get their first look of our new colours for the season. We would be spending the day in the team car, trying to spot the girls in amongst the 150 riders or so in the peloton, at least the back of the uniform was simple, three bold colours, and dark shorts. It is always a bit of a challenge at the start of the season when most teams change their colours and riders, it can make for a bit of added confusion as to who is who, and which team are they riding for now, initially. But with in a couple of races, we have our eyes calibrated, and no one rider escapes our attention, unless of course they are getting dropped in the first half an hour, and we are trying not to look at the sorry faces, as they hurtle to the rear of the caravan.

The new bikes ready to race

The girls were happy with the new bikes and clothes, a few of the team had already given the bikes a test run earlier in the week, but more than half were riding a fresh bike. The eight girls (80% of the team) lined up before the race with the bikes and new uniforms for a few pics. They all looked pretty impressive, the bikes I mean, and the girls didn’t look too bad either, the race was about to start, so my work was about to slowdown for the day I hoped. I loaded the car, and attempted to turn the race radios on, but it was not happening. We had double-checked everything this week for our first Euro race, all except the radios, stupid I know, but they have never been a problem, until now. The two radios were just not working, so I checked all the fuses I could find (a modern car is unbelievable for the amount of electronics it has) in three different places in the car, but no luck. The radios were very important, first the race radio, so we can hear what is going on during the race, the action on the front, the rear, and everything in-between. Second, the rider’s radio, so we can talk to the girls and hear them when there are problems, and to direct them during the race. This was going to be difficult, with such bad road conditions, we would have to be very alert, and the girls would have to think a little bit more for themselves for the tactics if we were out of range. After a bit of messing around (my half hour of peace while the girls were warming up was lost, I am no auto electrician, that’s for sure), we could not get them going. Klas rushed to the organisation to borrow a race radio, and we would have to do with one of the small riders radio for our tactical directions.

What a fantastic lineup, new bikes, new riding kit.

The course was different than previous years, and this time we would be following the last 128 km of the men’s race, which would be raced in behind us, later on in the day. The race started, and before I could relax for the first time all morning, the first crash call came over the radio. Everyone from the team were safe, but it was a bad omen for the day, and before most of the girls were back in the bunch, crash number two for the day. One of our girls were down the radio said, a bit of stress, but Iris was down and up just as fast. But there was a real mess over the road with all the race cars scattered everywhere, too many club teams here today, they don’t have the experience like the UCI teams have. Iris had a bit of a nice gash on her calf, and some chainring punctures on her shin, but otherwise she and the bike were fine. Some really sharp corners, and a few more crashes later, Loes M got caught in another crash, she was not too good, a bit of a hit to the head and shoulder when she hit the road, so she battled on for a bit longer, then hitched a ride back to the finish with us. But just as she flipped the front seat back into position, and sat down, the borrowed race radios power lead got squashed underneath it, and severed our race info again. A bit of a cleanup and splicing on the wires and I was ready to plug it back in for some sound, but the shock must have shorted another fuse to the auxiliary power plug, so we were back to square one, I gave up, we would have to rely on the other cars for some race info now.

Loes M not looking too happy after her crash.

A few more crashes later, and the race was getting near to the end, there was a breakaway of about 26 riders, and we had four of our team in there. But we could do nothing, the speed was high, and our attacks were not successful at all. The race came into the finish chute for sprint, the girls went for it, but not being the sprinting type, we did not manage to beat the winner, Susanne DeGoede from Nurenburger. It was not a bad day after all that drama, (it was at least warm 13’c, and no rain) the girls performed pretty well so early in the season. Some nice riding from all the team, and some great efforts from the younger riders, a couple of crashes with the team in, and only one puncture (thanks to a nice big pothole), a few scratches on the new shifters, and no other damage for the day. The radios we won’t mention again for a while I hope. We were pretty lucky looking around at the damage and punctures that other teams suffered during the race. I kind of had to laugh when three members of one team crashed into each other at the back of the peloton. The three of them in the middle of the road, trying to get their bikes apart, crying and looking ahead to the disappearing bunch, oh well, maybe they should be concentrating a bit more next time.

And look HERE for a few more pics of the day.

New Seasons Bikes

2009-02-21T21:32:00.004+13:00

With the sunshine of Qatar gone for another year, we headed back to the cold weather of Holland. Winter was still there, it had not gone anywhere, but we had a bit of work to do, so at least I would be busy and warm for a few days. The bikes were ready for delivery, or more importantly, ready for us to pick up. Stevens Bike Company was in the north of Germany, in the city of Hamburg only about 600km away. We decided it would be quicker to pick everything up at once, rather than waiting around for delivery. As well as the bikes, there was a stack of new wheels for the season as well. Normally we use Bontrager wheels in the season, but this year there is a bit of a change of wheel sponsor. Stevens has stepped in, with a custom built wheel, very nice in three sizes. We still have a lot of good Bontrager wheels still in house, so a combination of the both will be used for the various races.

The van half loaded with 20 bikes, doesn't look like much, but it's a big van

We hit the road early for the trip to Hamburg, with the weather on our side, it was going to be an easy trip. We encountered a little snow half way up, but we still arrived just on lunchtime. After waiting for the warehouse staff to finish their own lunch, we organised the pile of bikes and equipment into the van. We were perfectly on time to pick up the last wheel being built in front of us. It looked like the old guy had been doing it for years, and it was nice to see him run a tensionometer over every spoke before he gave us the last wheel to pack away. Now a small drive home, and then we could start to build our new machines for the year. Not too far from Hamburg, there seemed to be a bit of a block on the autobahn. After moving less than a kilometre in an hour, we were herded off the highway, on to a very small road. Seems there was a problem further down the road, so thousands of cars and trucks were just sent off on their own devices, thank god for the GPS. But it didn’t help too much, within a half hour, we thought we had found an on-ramp, but it was blocked as well. We then had a great idea to head cross-country, to miss all the traffic, this was our first fatal mistake. With in a few minutes, we were heading down some very small country roads, every time we thought we were back on track, there was another bridge or road closed for repair. It was killing us as the highway was in full view the whole time, but as yet the van could not jump the barriers onto the highway. Finally after three hours, we found our way onto the right road, and were off again. It was a long day, but we had the bikes, the group-sets, wheels etc, so it was not all bad. Now to unpack everything, and start the mission of building the new bikes, it was exciting, even though it can be a drag sometimes.

A small part of the Steven's warehouse

The next day, we organised all the new equipment into the ‘service course’, and started organising the build. Building bikes is not really the hard bit, getting all the setups right for every rider, can get a bit tricky first up. But I had managed to decipher and measure all the setups for most of the girls, so the building began. We only had a few days before we were leaving Holland for the warmer climate of the island of Majorca, a larger than I thought island, off the coast of Spain. Near the island of Ibiza, very popular for cyclists wanting to escape the cold winter of Europe. So finishing nine of the teams bikes was the plan, two days later they were done. It’s always nice building the bikes at the start of the season, at least they will be done properly, and up to my very high standard. It’s always nice to have them built of course, but now I know the inside and out of every bike we will race, it’s a good feeling. I forgot to take any pictures of the new bikes, so you will have to wait till I get back to base for a look at them.

Facing off the Stems with Klas's 'Top Secret' tool. Designed to make sure the stem is providing the perfect pressure on the headset bearings. Crooked stems are half the problem with bearing failures. And when you see how much material comes off one side of the stem, you tend to agree pretty quick. More on this tool later.

Next race for the team is the ‘Omloop Het Nieuwsblad’ on 28.02.2009. Renamed ‘Omloop Het Volk’ (a newspaper ‘The People’ sponsored the race for years, now it’s sold, thus the name change). Normally the start of the racing in Europe, and signifies the real start to the season. The race starts Gent in Belgium, so it’s nice and close to get to. I just hope the weather gets a bit better before we race.

Short Qatar Flick

2009-02-16T12:57:00.004+13:00

Trine loaded my video the other day, have a look. Only one days racing, as I forgot to charge my video camera amongst other things.

Or have a look here for a higher quality version of the same thing.

Tour of Qatar- Race review

2009-02-16T12:28:00.002+13:00

After a bit of a drive we arrived at the airport in Frankfurt for the flight to Doha, the biggest city of Qatar. We had a team of six riders, and staff of three, so the pile of bikes and luggage was pretty massive, we were expecting a bit of a fight to get it all on the plane, let alone for free. We only had eight bikes, five spare sets of wheels, massage table, nine very large personal bags, tools and work-stand, radio gear, 100 bidons, massage, nutrition and hydration products, so you can imagine the pile. At least we were on time, if not a bit early, which always helps. We were pretty well looked after at the desk, with a personal check-in lady organising everything for us effortlessly. A quick estimate of the weight (we under estimated by about 40%, just in case we had to pay the excess ourselves), and all was sorted very quickly. We found out later that Qatar Airlines had sponsored the flights and luggage, lucky for us, they had a special container for the bikes, so at least they would be a bit safer. Two other teams were on the flight, Columbia and Nurenburger, so we didn’t feel so bad, as they had just as much equipment as us, if not a bit more.

