Busy but still not clear.

Its being long over due for a update i know. Thanks for the last few comments also, its good to know people enjoy reading what i do over here. Now that the season is rolling i will try to post more often and keep it interesting and different.

Now there is still some up in air situation to how much i will be involved with this new team, as a casual rider is for sure, but as a mechanic i dont know. I am still searching for something more concrete as i need to be paid in order to live, the rent and bills wont pay themselves. In saying that, Gil would like to hang onto me and to do this he is trying to sort something out so he can, because he knows i cant work for free and if another team came up that was more secure i would have to go.

Since my last post Linds and I have moved our essentials to Eindhoven where we are currently house sitting til we find our own place in which we have 3 months to do, luckily we have already found a place and sign the contract this week, so move number 3 will be early next month. More on that later thou.



So the team has come together and is called Team cyclingnews-Jako. It is made up of a mix of nations, 4 Aussies, 3 Belgians, 2 Brits, 1 Kiwi, 1 Canadian, 1 American and 1 Dutch, but its Aussie registered. We have had our first two races as a full team now that everyone has arrived. Now we were very late onto the scene as we had to finalise sponsors, which as i have stated before can take almost a week just to arrange a meeting with a potential sponsor, next thing you know a month has passed. Once our sponsors were signed it was time to design and order the clothing. The casual wear came quick as it was pretty much off the shelf stuff with just our team name added. Some basic race kit arrived for the first pro kermesse for the team but the full kit should arrive this week [the cyclingnews purple really stands out].

March has started busy with wheel building and moving, but the last couple of weeks i have being busy building the team bikes as the riders were arriving in the space of a week and they had to be ready for them to ride the next day. It was just as well i had no wheels to build as the bikes would keep me busy for the week, but atleast i only have half the number to build than last season and it would be a good break from wheel building. The bikes are full carbon Fuga's, [im told Fuga is Italian for attack] which is Gil's brand and has had it from the very start when the bikes were built in Belgium from Easton Ultralite alloy and the team was called Team Down Under. Seven years on and the team is back on Fuga bikes, raw carbon finish with white decals i think always looks good and goes with any race kit colour. Rudi wanted some colour on the bikes but were on a tight schedule and had to keep it simple. Because of the teams limited budget we are using left over Dura-Ace from last season as well as stems and bars, that are mostly new but never got used. The groups are mostly from the time trial bikes, so their almost like new. I have fitted all new cables, chains and bottom brackets which has got the groups running a little smoother. I had a perfectly good groupset on my Litespeed that i lent to a signed Pedaltech rider [i was asked if i could loan it to him while I was away in Aus in January, and the team was still awaiting the arrival of the new bikes, as he didn't have another bike] but when that deal collapsed the low life scum bag decided to keep my Litespeed. He proberly thinks he got one on the team, but he really just robbed the bike off someone totally innocent, THANKS ALOT, you know who you are!!.
Anyway, we rounded up some groupsets and i got the bikes together and the end result was quite good i think.

With linds and i now living in Holland i have had to travel back to the teamhouse to work on the bikes and try to get some rides in with the new guys that had arrived already. The other week i took them out on one of my loops over some hills, but i dont think any of them will remember it. It was my first ride on the road that week due to wheel building commitments, then i raced my first race for the season with the guys. It was a amateur race of 115km. I felt ok but the lack of training took its toll at the 70km mark and i withdrew to save it for another day. The next two days i made the 75km trip to the house by bike to do some work and took the car home as it was a late finish. Sven has taken them out more recently on some longer 6 hour rides, so the boys were due for a recovery ride. I carried on the tradition from the guys last season and took them to Punto in Leuven for a quick coffee as we had a team meeting that arvo. I dont think they remembered the way to Leuven either, but they will figure it out.



Easter weekend was upon me and Good Friday was not a public holiday for I [or Linds].
I spent the day fitting out the truck with the washer and dryer, although its the same truck i had to make some improvements from last season. Saturday was to get the truck finished, so i was back to the teamhouse to fit the side awning before Monday race. Easter Sunday was not a day for chocolate eggs but building wheels for race day. I had tubular wheels to get ready but there was no way they would be ready in a day, if a job is worth doing its worth doing properly ive always been told. Monday was race day and i had the guys helping me out in the morning by fitting the tyre and tubes, which i feel bad for Matt as he fitted one too many and ended up with blisters on his thumbs and raced on his own wheels in the end. I was the mechanic this day as i am in no shape to race 170km. Some of the guys didnt seem used to having a mechanic do everything for them, Tom had to ask if i could pump his tyres, Sam left his frame number in his bag thinking he could proberly put it on later, but its only the first race and they will soon learn our routine. As for the race it went wheel change free except for Peter right before the start when his cassette lock ring came loose, i changed his wheels quickly before leaving the truck thinking i was giving him a better set of wheels, as they were a set of Gil's wheels i should of checked the cassette, whoops. All was good and he made the start.
The Belgium weather really turned it on for the guys, for some it was their first race. They had the cross winds, rain, sun and even some light snow. Most suffered with the cold but Sven, Matt and Peter finished with Nick and Steffan pulling out on the last lap. But it was a great ride by everyone.

