What's in the case?

One of the few things that make us who and what we are, are tools, without them we are nothing, and with them we can solve most of the worlds problems. So I thought I would give you a quick look around my tool case, and a look at some of the tools that reside in there.

Hey, what's in the case mister?

With us constantly moving from race to race, we have to have everything you might need to work on a bike, with in reason of course with us. The only limitations being the size of the box you want to lug around, and whether you can carry it I suppose. Sometimes you got to draw the line at some of the bigger tools, but I am sure if you had the space, you could always squeeze them in. The most important thing is making sure that you have all the necessary tools, that fit the bikes you are working on. My box has a selection of tools that are pretty specific, (and a few custom made) for the bikes that the team use, both the road bikes and the TT bikes. All of the bikes have the same groupset on them, Shimano Dura-ace, so it makes things a little bit easier. But the big thing is making sure that if you are alone, you can pretty much solve any problems that might arise.

The bottom of the case holds all the big stuff. The hammers, the cassette removers, cable cutters, spanners etc. Tape, files, a torque wrench and a few cone spanners, a hole punch and a chain tool. Bottom left are the 'gap' tools, to set the wheels up to the perfect spacing for a speedy wheel swap.

I really didn’t think I had that many tools, that is until I took them all out of the case, to take a photo. And believe it or not, every tool gets used most of the time, otherwise I would seriously question whether I want to carry it around any longer. To make things a little bit easier, most of the bigger trucks we use, have an array of bigger tools that may be used occasionally, but you could probably do with out them if you really needed to. There is a headset press that we use for the BB bearings, but you could hit them in easily enough with a hammer. There are a couple of cutting guides for steerers and seat posts, and a hacksaw to cut them with, but you could do it freestyle if needed. But other than maybe a small vice, and a trueing stand that’s pretty much it for extra tools. And if you get some pretty hairy repairs, there are always a few other teams either in the same hotel or not far away that will probably have what you need.

I don’t really care where the tools come from, as long as they work and don’t break. Some tools you are going to have for years (unless they are permanently borrowed), so you might as well buy the best, saves replacing them all the time. I do look at other industries tools as well, as they generally are cheaper and most often better quality. There are a few specific tools, just for bikes, and with these, there is no one company that has all the best. You just got to have a good look around, and see what you like out of what is available. I have a selection of Shimano, Park, Pedros, Cyclo, BBB and Syncros bike specific tools. All my favourites for the specific job they doing for me, be it the Shimano chain tool, or the Park Cassette removers, they all have one job to do, they better do it the best they can. I use a few non-bike tools, Wurth being my favourite here, nice German quality, for Allen keys, bent or straight, Torx keys, cutters or poly-grips, you can’t beat them on price or quality. Other than that, most others are random tools that either feel nice (well balanced, good weight, comfortable), or have a cool job do, to make life a bit easier.

All the smaller tools are in their spots in the top of the case. Spare parts, cable ends, and assorted spare parts. All the drivers you can handle, knives, files and cutters of every size needed. Even some tire levers for those tough tubulars. Drills and taps for those emergency stripped thread situations, and some cool other very important little tools.

There are always a few tools that you end up using more than others, so having a spare or two of these ones, is important as well. Who knows when one will escape or get lost, then it could be trouble. I think I counted 6 different versions I have of a 4,5, and 6mm Allen wrench, funny enough, they are the most used tools in the box. I couldn’t do without my derailier alignment tool, or the Shimano chain tool. My trusty red screwdriver is hard to do without as well, and it’s been around for a while, ohh the bikes that have been tuned with this baby, I shudder to think. My cheese knife and spoon are very important, for keeping me feed, on those late nights and early mornings (sorry but my ‘spork’ is broken, it was my most important tool up till then). The tools travel in the race car every day I race, so I have everything I need to do most repairs before the start, or any bush repairs during the race or a crash. There are selection of inner cables and outers in the case, all the setups of the whole team, and a fold up hacksaw hiding in there as well. I can’t think of any other tools I need at this stage, but when I see them I will know. The never ending search is always fun, cause you never know when the perfect tool with cross your path.

Open and ready for action, notice how everything is nice and tidy now. A few more minutes and that picture will change a lot.