So before I could watch four movies in a row, we had landed, midnight in Doha, now the fun really started. After sitting in the passport control line for what seemed like the best part of an hour, one of the riders finally got to an officer. We were all watching in anticipation as none of us had, or wanted to pay for an entry Visa (about 25 Euro). It was all too much for the system, riders had blocked every counter, none of them having any luck getting through. Well it was all too much for the passport control, so they herded all the teams into and area and told us to wait, while they tried to sort out the problem. After another half an hour or so, we started asking the important one what the story was, it was getting late, and the riders needed to sleep, he looked at us with confusion. He asked what we were doing sitting over where we were told to sit, and then in a moment, he waved us through. After gathering up all the teams bikes and bags, we packed it all on some open bed trucks, hoping nothing would fall off the side, en-route to the Hotel. An hour later we made it to the hotel and got a bit of a impromptu tour of the city as well. But we still had not seen the truck with our luggage yet, so no relaxing for me yet. The girls checked in, and I waited, and waited, and waited, 2 am rolled around, still waiting, I had visions of the truck stopping somewhere, and few bikes and bags being offloaded in the night. After a while, one of the teams went and had a look at the bike tent (still up from the men’s tour, and ready for us for the race), and what do you know, the two trucks were sitting and waiting for an hour for us there. We unloaded the bikes, delivered the bags to the team, and finally hit the bed. The hotel was a dream, the Ritz-Carlton, next door to the ‘Pearl of Qatar’, we had a nice room on the 21st floor, looking through the central atrium, to the foyer below, put the shits up me. Think it was a bit of jet lag playing with my head, the balcony outside was just as creepy, I hung onto the rail as if the building was swaying in the wind. A short sleep later, I was ready for action.

The girls on the front, causing a bit of a stretched bunch.

A few hours to unpack the bikes, and the girls were ready for a nice training ride. The team for the race was Susanne, Mirjam, Loes G, Loes M, Trine and Iris, the best team we could muster for this early in the season, but pretty strong all the same. Training was pretty boring, 3 corners, then a nice straight road 40 km out, and 40 km back, not a corner or camel in sight. The bikes made it without any damage, we had all of the gang riding on last seasons bikes, just in case they wrecked them. The new bikes we were picking up when we arrived home, so you have to wait for a close look at them later. The race started the next morning, so I race tuned and prepped the bikes, wheels and cars, a few hours work, little bit of tyre pumping, and I was ready to roll. It was nice looking around the tent at the other mechanics still working as I walked out fully organised, experience is a great trait for races like these. Being organised before you leave, can save a lot of time, especially when sleep is at a premium.

The warm and dry weather, was a welcome change from the snow and ice of Holland. I had only a few days or so of this, but it was enough, a week in the sun was just what I needed (I had two weeks of winter, that was enough). Temperatures were sweet, at about 25’c, and all the bikes and riders were loaded, ready for the small transfer to the start. The ‘Museum of Arabian Art’ was our start point, a fantastic looking building and surrounds, holding some of the countries most precious art and artefacts. The setting was unreal, with the half built city in the foreground, and old Asian junks floating close by, giving us the impression Qatar has come a long way, very quickly. But we had a race to start, so I donned my mechanics cap for the first race of the season, and looked busy. A 94 km stage, six corners, with two straights of about 40km long each, simple to remember for the riders. We had a special plan for the day, attack from the 14km mark, so the girls were really motivated for some early fireworks. And by the looks at the 20km mark, no one was expecting us to attack. We had been practicing a bit of team time-trailing the day before, and it seemed to have worked out perfect. The bunch split badly, with a small group of about 12 riders out the front, we had half of the team in there. The bunch put the hammer down for the chase, they had been caught out by our attack, and the race was on. About the time we turned at about the 60 km mark, the gap was about a minute, not much, but the damage was done. Half of the peloton was at 8 mins, and the chasing group of about 20 was about to join the leaders. A small group of 30 made it to a sprint finish, with Giorgia Bronzini (Italian National Team) taking the win, Mirjam was in 5th, loes about 8th and Susanne in 10th. Not bad for stage one, three in top ten, four in main group, with the bunch distanced sitting on about 14 mins behind.

A bit of rehydration after stage No.1

Most of the teams were suffering many punctures after stage 1, the tent had a nice smell of fresh glue, we seemed to be lucky, with not a single flat so far. But that was all to change. Stage 2 started a bit out of town at the Oryx Farm, but we could not spot a single one, it was good to know that there was some wildlife that could live here, besides a few camels, and plenty of sand and rocks. The girls were in good shape, with their two hours on the front yesterday not really bothering them too much. They were ready for more action, most of the other teams were ready though, with a stage of 110 km, and a total of four corners, it was going to be fun. We had planned to attack the bunch again, no one else was going to, so we had to try and make the day a little bit interesting. The Men’s race a few days before had enormous amounts of wind, we seemed to have a bit of a lull for our race. We needed the wind to cause some damage, but nothing was happening today, but we had to give pain either way. And pain we gave, the team performed well, hoping to smash the bunch again, soon they would be submissive and would not fight back. But just as things were looking good, with 5 of the team in a small breakaway, the first puncture happened. Loes M was our first customer of the day, with a quick fix, she was back in the bunch. Then it was Trine’s turn, and then Mirjam in the front group (neutral service looked after her), our plan was failing with all the punctures going on. Then it was Susanne’s turn, 4 in total for the day, funnily enough three flats in the front wheels, one rear (normally the other way around). The plan was over for us, but at least the other teams were suffering as much as us, punctures everywhere, with the roads state, you could not escape it, rocks and holes are not easy to navigate around sitting in a big bunch. Eventually there was a small breakaway of two riders, Eva Lutz and Veronica Adreasson, they had a couple of minutes up on the bunch. They were both on 14 mins behind, so no one was really chasing them. Lutz sprinted for the win, Veronica second, and the funny thing was Rochelle Gilmore, sprinting the bunch home, thinking she had won giving a full victory salute for third place. Apparently her team had not told her there were two girls out the front, opps.

The water carriers are very important in the desert, what would we do without them.

Stage three was our last chance, Mir was still in 5th, Loes G in 8th and Susanne in 12th, so we were still looking ok in the GC. Our start area for the day, was the ‘Camel Racing Track’, everyone was looking forward to that. We had seen the odd camel along the way, but this was a good photo opportunity, and great to see the most popular sport in the country, up close. It was cool as we arrived, groups of camels and their handlers everywhere. Small bunches of race ready camels, cruising the course, it was pretty amazing to see, with the music blaring out on the loud speakers, it was surreal. I think the jockeys (if that’s what you call them) were just as surprised to see a bunch of lycra clad Women, as we were to see a bunch of locals, training and racing camels. It was a funny situation, right up to the point when one of the girls (she shall remain nameless this time) noticed she had left her shoes at the hotel. With a 45km drive back to the hotel, this was not an option. A panicked scout around the other teams, and we managed to find a spare pair of shoes, a couple of sizes too small, but she kept quiet, they would fit, no matter what. The race was under way, and again we tried a few things, but the wind was even slower than the previous days, so we just kept awake, and took any opportunity we could. We raced, the bunch split as usual near the end, Bronzini won the last stage, Kristen Wild took overall honours, and we managed to hold on to the team’s classification. Not too bad, as all the team was coming out of a cold winter. A quick bit of bike, and equipment packing and we were ready to fly. A few hours in the hotel waiting for our flights, and then we were out of there. Four days, three stages, five punctures, one crash, and six nice trophies later, we were content for the first race of the season.

Finally a corner, we get to see some of the race today.

And if you have not seen the photo pages look further, Stage #1, Stage #2, Stage #3

Qatar Stage 1

2009-02-09T06:13:00.004+13:00

The second bunch coming through the last km's

Just loaded a few pics of Stage #1, have a look here.

Car number 7, and we still saw nothing. Story to come.

The girls were pretty happy with their effort for the day.

Cross Worlds Pics posted

2009-02-08T07:50:00.003+13:00

Check out a few of the pics from the weekend. I was kind of working, so all of them are from the pits, nothing too exciting, but might be something new for you. Check em out here.

And when it finally loads, a small video. But looks like shit when it's all compressed, so will try somewhere new to post it. It's a shame really as it is filmed in full HD and looks wicked on the computer.

Ok try this one, once I have figured out how to host it properly, medium or large size to view, here Looks a lot better now.

Qatar is a pretty crazy place, not really the place to ride a bike, but maybe the race will be better. Long, straight boring roads, but at least we got air-conditioning in the car. But more later, racing starts in the morning, so should get some rest.

The long road forward, 40km one way.

Sure this building has been photographed many times, but not with our team in it, that's for sure.

