5 March 2009

Teams Presentation

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.

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