Most of the mechanics in the teams and around the scene, have all their own style when it comes to tool cases, and what they carry in them. But I suppose, we can all do the same job, with whatever we carry with us, so it doesn’t matter how you get there sometimes, just as long as it’s fixed, tuned and safe to ride. I found this site with a good selection of mechanics cases,
for your further interest. For flying to those races out of Europe, I simplify my tools to about a third the size, more importantly about ¼ of the weight (can’t imagine having to pay excess baggage on it). I even get rid of the hard case and swap it with a soft one. And there is always some local mechanic or shop you can borrow more tools if you need them for a special job. Most mechanics are pretty neutral when it comes to the races. We may work in opposing teams, and we may race like hell to win, but we all work with the common goal of making sure every rider has the same chance in the race.

The Evolution of a track cyclist.

Ever wondered where trackies come from. Here finally is some evidence discovered from where they evolved from. And some early origins of the yellow jersey.




Think they also coined the phrase 'dirty, cheating monkeys' as well. Enjoy

Tour Top Shots

Found this site somewhere on the net, and I thought I would borrow the images for a while (until they tell me to take them down). But here are some fantastic images I just thought I would share with you. If I was a photographer at the tour, I am sure my stuff would be a cool as some of this stuff. Credit where credit due, I ain't there, but these guys below were, so enjoy them while you can. So in no particular order, my top six shots of the tour this week.

Mark Cavendish sprints for 1st, Gerald Ciolek gets 2nd in the pouring rain on stage 8. Kim Kirchen takes the yellow jersey on the same day. (AP Photo/Laurent Rebours)


My good old mate the Devil (Didi), in full flight. He seems to be taking a bit of a low profile this tour, or the German television stations just don't like him. But nice to see is he hanging around as usual. (REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel)


Nice to see a bit of the massive country that France is. Great from the choppers, but not so much from the still cameras. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)


This is just a fantastic shot, almost looks a bit fake, kind of diaorama looking. And the lone spectator is great as well. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)


What a shit day, so glad I am not on the bike on a day like this. It may be summer, but it rains sometimes as well. Giving the mechanics more work than they need, both during the race and afterwards. But hey, thats what they are there for. (JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)


Everyone wants a a shot of the peloton going past the sunflowers. But you also forget the peloton of photographers following the riders as well. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Krasna Lipa, a fine race.

Just like all good plans, they are good till the next plan comes along. My plan for the month included the Giro Donne, one of my more favourite races on the Women’s circuit, but like all good ideas, it had to change. The Girls had decided to add another race to their already busy season, Krasna Lipa in the Czech Republic, and I was the lucky one chosen to work it. I had a double roll for the first few days, mechanic for the week as usual, and director for a couple of days. Krasna Lipa is just over the German Border in Czech, so it was not a very long trip. I have not been down here for a couple of years, and believe me I did not miss the place (I almost lost a few fingers here during a race once). The roads were bad, the weather normally pretty bad, the food is pretty backward, and the hotels are probably the worst we have all year. Arriving at our accommodation, my worst fears were realised. The hotel was an old school from about the 50’s, the place was a mess as they were halfway through renovations, though you couldn’t tell. It reminded me of going back to school, when they shipped you of to some dodgy camp somewhere in the countryside to get rid of you for the week. But this was much worse, at least you didn’t care so much as a kid. The car park had huge holes, filled with septic water as well, perfect as I stepped out of the van and my foot was submerged in stagnant water, what a great start to the week.

Mara on the podium, Angela Hening on the left, and Trixi Worrack on the right.

We had a small team for the week, as most of the girls were racing in Italy in the Giro. My team was looking good though compared to some of the competition, most of them from the east I had never heard of, so that was always good. Racing this time around was Luise Keller, Madeline Sandig, Emilia Fahlin, Anke Wickman and Mara Abbot. After collecting the numbers and race books, I had a bit of work to do before the race started, so I started to get organised. Working out of such a small van for the week, means I needed to have everything well organised. And organised it need to be as I had the extra job of directing for the first two days, so my time was very precious. A few hours out of my day was not what I needed, but that’s life sometimes. And getting the team signed in was the easy part, all the official bullshit that goes with it, meeting the race organiser, and the UCI officials, it all took ages, as all I was thinking was organisation for the morning. A race meeting for all the managers, UCI and all race officials was smack dab in the middle of the morning, all my work would have to be done as the race starts just after midday. The meeting was a drag as usual, getting introduced to every Mayor and city official for miles around. And then listening to a whole lot of stuff not really of any interest to the race, but it makes the locals feel real important I suppose, and without them, there would be no race. It dragged on, as they translated everything from Czech, to German, then to English. At least I had all the bikes almost ready to roll, a late night, and an early morning saw to that, but the meeting was still a drag, give me the unglamorous life of a mechanic, any day.