Start Your engines

2009-02-07T01:17:00.001+13:00

The road season is about to start, and I have just been looking over the program with Klas. It is looking pretty nice, with all my favourite races featured, and a few of my not so favourite ones as well. There are a couple of my most disliked races missing from the list, and when I saw that, I was completely over the moon. So it looks like a busy season again, with the odd breaks to recharge the batteries and reorganise things a little. We are currently sitting in Frankfurt airport awaiting our flights to the ‘Qatar Women’s Tour’, held for the first time this year. The Men’s tour is about to finish on Friday and a couple of days later we start the three day tour with the girls. Everyone is excited about a new country to race in, and we might even have a bit of a chance to have a look around the place as well.

While we were packing and organising all the bikes and equipment this week, we managed to catch a little bit of the Men’s tour on TV. They were right, a city in the middle of the desert, with long highways plonked right on top of the sand. Normally we get a technical race manual with every road, turn and obstacle we will come across. Sometimes the stage information can lead to three or four pages of info, this of course we can relay to the riders during the race if needed. We were having a good laugh checking out the race book for the coming week. The longest stage had about 6 lines of information, with stretches of road that are straight for 30km or more before we turn. Lets hope we don’t fall asleep in the car during the race, we may have to make our own fireworks on the road to keep it interesting for the day.

Most of the top UCI teams, and a few national teams will be racing there, so it should be nice to catch up with all the riders and staff again. It’s always a bit difficult for the first month of the season, it’s when we see all the transfers and changes the teams have made end of season. Half of them you hardly recognise in their new team kits, and you have to be really on to it in the car and on the radios when attacks are happening. By the time you have worked out who is attacking, it could be far too late, but it certainly makes it for an interesting race. Our new seasons bikes are ready for delivery and assembly, so we will be racing on last seasons bikes for this race only. It always is good to fly with old bikes, saves the airlines wrecking our new ones. When we arrive back we have a bit of a mission to build and setup 20 new race bikes. But it will give us something to do before the next race starts. We will be riding Stevens Bikes again this season, and as always, all the riders love the feel of them. As for me I love them as well, German engineering at it’s best. As for the colour, who knows, that’s part of the surprise for the season. I will be fitting the new 2009 Dura-ace groups to the lot of them, and I think we even have a couple of new electronic sets to play with in a month or so as well.

Ok, think I hear our flight being called, next stop Qatar.

International Race Program 2009 Team Flexpoint

08.02.2009 10.02.2009 Ladies Tour of Qatar QAT 2.2
28.02.2009 28.02.2009 Omloop Het Volk / Circuit Het Volk BEL 1.2

07.03.2009 07.03.2009 Gran Premio Brissag - Lago maggiore SUI 1.2
21.03.2009 21.03.2009 Costa Etrusca-Gran Premio - Riparbella-Montescudaio ITA 1.2
22.03.2009 22.03.2009 Trofeo Costa Etrusca-Memorial-GP - Santa Luce-Castellina ITA 1.2
29.03.2009 29.03.2009 Trofeo Alfredo Binda - Comune di Cittiglio ITA CDM

05.04.2009 05.04.2009 Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres BEL CDM
06.04.2009 06.04.2009 Grand Prix de Dottignies BEL 1.2
10.04.2009 10.04.2009 Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo NED 1.1
11.04.2009 11.04.2009 Novilon Eurocup Ronde van Drenthe NED 1.1
13.04.2009 13.04.2009 Unive Ronde van Drenthe NED CDM
18.04.2009 18.04.2009 Ronde van Gelderland NED 1.2
22.04.2009 22.04.2009 La Flèche Wallonne Féminine BEL CDM
25.04.2009 25.04.2009 Omloop van Borsele WE NED 1.2
26.04.2009 26.04.2009 GP Stad Roeselare BEL 1.2
30.04.2009 03.05.2009 Gracia - Orlova CZE 2.2

01.05.2009 01.05.2009 Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs LUX 1.1
09.05.2009 09.05.2009 Omloop Door Middag-Humsterland WE NED 1.2
10.05.2009 10.05.2009 Berner-Rundfahrt / Tour de Berne SUI CDM
15.05.2009 24.05.2009 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin FRA 2.1

07.06.2009 07.06.2009 Therme kasseienomloop NED 1.2
09.06.2009 09.06.2009 Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria ESP 1.2
11.06.2009 14.06.2009 Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira ESP 2.1
18.06.2009 20.06.2009 Rabo Ster Zeeuwsche Eilanden NED 2.2

01.07.2009 01.07.2009 U23 European Championship TT WU BEL CC
03.07.2009 12.07.2009 Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile ITA 2.1
04.07.2009 04.07.2009 U23 European Championship WU BEL CC
21.07.2009 26.07.2009 International Thüringen Rundfahrt GER 2.1
31.07.2009 31.07.2009 Open de Suède Vargarda TTT SWE CDM

02.08.2009 02.08.2009 Sparkassen Giro GER 1.1
02.08.2009 02.08.2009 Open de Suède Vargarda SWE CDM
08.08.2009 16.08.2009 La Route de France FRA 2.1
09.08.2009 09.08.2009 Holland Hills Classic NED 1.2
22.08.2009 22.08.2009 GP de Plouay-Bretagne FRA CDM
29.08.2009 29.08.2009 Multidigitaal.nl - Blauwe Stad TTT NED 1.2

01.09.2009 06.09.2009 Holland Ladies Tour NED 2.2
08.09.2009 12.09.2009 Tour Cycliste Féminin International Ardèche FRA 2.2
13.09.2009 13.09.2009 Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt GER CDM
23.09.2009 23.09.2009 Championnats du Monde / UCI TT World Championships SUI CM
26.09.2009 26.09.2009 Championnats du Monde / UCI RR World Championships SUI CM

18.10.2009 18.10.2009 Chrono des Nations TT FRA 1.1

CycloCross Worlds

2009-02-06T01:54:00.003+13:00

Within a few days of arriving in the Netherlands my body was slowly adapting to the cold, with the maximum protest of course. Coming from a tropical island in the middle of the pacific, right smack in the middle of summer, I knew what to expect heading north, though I had tried not to think of it. Normally I am not this early to a European winter, so I was at least mentally prepared, and I had enough warm clothing with me. I was to arrive just in time for the ‘World Cyclo-Cross Championships’, being held in Holland a few days after I landed. A week after that, we were to be heading to the sun again, for the start of the road season in Qatar, so warm weather was not to far away. We had a couple of the team racing in the Women’s Elite race, racing for Holland, Jean-Paul’s son was also racing in the U23, so I had a little bit of work on the bikes leading up to this.

Cyclo-Cross for me is almost the perfect cycle sport, except the fact they race it here in the middle of winter. The bikes are essentially a road bike, with a few mountainbike modifications, stronger frames, fat tyres, canti brakes, smaller chainrings and mountainbike pedals. The bikes are pretty sweet, and they are all quite different designs between manufacturers, and some trick custom parts. The races are very short in comparison to the road racing, 45 mins for the Women, and one hour for the elite men. There is a pit area, which the riders pass through twice every lap, and the laps are generally about 5-7 mins long, so we see the riders quite a few times every race. Each rider has three bikes, one they race and swap out when they crash or get when they are covered in mud and crap. This we then quickly wash and check over, (if needed), either fixing or just having it ready for the next half a lap. The third is a spare spare bike, just in case things are really bad. And always a couple of extra sets of wheels, for the inevitable punctures. The tyres are all hand made tubulars, 32-34mm wide, and are run at real low pressures 25-28 psi (1.7-2 bar). Each course has a combination of mud, grass, road, running sections, and some steep bits, so you can choose whether you ride or run them.

Welcome to the Netherlands

I helped to organise the bikes before the race, one bike the riders had to train on the course a few days leading up to the event, the others we would bring on the day (so the national federation mechanics couldn’t mess too much with them). Saturday saw the juniors racing early in the morning, it gave us a chance to walk the course and have a look at some of the more technical bits. The wind was up, and the temperature was a fresh -2’C, but it felt about -10 out in the pit area, at least the sun was up, and it fooled your body that it was warmer. I had most of my warm clothes on, and I was still freezing, as long as we kept moving it was no problem. The juniors raced, then a couple of hours later the U23 started, I got to hang in the pits, it’s where most of the mechanics were, so I felt at home. Jean-Paul’s son was racing next, he was Junior World Champ a couple of years ago, so was a hot favourite for the race. They had 50 mins racing to do, and all I could think of was to stay warm, and soon we would be out of the cold wind. The boys started with a hiss and a roar, and soon there was a good lead by one of the Dutch riders. Unfortunately it was not JP’s son, he was struggling a bit with his breathing (he crashed a few days earlier and hurt his ribs a bit). We stayed on duty till the race was done, at least it was a Dutch guy that won, the crowd was going wild as he was a local kid. Then straight into the van and on with the heater, I was going to have to dress up tomorrow for the elite races, I could not handle another day like this, frostbite of my entire body was high on my mind.