April 4 and 5 we go to France for racing so the weather will hopefully be better for the guys.

So that should just about bring you up to speed on the team and what i have being doing the last few weeks. It has been a little frustrating not knowing what im doing or where im going, to this day its still not 100% clear but im staying positive.

Funky

Things are looking up

Soon i will be back into regular posting, now that things are starting to roll along with the new team. It is hard to write about things when there is not much going on, but here's a run down of the way i have spent the last 6 weeks.

There was a couple of weeks of waiting to see what would be in it for me as far as the new team goes. I gave Gil a deadline, then i needed to start looking for work. He bent over backwards to find something. There was a sponsor lined up that would pay my wage to mechanic for the team on a fulltime basis, but they couldnt put the cash together. So i spent some time researching possible teams, Linds put together a letter head for me and i sent it off to some dozen odd teams. So far i have only heard back from one, they had 7 fulltime mechanics and no room for another [that i can accept], but would keep my details for future needs. Some work can come up around April as teams have a triple or double program and realise they need extra staff. Its very hard to get into the circle here, everyone tends to stick to their own, like a mechanic might have a friend he knows that isnt a mechanic but he can wash a bike or take some bags to a room, he doesnt really need to pick up a allen key.

Meanwhile the new team was moving ahead with a conti licence, there's not much of a budget but its still a team. It will be Australian registered with the main sponsor as cyclingnews.com and Jako as second sponsor. We had some 50 so riders apply for a spot on the team which we thought would be a tough selection, but most were'nt able to invest the money to support themselves while racing here. So the selection was made and the team registered. Now although theres no actual job for me with the team, i did get a gig as a rider for the team, so i will get to do some racing this year with the team as a reserve rider. My first race is susposed to be the 1.1 Nokere, which im in absolutly no condition for.

I finally recieved my new mountain bike and have spent some time in the forrest riding with Linds and ive done some road km's with Sven. I have also taken Sven out motorpacing a few times, the first time i went i couldnt feel my legs for atleast 3 hours afterwards. The next time i wore leg warmers under my jeans, heaps warmer.

I've also spent some time packing things up for our move to Holland. Last week i was running back and forth to the team house putting our things in the garage for storage, it took me a good hour just to disassemble one wardrobe, then another hour carrying all the pieces over to the teamhouse. I had most stuff done half way through last week when we went to France to pick up the truck and Astra from DFL's Nick Collins. So we're using the same truck i had last year as DFL is still a sponsor but on a smaller scale now. On the way back from France we stopped at our wheel sponsor for the team, to discuss some work for myself. From this meeting i started work building wheels to help this guy out and to give me some cash flow for a while. Im still hoping to get some team work but realise i might have to sit this year out, but the wheel building will get me by. I get paid per pair of wheels so the more i build the more i get paid, i've just got to get fast at building them.
So from that visit i have been flat out building wheels and moving the last of our furniture, by the time the weekend came i was stuffed, and sick. I caught a bug and have had a case of the flu the last few days.

The new team is well underway thou with clothing finally getting made [now that sponsors are confirmed], bikes been ordered and riders arriving. Nick was the first one here and has spent the last few days out on the road with Sven, as i have being too sick to even think about riding. Its an exciting time with our very late team coming together but its good to see after so much work Gil and Rudi have done to get it all up and running. Thou its only a small team, its still takes alot of meetings, and even these take time to arrange, then its waiting for decisions to be made and next thing you know a week as been and gone. But everythings in place and the team had its first race on Sunday in which we only had two riders start cos thats all we had. I was sick and Nick had just arrived the night before, so it was up to Sven and Kris. They even wore kit from a couple of years ago as the new kit is not ready, but the sponsors were almost the same. It was a good day as Sven took line honors, so with win number one down its a great start to our season.

So not too much happening, not like last year where i had already done 5 races by this time. Im going to concentrate on what is happening now, building as many wheels as i can and getting some training so i can perform at some minor races this year. Its going to be a very different year.

Funky