Stage one was about to start, a short stage of about 112km for the day, but there were some pretty nasty climbs, and some very narrow, dodgy downhills. I had the bikes ready, now for a small meeting with the girls, then off to the race. I had drew car 6, so at least I could see something if the radio was not so forthcoming with info, my Czech was not so good, so I needed all the help I could get. The plan was to attack on the last hill, with 10 km to the finish, it sounded good on paper. Directing and doing mechanics by myself is fine, that is until there is a problem, and with the rain and about a million rail crossings, there was plenty of problems out on the road, I was waiting for ours. And, as you could guess, not more than 40km into the race, after about 20 other call-ups, it was my turn. But like a hardened professional, I changed the wheel and was back in the race with in a minute or so. Emilia raced back to the bunch, and it was like it never happened, I hoped it was the last. Well the plan worked fine, in the last climb, Mara attacked like hell, she caught the bunch by surprise, and managed to hold them off all the way to the finish. A nice win for the team, a nice win for me, and the yellow jersey (my first one as director, shame it was in such a shit race).

Another beautiful day in the rain.

The next day we had a few plans, first was to protect the jersey as much as possible, and maybe even win another stage. The course was pretty lumpy, with some pretty nasty climbs towards the middle and end of the stage. The team was feeling great, the bikes were clean from the shit weather from the day before. We were quite lucky with only one defect, as most of the teams had multiple problems, with no rain, things were going to be a bit easier. Mara was looking pretty fine in the Yellow jersey, and Luise had the blue jersey as well, so it was going to be hard to spot them, (it was hard enough with a change of uniform anyway). But the race was underway, and the course was unrelenting, causing the peloton to split right from the start. But Mara and Luise were right up there, looking to take their chances on the last climb. With 20km to go, Marianne Vos attacked, Mara hung on to her wheel and they both left the main peloton. With in a few minutes they had a good lead, the bunch was still chasing, and the gap was increasing. Mara had the best time on GC, so her instructions were to sit on, but Vos was not riding so much, so we had to react. The plan was to try and distance the current TT world Champ Hunka, and it was working fine, but Mara had to ride a bit. By the time I raced up to have a look at the two, it was 10km to go, Mara was doing all the work, with Marianne just sitting on. As we came into the finish chute, Vos attacked at about 20m from the line, and just seemed to roll past Mara for the win, it was too easy for her. But we still had the jersey, and managed to take more time out of Hunka, ready for the next days double stage.

Luise in the blue jersey before stage #2 start.

By now I had some help turn up, with Petra arriving to direct for the last three stages. Which was just in time for my favourite double stage, TT in the morning in Poland and a road race in the afternoon back in Czech Republic. The TT was about 20km, so it was going to be hard to keep the jersey after today. Mara was not so strong in TT’s, so heading off last was going to be tough for her, especially with some times of the faster girls would already be known. And as expected, we lost the jersey, Vos ended up winning, which was a surprise when she beat Hunka. Mara was still in 2nd, with a minute so it was still good. Luise did super well, still in the top ten, and still both in contention for the tour win. But the afternoons small stage, split Mara from a fast little bunch, dropping her back to 3rd behind Vos. Luise was still 8th, so all was not last yet, but Vos is pretty strong, an she was going to give it all the last stage.

Out on the road, Luise coming close to the finish, Mara just setting out.

The last day was raining right from dawn, I hate that before a race, both for the girls and the bikes and it’s just not a good way to start the day. The rain just makes work hard, everything is wet, the bikes, the inside of the van, and the roads, it’s always dangerous out on the road, and there is always crashes. I was not looking forward to the race, but at least I would be dry in the car, until I had to jump out and save the day. And as I imagined, things got off to a rocky start, with breakaways happening all over the place. Vos wearing the yellow jersey punctured halfway through the stage, this was a signal to one of the team to attack (it’s pretty wrong to do that to the leader, but in Women’s cycling, they have no heart sometimes), and they attacked like hell as she was trying to latch on to the back of the bunch. Four got away, luckily for DSB they had one of their team members in, otherwise they would have lost everything. After a bit of fighting in the team cars, seems DSB took offence to the dirty tactics and started to tell the team who initiated the attacks that he wasn’t very happy. I was killing myself, as they both came to me looking for sympathy, they got none. Four were away, and they were making some serious time on the bunch, then there was another attack, with Luise and Mara in it, so we were ok for a while. The race had about 40km to go, and things were looking bad for Vos, her team mate was the best on GC in the leading group, so they had lost nothing really, just a change of leader.

Waiting for the train, 10km to go, last stage.