Katie Compton giving everything on the first few laps

Sunday was a beautiful day, at least the sun was up anyway, this time I was prepared for the cold. Three layers of merino wool, then my jeans, three pairs socks and some warm boots. Five layers on my torso, finished with a nice warm jacket and to top it off, three warm woollen hats. Now I felt like the Michelin man, but at least I was almost comfortable in the wind. The sun was no longer around, and it looked like rain in the distance, but it was far too cold to rain, it was probably just going to be huge chunks of ice, falling from the sky instead. At least my three hats would protect my head from getting cracked. The course was starting to fill up with fans, mostly Belgium’s as the border was less than 10km away, there was beer and cross racing, the perfect day out for them. The crowd was expected to be about 50,000 strong, so it was going to be very loud later on for the Men’s elite race. At least they were there early for the Women, it gave a sense of equality in cycling for a change.

50m before the finish, on the big screen

Mirjam and Saskia were warming up (if that was possible, but worth a try I suppose), when we arrived with the bikes. After a bit, we headed to the pits with the spare bikes and wheels and waited for the first pass of the bunch. Right from the starting gun USA rider Katie Compton (US champ) put the hammer down, Hunka Kufanagel (GER) and Marianne Vos (NED) put up an instant chase. Mirjam was a few seconds behind, driving the second chase bunch. Thing pretty much stayed the same for a while, with Katie giving everything on the front, the two behind were still chasing hard, with Vos sitting on the wheel of Hunka as usual. Mirjam had broken out of the larger chase bunch, and was about 10 seconds from the two. I thought she may have bridged across, but just as the two in front of her caught up to Katie, they seemed to work even faster together, making the gap back to Mirjam a little larger. Mirjam dropped back into the pursuivants group, and the three in front just seemed to stay just out of reach. Nothing changed for the rest of the race, oh and Saskia crashed out on the first corner of the first lap. I was looking after her spares for her, so my job was made redundant, just as soon as it started, as she didn’t even make it into the pits. Katie was just hanging on to Hunka and Vos, and the three of them made it easily to the finish. Marianne Vos out sprinted the two, winning her Cross Worlds stripes, for the second time, Hunka taking second place, and Katie taking out third place. Mirjam finished a respectful 8th, and Saskia finished pulling the stones out of her arm, about the same time. We gathered up all our stuff and headed home, the Elite Men we starting in a couple of hours, so we decided to rush home and watch it on TV. At least it was warm, we had hot soup in hand and could see the whole race without fighting for position with the 10 deep crowd.

Some more pics to come once I load them.

Welcome Back

2009-01-30T22:24:00.006+13:00

It feels like months since I last sat down to write, and from the dates on this blog, it has been. So without pleading and asking for your apologies for been such a slack ass. I will use a technique I have used many times, and I will just forget about any promises of stories I have made. With amends being made up in the future with some entertaining reading, wicked photo’s, some bike stuff, with a bit of racing thrown in. Getting to spend some quality holiday time in my own country was a welcome break from previous off seasons. Normally I work the busy summer season at home (when all the rest of the team are riding in snow and cold in Europe), and what a summer we normally get. After less than six weeks at home last season, I promised myself a bit more time relaxing and riding. This time around, I was successful, and only managed to work the bare minimum of a few weeks here and there. The riding was great, but more on this later, along with a few more cool local races, some wicked workshops, and a few other stories, if time and energy levels allow, (there are those promises again, oops).

For those that have not caught up with me since last season, there is a lot of catching up to do. The big change is a new team for me, or rather, a new position, on an old team. After spending a year with High Road/Columbia, things changed for me near the end of the season. When I originally signed for the team, it was under the T-Mobile flag, I was supposed to be working mainly for the Women’s team, with the odd race for the Men’s team to fill my time up. It was a good thing at the time, and a good chance to move into the Men’s side of the sport (which was always the plan). But within a few weeks of signing, the T-Mobile sponsors were out, part of the never-ending German sponsors pulling all their money from cycling. When the team decided to continue under the management company ‘Highroad’, I finally got the call that things were going ahead, and I did have a job (only a month later, with not a message in-between). The season started with a hiss and a roar, with enough work to keep me well out of trouble. With some early wins with both the Men and the Women’s racing, it was looking good for the year. Being one for working for the winning team, I was right in my element.

And George, my favourite modern day rider. It was pretty cool working for guys like this, makes the job all worth while.

The season was pretty busy, seemed they really wanted to get their monies worth out of me. The riders were happy with my work, and by the sounds of things, they were happy to get a little bit more care and attention spent on their bikes than they had been getting (the stories were rife, and embarrassing to listen to). After working on bikes for years, I still tend to get excited by them, I especially like the problems that they can throw at you on a regular basis. Kind of makes things interesting late in the night, or a minute or two before a race is about to start. Bikes are easy, you fix them, fix them well, and they work, it’s not rocket science (but close in terms of technical knowledge needed). But for many race mechanics, they tend to get one or two parts of that equation wrong. I thought I might have to lift my game a little when working with the men, but within a few weeks, I was very disillusioned with the some-what low level of wrenching going on every where. This was supposed to be the pinnacle of my profession, and all around me I was surrounded with mediocrity and a lack of passion in the job. Some of the mechanics thought they ran the team, and some of them thought they were more important than some of the riders whose bikes they were working on. It just didn’t make sense to me, and the more the season got going, the more the problems just seemed to unfold.

Rabon, Adam and Mark hanging out during the 'Giro'. Guys like these are always a pleasure to work for. Makes the long days, feel like they can go on forever.

The more I looked around in and around my own team, and the teams around us sharing the hotel car parks, there was a traditional, standard way of doing things. This may not have been the most efficient, or the best for the bikes. But why change, it was easy to keep it the same, things seemed to work most of the time, and more importantly, no one really cared (except the riders of course). A change was no good when it was the ‘way’ for the last 20 years, especially when it may increase the mechanics workload by 5%. The riders and the bikes were the only ones suffering, and amazingly enough, some of the staff just couldn’t give a shit. There were few of them that cared, but it was only three out of eight, which is not a good ratio in my eyes (blind, leading the blind, comes to mind). The few good mechanics (who shall remain nameless, but you should know who you are), were all very good, efficient, professional, and there for the riders, not for themselves. As for the others, I wouldn’t let them work on my own bike, let alone a top Pro’s machine. Things have changed with technology and materials used in modern bikes, time to up skill by now, I would have thought. And it’s not a rot that was just with us, looking around some of the other teams, they had the same problems, seems they all went to the same school, and all failed together. Think of them as the Belgium bike Mafia, (there was also the French and Italian bike mafia as well), they all look after each others inabilities and failings, watching out for each others asses. If the level of skill is low, that’s the standard they are happy with. They have no real interest in bettering themselves, or perhaps learning about a new product or two. If there were problems during a race, they would all pass the buck, with no one mechanic claiming any responsibility. Generally making up some sort of excuse as to why the problem arose, instead of being a man, and putting their hand up and admitting that they didn’t check or fix it in the first place. All of us are then tarred with the same brush, and all the riders look at us with the same discontent when problems arrive. Especially when the same problem has not been fixed after they asked specifically for it to be. This was the hard part of the job, especially when I was not even near the tools or that particular bike on the day.

The Women racing in my beautiful (bit dry at the time) country in the 'Tour of Wellington'

Nearing the end of the season, my contract was coming up for renewal. The people who had to make the decisions were becoming very hard to make contact with. Which was kind of funny, as they seemed to reply within a minute of any mail, up to then. When all the staff were getting the good news about their jobs for the coming season, I still could not get any answers from those making the decisions. Maybe my mouth got me into trouble again, it wouldn’t be the first time that happened, it’s hard to keep quiet when there are problems staring me in the eye. I should also not question the work of the head mechanic, he may have something to do with my contract renewal. I should not talk about the lack of quality or low standard of mechanical work to the riders, even if they are constantly on to me about it. They talk enough about them in the bunch, I was just confirming their beliefs. I should not have any opinions about the way the work is done, even if it is against everything I have ever learnt in 20 years of wrenching. I should not check another mechanics work in front of them, even if the problem was potentially dangerous, staring them in the face, and very easily fixed. I should not go back to the truck after dinner to sort out a problem bike (when the rider has asked me specifically to have a quick look), I should just forget about it, and plead ignorance when the bike has a problem, just like the rest of them.

The boys lined up for the team Timetrail at the Giro, my favourite race of all time.

Finally I got an answer, but, not the one I was after (but by now, the one I was expecting), nor from the person who was supposed to give it to me. Seems the top man, (not Bob by the way) did not have the balls to tell me personally, even to the point of making himself scarce, when he knew I was wanting an answer on my future. Our earlier discussions seemed to go well, but something had changed. The riders were all happy with me, seems they enjoyed my work, my skill, attention to detail and my devotion to the bikes and the job. All the Directors were happy with my work, I got on well with them all, we do spend some long days alone in the car, so that’s a must. They all seemed to be completely in the dark as to why I was going, even though at first they had been told I was leaving of my own accord (which was really strange). And to top it off, the mechanics were devastated I was going, seems they had no problems with my work either, and enjoyed working with me. So with the riders happy, the Directors happy, and all the other staff happy, it all ended rather strange. Maybe one day I might find the real answers, but at this stage, your guess is as good as mine. A couple of people will know, lets hope they get to tell me in person one day, I would love to know.