With the rain still pissing down, there were girls down almost every corner. Now Czech cars are pretty dodgy, so the amount of diesel they deposit on the road is a problem in the rain, as many girls found out. I was hold my fingers crossed, and Petra in the front was keeping hr legs crossed, she was dieing for a piss. We found a good spot, and left the girls to it for a bit, bad mistake. The moment we got back on the road e saw a few cars stopped up ahead, and you wouldn’t guess it, but it was Mara, who just slid on her ass across the road, lucky it was raining I suppose. She was ok, and continued on, our 3rd place gone, but we still had Luise up the road, there was some hope. After the crash of Mara, the small break slowed down, and by the time that we arrived, they were back in the bunch. We carried on till the end, watching the odd girl slip out on every corner, man I hate this place in the rain. Not far from the finish the bunch was stopped by the rail barriers, some 20 girls decided they could easily go around them. The jury didn’t like it and disqualified them as they passed over the finish line, I suppose after passing over so many during the week, they thought the last one was ok as well. Vos’s DSB team mate, Angela Henning ended up winning the tour, Luise end up 7th overall, Mara had a sore ass, and the rest of the gang were safe. I was packed in under an hour, and was on the road shortly after. Another successful few days, my first yellow jersey (there will be more in the future, don’t worry), and another stage win for the team. Nice for my last race with the Women’s team for the season, next up Tour of Denmark with the men. A nice tour, and a chance to see more of a country we don’t race so much in.

More photo’s of the race can be found here.

More Success

Go away for a couple of days, and what do you know, they did it again. Mark Cavendish pulls off another two stage wins. Unbelievable for only his second Tour, it can only get better from here. A total of four stages now for the little guy, and by the looks of things he may be aiming for the last stage as well, why wouldn't he. Thats assuming he can make it over the Alps without any problems, what a blast if he can make it five.

Cav taking out his third win, looking pretty relaxed as well. (Photo stolen from Cycling News)

I forgot the other day to mention the crack team of mechanics looking after the team. Without them the team would be nothing, or at least not half as good as they are. So congrats to the mechanics on duty, Nick, Perry and Jorg, for a fantastic job. May you not get out of the car as much as other teams, and hope all the bikes make it home in one piece.

Nick and Perry posing in the truck, packed and ready to leave for the Tour.

Nice Work

Just when you thought you seen it all, then this guy comes along. His skills on a road bike are pretty amazing. I was waiting for the wheels to fold, but on closer inspection the bike is a little bit modified. Almost like 36 or 44 spoke wheels, and the head tube has a nice gusset as well to strengthen it. Otherwise nothing special, and even looks like it's the right size as well. Enjoy.

Congratulations Boys

After spending almost a week in the Czech Republic, with no TV or internet connection, I came back to some fantastic results. So I thought it was about time to congratulate our boys in blue currently riding the Tour. I have worked with all of them on previous races, so kind of know them pretty well. Watching them ride on TV, I feel as though I am there sharing their pain and joy. But it’s just not the same pain, lying on the couch in the sun watching the last hours coverage, but I do feel the joy when they win though.


Our team for the month from left. Kim Kirchen, Marcus Burghardt, Mark Cavendish, Gerald Ciolek, Bernhard Eisel, Adam Hansen, George Hincapie, Thomas Lövkvist, Kanstantsin Siutsou. (photo stolen from Cycling News)

It’s only been ten stages, but they have managed to pull off the almost impossible so far. Two stage wins with the fantastically fast sprinter Mark Cavendish. One with a 1st, 2nd with Gerald Ciolek. A second for Kim in the first individual TT. A few top ten places in the first few stages for Kim Kirchen. They carried the green jersey for a few days on the back of Kim Kirchen, but then he decided to swap it for the Yellow. The coveted yellow jersey, the want of every professional cyclist, and for a team, one of the greatest prizes you can get for a hard days work. This, the team managed to keep for four days on the back of Kim, but lost it on the Queen stage the other day. But Kim was fighting the whole day, and still isn’t done yet. In fact we had the young jersey as well, making a hat trick with Thomas Lövkvist. What a great start to the Tour, and a great start to Team Columbia. May they have many more successes, as the tour unfolds over the next two weeks. Of course you can keep up with the news on our own team’s website.


The second stage win for Mark Cavendish, with Gerald Ciolek coming in second. (photo stolen from Cycling News)

So good luck for the rest of the tour boys, my congrats for the wins so far, and success for the future.


Kim putting on the yellow jersey for the first time, he looks pretty happy as you can imagine.(photo stolen from Cycling News)

Le Tour

Before I mention anything about the Tour, I thought I might remind you about the coolest Tour rider ever. Sorry all you newbees out there, it's not Lance, even though he has a few more tour victories than my guy. And he even may have come back from the dead to win these as well. But coolness is something you just have, you can't win it. And this guy sweats coolness.

Another Change of Colour

Finally I am back from the Czech Republic, a week with no internet connection or Tv for that matter. So it's time to catch up on a bit of news. Of course you would have all seen our new colours for the next few years, all the way up to the end of 2010 if all things go well. And by the looks of things they are going very well (but that's coming up later). SO now that I am allowed to show it, here is a good preview of what the new colours look like. There is plenty more to come, but you probably see more in the coming weeks in the cycling media as we continue our world domination, both in the men and women's peloton.

Here we see George sporting the new look jersey and shorts and helmet.  Pic stolen from somewhere on the net.


And here we have Madeline featuring the new aero skinsuit and booties. It's a really fast suit from what the wind tunnels test show us. And the bike is looking very clean and shiney as well, I might add.

The first truck to get it's makeover, all the other vehicles are quivering in excitement in getting peeled and stripped ready for their new skin.


One of the cars with half branding, the real race cars will get the full makeover. But you get the idea anyway.

Giro Stories #1

With the Giro being so busy, I took the easy option of just posting photos. Energy levels were low, internet connections were few and far between, and I am sure I could think of many more excuses why I didn’t write much. But I have some time, so hopefully I can write a few stories down for you, that’s until I get bored or sidetracked with something else (which is not hard for my ADD infused brain).

There was one day I was kind of looking forward to and in the same thought, dreading as usual. The mountain Timetrail, stage 16 San Vigilio di Marebbe - Plan de Corones (Individual Time Trial). A couple of days before I had heard the rumours of what the climb was looking like, a pretty steep road section, then it goes into some hard packed gravel, and then opps, there is snow covering the rest of it, so the description stops there. None of the team were looking forward to it, and in the press and all the relevant websites there was cries of protest over the stage. Are they crazy organising such a stage, who was it set for, the spectators or the riders? Things were getting out of control in the few days leading up to it. I had had my own mountain TT a couple of days beforehand with one of the transfers in the truck. The GPS in the truck was having a bit of fun with me I thought, but it looked the fastest way on the map as well, and it looked the easiest way. The difference with this GPS is that it doesn’t know I am driving a truck, I think it thought I was in one of the Audi Quattro team cars. I was alone as I left the highway for the pass over the mountains, everyone I had talked to, mentioned this mountain range, so they must have know it, I thought. What they failed to tell me was there was another way, but it was too late now. I was already halfway up the climb, and things were getting very tight. There was hardly enough room for the truck on some of the corners, let alone some of the cars coming at me in the other direction.

The top of the mountain, with the road heading down, wish I was on a bike though.

I was just starting to get to that point of no return, when the roads seemed to flatten out and get a bit wider, by now I was about the halfway up the mountain point (or so I thought). Things changed pretty quickly, and real soon the roads got even smaller, the small alpine towns started coming at me with quite regular intervals. I was just thinking about places to start looking to turn around and go back, when I realised that the top of the mountain was very near, I continued up. Stopping near the top, or what I thought was the top, I had stop and take some shots of the road I just came up. A couple of friendly, non English speaking Swiss cyclists, stopped to get their photo taken with the truck. With a small amount of universal language, I figured they were getting photos taken just to prove to their local friends, that in fact there was a truck that they saw on the road, and not a mirage. They did know of the town I was heading for, ‘just over the ridge and down the valley 30km’ they said. I continued onwards and upwards, and up it went into a mountain top plateau, I tried taking my hands of the steering wheel to get a shot of the scene, but the road was so narrow, I was scared I might fall off it. This was not the sort of place to get a truck stuck, as I had not seen another car for an hour or so. But then a bus came over the horizon, and what a squeeze to pass, I stopped about 1km before the bus arrived, as it did not look like many passing opportunities in the distance, lucky I did, we just passed with a bit of jiggling rigs with only mm’s to spare.