Some wicked scenery in the 'Tour of Ireland'. Over the Conner's Pass, and it was a successful race for the team again.

So on with life, and not being one for sitting around getting distraught with my situation, I moved on pretty quickly. I had a few offers to look through, and the one that seemed to work out the best for me was a position back in my old team ‘Flexpoint’. Back with the women, and back to living in the Netherlands again. Jean-Paul, the team owner/director is moving to work with the ‘Cervelo Test Team’ as director for the men’s team. So Klas (the Swedish guy) is taking over the management of the team, and I will be helping him manage, direct, and wrench as usual. Should be a nice change for me, with some serious racing, some good fun, and of course it’s great to be back with most of the girls I have worked with before. The men’s peloton can wait, now I know how easy the work was, and with all the politics, I have no real interest except watching them at this stage. I did get to work on some of my favourite all time races with the men, and I worked for some of my favourite modern day heroes. I worked for the most successful teams, both the Men and the Women’s team ended up being No.1 out of all the teams they raced against. I also worked for some of the Worlds best riders, now they can wait a bit to get me back again. I have no regrets with the quality of work I did all year, and I certainly gave 150% as per normal for my riders. I still have plenty of respect in my skills, so really it’s no problem for me getting work. I just can’t wait to start racing again.

World Championships, Varese - coming soon

2008-09-24T09:25:00.001+12:00

Tour of Ireland #2

2008-09-21T04:53:00.004+12:00

With three wins, from three stages, things could not get any better at this stage. The fact that the hills were starting on stage four, our lead was soon to be over for sure. Mark and the whole team knew he would be loosing the jersey going into the stage, but the team was pretty upbeat all the same. He was not going to try to defend it in the mountains, but we sure would like to try to pass it on to someone else in the team. As we started the stage, the team was feeling good about not having to defend the lead so hard, I think the last few days protecting the lead has started to take there toll. With not so many top teams here, besides I suppose Garmin, everyone was looking to us all week so far for controlling the race, and it cost a lot of energy from the boys. Today would be a bit easier on the road for the team, but they still had a job to do. There were numerous attacks off the front as was expected, but there was a few other teams fighting for a bit of the action for a change. A few small groups got off the front, but not for long, before they were pulled back in to the bunch. Garmin looked pretty active, and with Kiwi, Julian Dean sitting in second, 20’ back, and in some good climbing form, he was expected to take the jersey today. With 50km to go, we hit the Conor Pass, the deciding climb of the day. Garmin as expected, with Millar and Backstead put the hammer down, with Dean protected, they attempted to smash the bunch to bits. I was busy with the camera, as there were some wicked shots of the riders heading over the pass, it was not to be missed.

Heading over the Coner Pass, not so steep, but long and beautiful.

Smash it to bits they did, Millar did a fine job on the front, dropping almost all the bunch, including Cavendish, by about halfway up. There was a real mess trying to understand what had happened, and, as usual the race radio was not helping us figure out the damage. We could see three small groups of about 20 riders each, but as we were so far back we could not see who was in there. The boys were no help either, as they were scattered over the whole mess and radio contact was difficult. But soon enough at about 30km to go we finally figured out what was happening in the race. A small lead group, powered by Garmin, with the virtual leader, Julian Dean, and two of us in there, with Michael Barry, and Marco Pinotti. So all was good, both of the guys we needed in the front group were there, the others were taking it easy in the second and third bunches. The front bunch put the hammer down, as they tried to make as much damage to the GC as they could. What Garmin didn’t figure out was the fact that Dean was not in the lead, and Russell Downing, from the small local Pinarello team, had picked up a few bonuses en-route to the finish. And with a win for the stage, he moved into the top of the GC and the Yellow Jersey. Shame for their poor maths, as I was kind of hoping that Dean (0.02’ behind on the finish line) would get a bit of a boost to his season with a leaders jersey for a day or so. Our plan had worked well enough, we had a couple in the running with Barry and Pinotti, the team had had a bit of a breather for the day. Cav rolled in about 8” back with most of the bunch, and the bikes worked perfectly all day, with no crashes, nice.

The last stage was going to be interesting, we had a secret plan, and the right players to implement it. The stage was heading through some pretty nice parts of the country, Killarney through to Cork, so I was looking forward to it. Most of the week we had been having a bit of a long transfer before the stage started, which meant early starts for the mechanics and other staff. They gave us a bit of a break on the last day, only a 5km roll to the start for the boys. The truck had left for the last hotel, where I would be leaving for the mainland later on that day, so I had a bit of relax at the start for a change. Without the jersey, most of the press generally leave you alone, that’s as long as you don’t have a Cavendish on the team. They were still trying to get interviews from him, and without the bus (unfortunately it didn’t start today), he could not hide from them. The crowd at the start was the biggest I had seen all week, and the atmosphere was pretty exciting, I think I was more excited about finishing the race, not it starting, I always have to be different.

That was a pretty big hole in the road, looks like it's been there a while.

We hit the road, and as you could imagine, the attacks started about 1km into the race. Rabon, who was looking petty tired the last two days, had a miraculous recovery, and managed to make it into the first good break to be let go. He was with three others, and the best one was 10” on GC. Team Pinarello were pretty nervous as you could imagine, instead of letting the break go to about 8” mins or something, they started chasing at about 3”, a bad move. The riders at the front just put the speed on, and Pinarello kept on chasing, using up most of their riders for no reason. Leave the break out the front for a while, let them take the win and then at least they keep the jersey, kind of ‘Tactics 101’. But they couldn’t hear me from the back of the car, and things were getting interesting at the front. Franki’s group had dropped two of the riders out of the break, now he was with one other only. The bunch got close, and with 25km to go, we sent Michael Barry out on the attack. With Barry sitting only 18’ to the lead, Pinarello panicked, and chased hard for 15km, catching him just as we hit the 10km to go. The 4 laps of hills, that they had at the end of the stage were very nasty, very steep short climbs, some hairy descents with nasty corners on them. The roads were packed with fans, which only made them look steeper when you turned the corner. Things were starting to get interesting as we saw almost all of the Pinarello team getting dropped, and most of the chasing bunch. Franki was very relaxed at the front, with about 2” up his sleeve, he was concentrating on making his fellow escapee hurt, just as much as he was.

The boys lining up for the last stage, Cav in green, Berni looking at us, and Michael.

Just as the bunch closed in on Barry, they thought they had it all under control, we sent out Pinotti (also on 18’) on attack, directly. And it seemed to work, the leader Downing was chasing Marco down by himself, and even then you could see he had nothing much left. A few others were helping to chase down Pinotti as well, with Dean having great interest, he was working hard. But Marco was too strong for them, and before we knew it, he was up over a minute on the chasing bunch. Franki in the front was at 4km to go, and just attacked his buddy with a vengeance, stormed off into the distance, and before he was a km away, almost had 30’s on the guy. He cruised to the finish, a nice win for him, second one for the year, and fourth for the team this week. The chase was on for Pinotti, being the current Italian TT champ, and master of the TT, he powered away from the bunch and finished about 35’ in front of the leader, taking the GC win and the tour for the week. Nice work.

What a nasty little climb, looks not as bad as it was.

So the week was not so bad, 4 out of 5 stage wins and the GC for three days on Cavendish’s back and the final with Marco. No mechanicals except the odd puncture, a few crashes (could have been a lot more if the last stage was wet). Now for the mission home, with a quick drive up to Dublin where the truck was sitting, to pack a few bike for the few Olympic riders, and I was on the way to the ferry from Dublin to Wales. A quick drive to Dover, in the south of England, and I was waiting again for a ferry back to Europe. I had a three hour wait, or so I thought, as I sat down to a nice relaxing meal and strong coffee. I tried to get an earlier boat, but as usual, it was impossible. As I took my first bite of my meal, I saw the line of trucks I was parked in, starting to move forward. Shit, I left my meal, grabbing a handful of something I could carry, and ran to the truck, “yep your ready to sail, get moving” the guy was saying. I was happy to be sailing early, but they should get the information to the front desk, my meal was looking so good just before I was interrupted.

If you have not seen them, there a few pics here and over here.

Eurobike #2

2008-09-11T03:46:00.003+12:00

And if you have not seen them, the last three sets of pics from Eurobike have been loaded. Album #3 and album #4 and the last one, album #5 are ready for some perving. Enjoy, and now back to trying to start on the second part of the Tour of Ireland.

Eurobike #1

2008-09-06T19:41:00.002+12:00

I will get back to the second and final part of Tour of Ireland soon. So in the meantime, I just started loading a few pics of two days at Eurobike for you to check out. More fruity bikes, incredible bling, and some complete crap coming, also some descriptions when I can find the time.
First gallery here and the second will be over here.