Now I had reached the top, a ski field or two were visible, and about a 100 motorcyclists as well, sitting in the few cafés around the summit. I started the descent, and what a challenge, the road I could see all the way into the valley. Winding down and around the side of the mountain like a huge long tape worm. I would be taking it very easy, as in the first few corners, I had to do a 5 point turn just to get the ass of the truck around them safely. There was not much room for error, as the edge of the road just fell down some distance on to the road below. Ohh and the motorbikes seemed to multiply at the top, as they passed me one after another, it seemed like there was hundreds of them. All I could think about was the fact that I wish I were on a bike, descending down into the valley, corner after corner. The fact that I knew there was about 20 in the back of the truck, didn’t make me feel any better. And then there was the odd bus I meet, again a real mission to get past them, but I had the right of way, a bigger rig, and I’m sure I looked a bit crazed at the wheel by now. But I made it down, and getting back to a bit of civilization, I started to relax a bit. Now to find the hotel, but that’s another story. Upon finding the hotel, the advance arrival crew told me of their easy drive on the highway, and easy ride up another valley of 30km to get to the hotel. I cut off about 40km off the route, but sure I took off a few years of my life, with the stress.

Bradley passing Andre on a slightly steep little bit.

But the real race was about to start in a day or so. The mountain TT was a bit different, as the riders were using their road bikes for this one, with a few modifications to them. Most of the changes were in the drive train, with everyone using compact cranks, with a 34t front chain ring and a 27t cassette on the rear. For this we had a new set of SRM cranks to play with, the first time they have tried the compact system. Everything worked fine for the change over, and most of the riders were requesting the lightest wheels we had in the truck, but even that would not help some of them. We even broke out the scales for the first time all year, as we knew there would be weight control on the start line. Legal UCI weight for any race as you know is 6.8kg, with our bikes with standard low rim Shimano or the Zipp 202 wheels, things are generally on the money, even with the SRM system on. So we made sure they were all legal, and they were all perfect, with in 20 gm of the limit. With the Lightweight wheels, the bikes felt super illegal, but at 7kg’s it feels pretty light compared to 7.5 for example which is about normal race weight, with normal wheels. But we checked them all just in case.

Finally dawn was upon us, and then we could see what all the fuss was about. We arrived at the course, last team there by the looks of things, so the bus and cars were about a km or so from the start, shit for the mechanics, and for the riders as well, but at least they could ride to the start. So we set up base for the day, and got our selves organised for a long day. I drew the short straw for following the first rider up the hill, and it kind of sounded like a bit of fun. The race organisation had provided motorbike escorts for each rider up the hill, as the course was far too steep and skinny at the half way point for the team cars. I ran to the start line to start two of our guys off, Andre Greipel was off first, and a minute behind Bradley Wiggins. My job was to follow Wiggins, but also I could look after Andre if he had any issues. I found my Moto for the ride, and made sure my guys were ready, their bikes both passed the weigh in, just. I jumped on the Moto, wheels in hand for the trip up the mountain. There was a lot of talk of how difficult it was at the top section, but already from the get go things were looking pretty good. Half of the race was on sealed road, this was the easy bit, nice and smooth, with a great views of the valley below. I had my wheels in one hand, and my camera in the other, taking photos was pretty easy, and I had two of the boys in shot as Bradley was gaining on Andre. None of the team had seen the course, so it was new to everyone, we still were climbing at a rapid rate, the trees started getting smaller, and the crowd started getting a bit thicker and louder.

700m to go for Andre, the nice view in the background.

When we reached the halfway point, the road ran out of tarmac and onto a sort of rolled white gravel. Luckily we had changed every bike over to the compact cranks, as by now both the boys were in the 34 on the front and 27 on the back. But it kept getting steeper, and just when I thought Andre was going to get a good time, he blew and Bradley passed him like he was sitting still. The road looked about a 18% gradient, at this stage. We rounded a few more corners, and I saw what I thought was the top, but the air was starting to thin, and I was seeing things I think with lack of oxygen. We hit a bit of a plateau at this stage, the trees by now were short and stunted with the altitude. Now the road started getting a bit messy, the rolled gravel, which could be mistaken for a sealed road in some parts of the world, just stopped. Now I was getting a bit worried about punctures, the stones were getting bigger, the holes in the road were growing in size and regularity as well. The riders were picking what line they could through the rubbish, it didn’t seemed to slow them too much, as they were almost standing still anyway. I was calculating the whole time how far to go, current speed and time to ‘best time’ and then we saw the ‘2km to go’ sign. I was looking at a winning time I thought, that’s until we turned the corner. And what a sight, thousands of fans spread out as far as I could see, flowing up the ridgeline, what I thought was the top. By now the gradient felt like about 20%, and the moto I was riding was having a bit of difficulty staying upright at such low speeds. He would wait a bit for the rider to get away a little, then, ride as slow as he could until we caught him again. By now Bradley was still looking pretty good on time, he was in the smallest gear, and struggling to push it, even out of the saddle struggling, the spectator noise was deafening. Time was slipping away as he struggled up the steep section, then I spotted the ‘1km to go’ sign. The top was part of a ski resort, pretty famous in these parts I was told, and snow was still all around us, bringing a chill to the air. In hindsight, my shorts and T-shirt, that suited the sun drenched valley start, was starting to look fairly stupid by now. I was freezing, as the wind was blowing chilled air directly at me. But the crowds, yells and screams were keeping me warm, and the thought of a mechanical or flat now, was also taking my mind off things.