Tour of Ireland #1

2008-09-04T01:18:00.003+12:00

The drive to Ireland was going to be a mission, so we had a bit of a change of plan, to try and miss arriving around London during rush hour. But like all good plans, they sound good on paper, but are sometimes hard to extrapolate in the real world. But we wouldn’t know that yet, as we left for the first leg of the journey. We made our way to the bottom of Belgium to stay with some friends of my second mechanic for the week, this was close to the ferry where we would leave France for England. A good sleep, and early start, and we were heading to Calais, for the first ferry of the trip. We were nice and early for the boat, but a half an hour getting hassled at England’s passport control, saw our head-start slipping away. I don’t get trouble anywhere in the world really with my passport, but my man on the border decided that I was a risk to mother England, and he had to ask a million questions before he passed me through. There are quite a few stamps in my current passport, but he was concerned about the number of Aussie stamps I had. I had to restrain myself as he questioned me again and again over my travels for the year, was he jelous? But sooner or later we were waiting in line, for the first long wait of the day. Seems like there was plenty of bookings, so we missed the early boat and had to wait for the one we were booked on. Finally a few hours later, we were underway. We landed in England for the third leg, with a drive to though to Holyhead in Wales, for the second ferry of the day. But this was the next day really, as we were booked on the 3am boat. Another 4 hours waiting, so I watched a movie on the laptop, Steph slept (lucky for him) in the kitchen of the truck on one of the massage tables for a few hours till we boarded.

The White Cliffs of Dover, about to land in England. Can you see the truck?

A couple of hours and we landed in Ireland, at the ungodly hour of 5.45am in Dublin. Most of the riders were arriving later in the day, so we had a plan of a few hours sleep, then some work later on in the afternoon. All I could think of by now was a shower and a nice bed to sleep in, it was going to be great. But like the rest of our plans for the trip, things were not getting any better. Seems the rooms were still full, and they had to clear out the people in them, and clean them. The rooms might be ready at 11am, shit, more delays. We set the truck up, and the two mechanics and two soigneurs, were walking around like zombies now. Having trouble thinking, and walking around not quite focusing on what we were doing, it was hilarious, at least I was feeling as bad as the others. Just hope we get a bit of sleep before we work on the bikes today, the race started the next morning, so we had to be on to it. We had seven riders, but four of the bikes were arriving on the same ferry the next day with the bus driver. He had a bit more travelling than us, as he was coming from the race in France, so we had an hour of so in the morning to sort them, so things were getting tighter all the time. The rooms came available, and just in the nick of time, I hit the bed, managed to shut my eyes and relax for 3 hours, sleep was not possible, but I tried it anyway. We had work to do, seven spare bikes, three race bikes, and a whole load of wheels to sort out. Everything needed to be ready before we crashed out for the night, as time would be at a premium on race morning.

Some of the wicked countryside, the clouds were thick and the air damp, classic Ireland weather. Stage 1

I slept like a rock, one of those sleeps where you wake up just where you fell, not a single turn or movement the whole night. 5.30am came around sooner than I hoped, but the bikes would be arriving at 6am, so we had no time to spare. Bart, the bus driver arrived on time, and we could sympathise with his weariness, as he almost dove the same route as us the day before. We cleaned and checked and prepared the last four bikes, just in time to head to the first stage of the tour. Right in the middle of Dublin, only 12km drive, but it was going to take about an hour, according to the locals. The traffic was as bad as we thought, but we arrived on time, and managed to park outside a nice café, just what I needed, a serious caffeine hit. The team was feeling good, and there was plenty to catch up on with the boys, some of them I had not seen for a few months, and one, Michael Barry I had not even meet before. But we had a race on, and I needed to police the bikes a little, the locals were just a bit too friendly with them. The race started, and luckily there was 16km neutral start, as the city was full with traffic and small roads. Think they had not told most of the town, as there were some pretty angry punters around, shaking their fists in the air as we cruised past, welcome to Ireland I thought to myself.

A nice vista heading down to yet another lake, stage 2

As the race start was given, the attacks were on, starting with every small team that was entered in the race, and you don’t blame them really. A small group of four were away in the first hour, getting about 7 mins away from the pack, but it was not to be. We started hunting them down, and with help from no other teams, we ended up doing it all ourselves. Having the world’s best sprinter on your team, does not inspire other teams to chase down the break for a bunch sprint. So we chased them down all ourselves, and Mark sprinted and won, second place going to the Kiwi, Julian Dean, and we were in the yellow jersey for the second stage. Stage two was much like stage one, with multiple teams attacking right from the gun, it was going to be a tough day for the boys, but they like it that way. After countering many attacks, some of the groups very dangerous, one rider got away, the current Swedish TT champ. He got a maximum of 7 mins away, and the team kept control on the front all day. Then it was time to chase again, a flat finish, so another chance with Cavendish for the win, so we went for it. We manage to get him easily, as he was slowing down severely in the last 10 km. Just as we hit about 8km to go, there was a massive pileup, there was a load of riders and bikes down. But I suppose the lucky thing about working all day on the front was the fact that the whole team was safe. We battled on, and just as we hit the 1km to go banner, another huge crash, this time taking out about 15 riders, things were getting dangerous as he bunch tried for the last attacks. I was lucky again, all safe, and as I just got my composure back, we heard Cavendish had won again, sweet, two in a row, and still in the lead. Julian Dean moving into second place, about 12 secs off Cav now.

Cavendish getting harrangled by the press before the start of stage 3

With stage three about to start, the rain that had been hanging around for the first few days, decided to pay us a visit. There had been no sun, sort of a overcast, showery, damp feel to the air all week. I was told it was the worst summer on record, so we were lucky with three fine days so far. The landscape was pretty green, much like little ol NZ, so that I think is where the comparison comes in. As for the rolling hills, they are almost the same, but then it stops there. Stone walls, shit small roads and scraggly looking forests, are quite different to what we see in the NZ countryside, add a whole load of trees to the farms, and then we are talking similarities. But stage three was about to start, and the boys were now looking a bit ragged, Franki and Berni were the worst of the bunch, getting dropped in the last stage near the end, they would be suffering today. But with the team owning the yellow jersey, their work was about to get harder, as more of the teams were getting hungry for a win. As we set off, there was the usual attacks happening. Sitting back in the caravan, seeing and hearing on their radios of all the attacks, you just can’t help feel a bit for the boys. Yelling out instructions, and fending off many attacks, one after another, it was going to hurt today for them. Finally two were let out of the bunch, a nice easy catch when we need to, gaining a maximum of 4 mins, we kept them at arms length all day.

And the boys are off to work for the day, and they will be working hard to day.

Near the end of the stage, we hear that one of the two escapees had crashed just over the top of the biggest climb of the day. The roads were wet, and the boys were warned over the radio about the danger. But just as we headed down the descent, a huge crash happened. With two of the boys down, Adam Hansen and Cavendish, we sprung into action. The road was blocked, as Adam was down and cut up pretty bad on his elbow, three long gashes (sorry missed taking a pic, so did Adam before they covered it). Cav was up and gone before we got there, so we left it in the hands of our Doctor (who was in the second car) and carried on. Cav was fine, bar a huge hit and graze to the hip, his bike was not too bad, Adam stopped the race, and the joy of stiches to look forward to. When we were ready we reeled them in for the finish, and what a finish. The sprint was a nasty one, with Dean sitting on Cav's wheel, ready for the attack. But the little guy came through again, with a hattrick, three from three, the team was pretty stoked. A bit of celebrating for the team, and a whole lot of work changing cassettes for the coming two days of mountains for me. We would be lucky to keep the jersey past today, but we had a secret plan, now to implement it.

And if you didn't see my last post, more pics are here and here.

Ireland Pics Posted

2008-09-03T18:16:00.003+12:00

I found some time to load a few pics of the Tour of Ireland, you can find them here and over here. Some interesting stories to follow.

Racing this week.

2008-08-24T23:23:00.003+12:00

Just about to leave for a bit of a journey, ready for the next stage race for me and some of the team. The Tour of Ireland, featuring five good stages, covering some of the nicest parts of Ireland. A country I have never been to, and one that I have wanted to look around for a while, so it should be nice. They say it's the green isle, and very similar to parts of my very own NZ, but I have to see it to believe it. Think thats why the little bit of interest in the country.

We have a crack team of experts, ready to show the locals how it is done, and maybe some of them will race their bikes as well. The truck is packed, and we are about to hit the road for a bit of a long trip. A few hundred kilometers to Calais in France, here we board the ferry to Dover, England. Up though England to Holy Head, on to another ferry to Dublin, Ireland for the start of the race. So stay posted, as I am sure they will have internet somewhere there, I will find time for some photos to get posted anyway, if not the odd story.