Morris Possoni with 500m to go till the top. What a crowd.

We rounded the last corner, and then there it was, the last km, right before our eyes. I almost fell off the back of the motorbike as I strained my neck looking up at the finish. There are many ‘walls’ in cycling races, but this was an actual wall, just leaning off centre a bit. With 1km to go, I was thinking normal time 1.5-2 mins, but this one was going to take a while. The gradient now was about 28% (looked about 45%), and Bradley was almost stopped ahead, crawling as fast as he could, in front of us. The crowd now was about ten deep, all yelling as loud as they could in their best Italian, with the road only about 2m wide here, I could feel the warmth of their screams, perfect. The moto slowed, tried to stop, but the track was so steep, he could not get a foot down in time. I had my camera in one hand (trying to get the shot of the day of course), my wheels in the other, and then we started falling. I was planing my escape off the bike for most of the last 5km, as my driver was starting to look a bit dodgy in some of the steeper bits. I knew I had to be ready at a moments notice, but not now, please. I was thinking of the hot exhaust, burning a hole in my un-clothed leg as the bike started falling, and trying to not let my camera smash on the rocks as well. Just as the bike hit the ground, my leg was out, but with my ass still on the seat, I just smashed my upper body on to the stony road below. I still had the wheels in my hand, I heard no glass lens breaking, but my elbow and hip took a hammering as I Ianded. I jumped up, leaving my stupid ass driver, to sort out the bike (there was hundreds of fans to help him up). I ran behind Bradley for a few hundred meters, that’s until I was completely fucked. Running up mountains at altitude, was never my thing, lucky, cause just then my bike was back (but not before getting a cool shot of Andre coming past), I jumped on, and we rode slowly through the finish, which was still climbing up at a horrible rate. Nothing special with both their times, but they would have beaten the time cut for the day, easily. The view was awesome from the top, I had a walk around the finish line a bit, trying to stop my body from smarting as much as it was. We had a good laugh with the other moto’s, but inside I was not too impressed, but someone had to crash today, and I am sure I won’t be the only one.

Morris with 150m to go, and he's still climbing.

Now for the mission to get down, either wait an hour or so for the last riders in my group to come up, freezing, or take the gondolas down. Gondolas sounded fun, but they failed to explain the amount of changes and hiking involved. Now, we were up pretty high, so I didn’t fully have a good think about my actions, but I had three more riders to follow up the mountain, I didn’t want to be too late. I started heading down on the first gondola. There was such an amazing view from the top, as we headed down slowly, I realised just how far up the boys had rode up, in the short 12km, no wonder they were looking a bit shattered at the top. About a third of the way down we changed gondolas, but this was not an easy change, especially as we had no skis on. A small hike of about 2km, directly up the side of the mountain to the second change, this was real steep climb, about 37% gradient for sure. By the time we made it to the second gondola, I was shattered, lucky I could rest for a few minutes, as my body was now starting to hurt a bit, now that it was starting to thaw out a bit. One more change of gondola, this one was only about 100m from the other, and then the 2km walk back to the bus, I was home. I checked the time for my next escort up the hill again, 5 minutes, shit. Time to put some clothes on, some stuff to keep my hand from bleeding, and I was off for the next trip. Now only two more to come, but this time I would be ready for another crash, the cold weather, and the walk down. Man I slept well that night, the injuries were not too bad, and then back to the real race the next day. Media reports, and most of the riders interviewed were giving the race organisers shit over the stage, but they just gave it back. Harden up, was the translation I got from the newspapers. Our boys were pretty quiet that night at dinner, and I could understand why.

And if you missed them, some more pics of the stage here.

Beautiful

The Cyclists.