Wicked Workshops #6

2008-08-24T03:52:00.006+12:00

Another installment to my series on Wicked Workshops (#5, #4, #3, #2, #1).
One of the cool things about travelling around so much, is the fact that there will be many bike shops to visit along the way. Most of them won’t be so cool, just your regular, run of the mill, normal bike store, and generally with no real soul. But then sometimes, you get very surprised as to just what you find, in the most unlikely places. This ‘Wicked Workshop’, would not be 1km from our teams base in Bonn. I must have passed it a dozen times, every time I was always on another mission, without camera, or it was closed. I must have stuck my head in through the bars on the font door, many a time, trying to get a closer glimpse of what was hiding in the display cabinets, and what was hanging around the walls. It looked like more of a storage area for the second-hand dealers next door to it, with bikes piled in, with no real order in the display space. I could spy a few gems around the walls, and some cool looking bikes hidden in a few of the rows of bikes on the floor, so I was hanging out to get inside. But it took a while, but finally I managed to

Such a great name for a bike shop

I had a good idea of exactly what I wanted to see, so I made contact with the stores owner first. You never know sometimes, how they will react when you ask them if it’s ok to take a few photos of their place. I knew he had nothing to hide, and would probably be quite interested in showing me around the place. It was not so big, so it wouldn’t take too long, well that’s what I was thinking anyway. I was not worried making contact, I knew the secret bike mechanics handshake, I would be accepted, and welcomed into his workshop. It worked a treat, within a few moments, we were like old friends, and he was only too happy to show me around the place, giving me a bit of an inside handle on some of the cool bikes he had around the place. He was still working, so I know what it’s like when someone comes in bothering you, he still had a couple hours more to trade, and the store still had a small stream of clients coming through the door. Already I started to like this guy and his shop, each customer coming in to pick their bike up, struggled to get through the shop floor and to the cluttered workshop out the back. Here they were given a good description of the work done, a real ‘hands on’ approach to his work, and it worked well. Everyone was happy when they walked out the door, threading their clunky commuter bikes through the maze, to exit on the street finally. I had to really try to get out of the way, as there was no room for two of us in the one room.

What a classic, three speed, wooden rims, all original, ready to roll.

We started talking, and then it started, like I lit a fuse under his ass, he was starting to warm up, overflowing with that common problem we all have, bike addiction. I was shown some very special bikes he had on display, and this was only a small selection of what he has, he was saying. He has plenty of others at home, and is just waiting to display them. Three, very complete old road bikes were hanging from the walls, all with 3 or 4 speed drive-trains. They all had the same gear shifting system hanging from the chain stays, I had seen it before, but my man gave me a quick description. It was a Swiss design from the 30’s, won the Tour a few times that decade, and was the forerunner to the modern derailer system we all now use. The rims were all wooden, and all the bikes were in working order, even the tyres were pumped ready to roll. Such a nice touch for a display bike, I wanted more. Like most collectors, he looked he specialised in this era (30’s-40’s), as most of the bikes seemed to be all the same era. But he had more to show me, but I was in awe with the few I was already looking at. There was a very early inch pitch, single speed bike, sharing the window with a futuristic looking Hercules 2000 cast frame, this was one of two I could see, both of them mint. There was a few more customers coming in by now, and I kind of felt bad, as they were waiting for their bikes, and the boss was too busy showing me his goodies. But it all worked out, I made the excuse I had to take a photo outside, just so the customer was not waiting too long (that’s my years of retail experience talking there).

The busy workshop out the back, full with good stuff, even the mechanic and a customer is hiding in there somewhere.

The workshop was also pretty special, jammed full of everything you could imagine to repair to restore any number of types of bikes. I thought the shop floor was cluttered, but the workshop was amazing. Think of the classic cartoon wardrobe scene, open the door and all hell breaks loose, well this was close, and it looked just the part. I love the idea of a nice and tidy workspace, but sometimes work just gets in the way of that idea. Sometimes you need a bit of clutter to make it look like you are busy, and this guy looked very busy. I felt right at home hanging out in his workshop, I think I will be back again. I even managed to pick up a very special invention, but more on this later as I think it deserves it’s own story. After an hour or so, I still was finding things that I hadn’t seen before, an old track frame there, a nice mudguard emblem here, and there was still plenty to discover by the looks of it. I left him to it, promising to be back in a week or two. I have a couple of old and new jerseys I will swap with him for his museum. I need to get into having a peek at his home collection, just to see what beauty I can find there as well, and by the sounds of things I won’t be disappointed.

Ohh, this is nice, I would love to add it to my collection, but he might miss it.

You can check out a few more pics over here. And if you want to make contact, here are the details.

Tour de l'Ain

2008-08-17T09:16:00.005+12:00

A couple of days at base, catching up on a bit of sleep, and I was on the road again, this time in the opposite direction of Denmark. The race we were off to was ‘The Tour de l’Ain’, in the bottom of France near Lyon, close to the Swiss border. A nice little race, in a very nice part of France, with five stages over four days, and yes, another double stage day. We had a lot of the team over in China (Olympics) about to start the road race and TT over there, so we had what was left at home racing with us. Some of the boys had decided not to race the Olympics, and some were just not selected, so it’s not as if they were feeling B grade, or anything, but you could feel it a bit from other teams around the Hotel. The l’Ain area is very nice, full of national parks, rolling countryside, farms and nice little villages. You could almost say it looked a bit like New Zealand in places (I can say that, but most others couldn’t), just add a lot more houses to the scenery and it’s almost the same. Maybe I am just getting a bit homesick, as Denmark last week, was looking a bit like NZ as well. Our crack team of riders for the week were arriving the next day, a couple had just raced in Denmark, so they had as little rest between races as me, nice. Riding for us this time round was Scott Davis, John Devine, Linus Gerdemann, Frantisek Rabon, Tony Martin and the little Italian, Morris Possoni. Directing us for the week was Valerio, back from the last two weeks of the Tour, a bit more relaxed now that it is over. Linus was back to a bit of form after crashing out and breaking his leg earlier in the season at the Terreno-Adriatica race, my first race back in Europe.

The weather was looking good for the week, but no sooner than I had been enjoying the idea of another week in the hot sunshine (just for those in NZ who are having some pretty nasty weather at the moment). The weather report came over the radio that we should be expecting storms for the rest of the week, nice timing. The team was feeling pretty good about the weeks racing ahead, there was not too many of the bigger teams here, and most of the good riders were over in the pollution capital of China. It was nice to be back in France for a bit of racing, and the public were on form after a month of cycling frenzy. The crazy thing was, this tour was starting on a Sunday, normally the day that we finish on. Oh well, every day feels the same when you are on the road. I have a special watch that tells me what day it is, otherwise I would have no idea (yeah I can hear you laughing from here, but it’s true). I drew the short straw this week, so had to race in the first car for the tour, not sure how that worked out, but all the same, makes for a bit more action for the week.

What a nice shot of the countryside, and the bunch is racing hard.

Stage one was uneventful, a group away for most of the day, they almost didn’t catch them, but got pretty close. Nice to see some of the smaller teams winning the odd race now and again. Franki finished in 6th for the day, at least we would have a decent view form the caravan the next stage. Stage 2 started off pretty wet, the rain that was forecast was starting to arrive, the peloton slowed a little to start with, then put the pace down as the first hour ticked by. Just when I was starting to relax in the car, the first crash of the race happened, I heard on the radio that one of the boys was down. I jumped out, and navigated through the mess to Scotty Davis who was down on the ground with three others. They had all been taken down by one other rider, all of them slid into the gutter, and all were sporting the same hole in their left knee. The doctors were there pretty smartly, but Scotty was done, a nice hole in his knee. Cleaned up you could see a small layer of fat under the skin, all the way through to the muscle, shame I never had my camera there, it was impressive, to say the least. The others down with him, had much the same injury, and the doctors were moving from one guy to the other, trying to work out who to sort out first. Scotty was in a bit of pain, so I made the call and grabbed his bike and proceeded to put it on the roof, he was going for a ride, but not on his bike. We continued onwards, and caught up with the race, which had slowed dramatically since the crash., funny that. We were down to five riders for the rest of the tour, but think we will be ok. Franki ended up second in the sprint for the line, and third in the GC, so it was a good day in the end. Scotty was fine, nothing broken, a bit sore, and sporting a full leg bandage for his effort.

Hey, where are they, John Devine getting lost in the grass.

During the night, the rain started, and it poured down with a vengeance, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the mechanics. Right ready for the days double stage, a small road race in the morning, and another, even smaller TT in the afternoon. Waiting to start the mornings stage, the rain was still falling, not too hard, but very wet all the same. The boys were not looking forward to the start, but I was, at least it was not raining inside the car. The stage was a short one, just over 100km, so it would be over soon for them, the roads were wet, and they looked very slippery as well, I hope no one went down today. But all was good, they raced like hell, it rained like hell, and we won with a sprint from Linus, to the line with three others. The leaders were dropped earlier on, so it put Linus into the leaders jersey, and the teams spirits were looking pretty good going into the afternoons soggy Timetrail. I was wet to the bone, while waiting for the rest of the boys to arrive at the bus, a podium to attend and doping control, saw to most of the spare time we had between the stages. Back to the Hotel, my dry co-mechanic Guido was done with the TT bikes, ready and waiting for the afternoon, we just had ten very dirty bikes to clean, then hop it to the start, and get set up. I was still wet, and cold by the way. The start was close, a few KM drive and I was back in the rain. Setting up the tent, the TT bikes and the base camp for the afternoon. We were a lot better sorted than most of the teams there, poor bastards, I thought as I looked out form our huge tent at some of the pathetic attempts to stay dry, but I was still wet, and now my last bit of dry, remaining my shoes was wet.