Bit of an Update

Believe it or not, but I have actually almost caught up with my races for a change. It’s amazing what a few days off can do for the old energy levels. I have even managed to get out a few times on the road bike for a look around the town. The teams base and apartment where I stay in between races is in the city of Bonn. Sitting right on the river Rheine, and what was the capital of Germany until a few years ago, is pretty nice for riding around. There are plenty of pretty nice bike paths that follow the river on both sides, if you want to take it easy. As long as you choose days other than the weekend, they are generally not too full and pretty relaxed. I have managed to increase my rides up to about the 100km mark after a week, so I am now getting the chance to see a bit more of the countryside as well. This is also a famous area for growing grapes and making red wine, though I have yet to taste the local stuff. But they seem to grow the vines on some of the steepest land they can find, making it look as though they would slide directly off with a bit of serious rain. But the cool thing is it makes for an interesting ride through all the valleys and up over the ridges. And it gives a welcome break to the flatness of the river bike paths. The area is steeped in history, but yet have to visit any of the many museums and galleries to check up on that. But will see what I can do over the coming weeks.

Monument to some famous guy along the river ride.

Cologne is the nearest ‘big’ city, about 40km by bike, I have only attempted going there once, I thought I would just go casual, on the road bike. I started out in perfect sun, also thinking I knew where I was going, well that was a mistake, I get lost in my own house most of the time. The 40km ride there took about 85km for me to find it, it was cold, and then to top it off the rain started just as I arrived. My mission was to get some photos of the cathedral in the main square, this was now impossible, with dark skies and torrential rain. I was wet, so took my time thinking about where I went wrong on the way there, looking at my soggy, smudged map, working out the best route home. I found the train station, just in case there was a train going my way, being Sunday, I could have waited another 3 hours for a dry ride home, but it was only 40km, I would ride. Well I had to get going as I was freezing, and my wet cotton t-shirt and baggy pants were really starting to piss me off. So to cut a long story short, I didn’t get lost on the way home, I managed to follow the exact wrong way home again, doubling my 80km to 160 for the day. My clothes, bag and camera and body were soaked to the skin, my ass was raw from the most uncomfortable pants/underwear combo I could have worn. I was tired, hungry and it was dark when I got home, so funny enough, I have not been back there yet. There is always next week, at least the sun is out now, and most of the rain has gone home to NZ.

One of the local churches in Bonn.

The month of July is looking pretty easy for me at this stage (until they decide to full me up with a few more races). I am currently on a train heading northish for the Dutch Nationals, here we only have two racing, Chantele Beltman for the Women’s race, and Servais Knaven racing the men’s. The bikes and my tools left the other day, so I will meet up with the rest of the team tomorrow. To date the team has been rather successful again, with Marco Pinotti, defending his Italian TT tittle again. Kim Kirchen winning the Luxemburg TT tittle as well, and with a weekend of racing to come, who knows how many national champions we may end up with. Then there is just one last race with the girls, in the east of Czech Republic for a few days. Not much else happening other than a race in France for the men, the Tour de France, but I miss out on this circus, thank god. Plenty of others putting their hand up for this one, so being the ‘new boy’ on the team, I get to miss it, but on the waiting list for emergencies. I have been helping with a few of the bikes that needed building for the Tour, and a few more to get built yet. We have a new TT bike that has finished being tested, now we just have to try and assemble them all before the truck leaves (Kim Kirchen was on the new bike for his national win). A pile of new wheels to sticker and glue tires on as well. And with all the name changes on all the vehicles and equipment ready to roll with ‘Team Columbia’ for the first of the month, there is always something needing to be done. The grand release for the ‘new look’ will be at the press conference for the Tour, so you will have to wait until then for some pictures (they are burning a hole in my hard drive waiting for the release date).

Just lying around the town.

I will have a pretty full calendar until the end of the season, so I will try to even get a bit of a holiday in somewhere. Already I have the Tour of Denmark, Tour de Ain, Plouay, Tour of Ireland, and the Tour of Poland on my list, and I am sure they can squeeze a few more races in as well before the Worlds in Varesse, Italy. The tour of Ireland I am looking forward to, I have never been there yet, so it will be nice to see. For everyone that has ever been there, say it’s almost like my home country of New Zealand, similar at least in many ways. The race details just got released the other day, and by the looks of it, the toughest one so far. I think there will even be a couple of ferry trips with the truck, so that will be a nice little adventure as usual. Otherwise, the sun is up, summer is really nice and warm, almost too warm (is there such a thing), it’s nice to wear just shorts and a open jersey on the bike (and no helmet as usual Jessie, in case your wondering). So for those of you in winter at the moment, too bad, put some more clothes on, only a few more months to go.

The Cathedral I rode especially to see, very dull looking in the rain.

And you can have a little look at a few more images of the city and surrounds.