Linus out on the course, and the rain has eased off a little bit.

We raced hard, with Tony getting the fastest time of the day early on in the race. This was going to be hard to beat, he was an animal, and had no fear, even with the torrential rain to ride in. The course was only 7.3km long, but dangerous every turn you came around. I was following last with Linus, so was busy setting the others off on their merry way. By the time Linus was up (1st on GC, last to start), all the riders were gone, all my equipment was packed, tools stashed and the rest of the staff were happy and dry in the bus, I was still wet. I set Linus off, and we hit the road. The rain was crazy, but it didn’t stop Linus from giving it shit all the way, the best time of the day was still Tony. Linus raced well, and with about 10 large speed bumps on the course, my heart was racing hard every time he jumped up and off those suckers. He was second, sweet, Tony wins the stage, Linus second, a double stage, a double win, and Linus still wearing yellow. An hour or so more in the rain washing and sorting out the bikes, I was still wet, 13 hours so far I had counted. But the shower was close, the rain was at least warm, and it looked like it was going to stop by the morning. My toes thawed out by bedtime, and at least I was dry on the outside, but with a double win, it was raining alcohol on the inside now, and I felt warm, finally.

Hey it's Linus, getting ready to start the last stage, looking good in yellow. And he kept it as well.

The final stage was going to be a killer, many hills, many attacks and a few riders pretty close to our boy on GC. Right from the start they were attacking us like hell, huge groups and solo riders, but the boys were on to it. Chasing them all down, and eventually beating them into submission as soon as they tried it again. Most of the groups were far too big, and contained too many dangerous riders, but soon there was a good group away, we let it slide. By halfway through, we had kept it to about 2 mins, nice and easy for the team, just in case we needed them for the finish. Just as things were getting tough for the boys, Tony gets a puncture at a very bad moment, I fixed it, but there were attacks happening off the front, so the bunch driven by us, was chasing at full speed. Just when I had got back in the car, organised my wheels, Tony came over the radio that he had another puncture, what, I looked, and sure enough, second rear puncture in about a 1km, what are the chances. I fixed it quick, poor Tony, as the bunch was still at full speed, but the champ he is, and TT specialist to boot, he chased and was back on the front with the rest of the boys pretty damn quick. The last half of the race was in a loop circuit through the finish, this loop had a few good climbs, so was very dangerous for the team. But all worked out well, the group was caught by the last climb, the closest on GC attacked Linus at this stage, and he responded well. Tony did a fantastic job, keeping the speed high all the way to the 3km to go mark, and Linus finished it off with a second place. Keeping his biggest rivals at bay, and winning the tour overall. Great for the team, a great comeback for Linus, and a great result for the mechanics of course, cause without us, who knows what would happen.

And of course a few pics here and there. and if you haven't figured it out yet, the slideshow is a good way to see them all easily, depends on your internet speed of course.

Tour of Denmark #2

2008-08-17T05:32:00.005+12:00

Starting the fourth stage was kind of weird, the double stage was upon us, and it was funny to see how the staff and riders were going to handle it. Working in the women’s peloton, it is kind of normal in any stage race. In fact they seem to think that it is an integral part any race. We had a small stage in the morning of about 130km and an even smaller TT in the afternoon of 14.5km. The staff were getting a bit scared of the long day ahead, I was looking forward to it. It was easy, just don’t think about it too long and it’s fine, I was a veteran of double stages. I had drawn the long straw for the day, and had the morning at the truck organising all the TT bikes and equipment for the afternoon, so I had plenty to do, unfortunately. The weather for the week had been pretty nice everyday, up to 30’c most of the days, but this morning it was freezing. The hotel was right on the waterfront, and with the wind blowing it was chilling me to the bone. I dressed up warm and hibernated in the rear of the truck for the day. Only seven TT bikes, and a few wheels, I would be finished soon, then maybe I even might get a quick ride in, before the team arrived back from the mornings stage.

Marco Pinotti out on the course, about to pass his minute-man.

I really have a love-hate relationship with TT races. I love some of the technology that goes into them, the aerodynamics, the materials and the wheels. But I hate all the stress, the short stages, and the bullshit that is connected to ‘the test’. I don’t know what it does to the riders for the day, but somehow they seem to save all their stress and built up tension of the stage race for the TT. Some of them have it sussed, and look upon a TT with a happy outlook, others just detest the very thought of it. I am in two minds, the only thing I dislike is the amount of work that goes into a small TT, same work as a long one, but I suppose it’s over quicker. TT bikes are kind of like the freaks of the bike world (sorry but Tri bikes are even worse, I just don’t want to start talking about them cause they upset me too much). Every rider has a different preference in the set up and the components on each of their bikes. You just have to check everything twice, because you know they are going to make some changes at the start sooner or later. The other big problem is the bikes get checked at every race for the UCI regulations, even though pass through some of the commissionaires at some pretty big races no problems. There is always one or two races where you have issues with some dickhead judge who thinks the bike is illegal, but it’s not. I love these guys, and so do all the other mechanics lining up with bikes that passed every check the whole year except this one. But the bikes passed fine, the judges were pretty loose, so every bike was well in the limits.

Hey it's Franki, just pulled out a nice ride, 5th equal in the end.

All the boys were fired up, the bikes were ready, the sun was shining, and the wind was blowing like hell. The course was pretty open, so the first riders out would have a fairly hard time of it in the wind. Unlike most TT’s, the wind would be slowing down as the riders started, so being last would have an advantage. There was a fair few spectators hanging around, but most of them gravitated towards the CSC team base of course, we were passed by for the local team for a change. Just means we could get on with our work without anyone getting in the way. I was tailing only one of our guys for the race, Ronald was doing a couple, and the neutral service would pick up the rest. Franki was sitting the best on GC, so would be off last, I got the 2nd last seed of Pinotti. Last time I worked for him, he ended up winning the last stage TT of the Giro, so he was our secret weapon. By the time I got the first guys off to the start ramp, it was time to get Marco organised, he was feeling a bit nervous, even for such a small race he was worried. We started out pretty fast, and by the time we hit the halfway time check, we had the fastest time of the day, nice. As we finished the last two legs of the square-ish course, the wind was howling in his face. I had my fingers crossed every time that a gust hit him and the bike, moving from one side of the street to the other in a second. We came through the finish chute, fastest time came over the radio. I jumped out to congratulate him on such a good ride, I was happy, and so was Marco. Now the wait for the few riders left to come through the gate. Franki was off last, Ronald was following him, and you wouldn’t believe it, but the same halfway time as Marco. The wind had almost stopped by now, making it a bit easier for the last few, but it was still blowing a little though, evening it up a little. Franki comes through with the same time as Marco, right to the seconds, crazy. But it was not enough, four more riders through the gate ended up being faster, with my Swedish mate Gustav Larson taking the win for CSC for the stage. Franki 5th, Marco 6th with same time.

And the wicked bridge from the mainland to Copenhagen, nice work guys, looks great.

The last stage was nice and easy for me, driving the truck to the finish, and waiting for the boys and the bike to arrive. The finish was close to the centre of Copenhagen, so I would have a bit of time for a little sightseeing ride of the city. I found a good spot for the truck, right outside the showers and hit the road, it was sunny and warm and I had about three hours to kill. What else to do but grab my camera and go for a bit of a Tiki Tour of the city and the surrounds of the finish area. I had spent a bit of time here previously, so I found a few places I had not been before, and got relaxed before the long drive home. The road I happened to take into the city had no fewer than eight bike shops on, lucky they were all closed as I am sure there would have been a few something’s I would have found to spend my money on. There was a nice fixie I found in the window of one shop, a bit cheesy, but nice all the same. They say it is the city of bikes here, and from the amount of nice looking bike shops in a few kilometres, I would almost agree. As for the amount of people riding around, it was pretty impressive as well. The city was busy, seems like everyone was out enjoying the sun, the photography was a success, but the race was coming through soon, so I had work to do.

Nice looking overworked fixie in the window, 10000 Danish Krone, 1350 Euro, about NZ$6500 at this weeks exchange rate.

By the time I got back to the truck, the team bus had arrived, I had a few things to pack before the riders arrived for a few laps of the finish circuit. Just like the rest of the week, there were a whole lot of people waiting around the course, more than normal I hear. Must have something to do with CSC-Saxo Bank (the local Danish team) winning the Tour a couple weeks before. Who said cycling was suffering, not if the number of punters on the finish line, was anything to go by. The race arrived, a few laps of the finish and it was done. Not our most successful tour, but a sixth place from Franki, and Marco was ninth overall in the GC. It was CSC’s time to shine, we would take out the next races instead.

Pictures of the week can be found here and over here. And I almost forgot about these ones as well.