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| From Colombia |
After the rough start to the tour with everyone feeling a little sick and mishaps in the opening team time trial, the team was feeling better and some results came in. My rest day was indeed not a day of rest but a full day of work changing cables and chains. The bikes are time consuming just to change a cable as they have internal routing but also there are cable stops that have to be removed to feed the cable sleeve through. On Victor's bike the cable stop for the brake had a burred screw which takes a tiny 2mm allen key. So what I told William to do was drill out the screw, remove the stopper and run a continuous cable from the lever to the calliper. It worked but it just took extra time. Other than all that, we had to change a few tyres which we have a good sponsor there in Vittoria and they have supplied the team with a decent amount of tubulars which is a good thing as you use alot. During the tour we went through something like 30 tubs and the flats average was about 2 per day, which is not bad considering the road conditions on certian stages and that some days were wet.
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| From Colombia |
After the rest day there was the ITT which we were hoping to win with Oscar but it didn't turn out that way. Victor and Paco also put in quick times but it just wasn't enough. The earlier part of the week not alot happened, a stage went through Geurilla territory and then there was a landslide that closed the road and stopped the race for two hours, that was a long day. The guys also did have to contend a very tough mountain top finish where it was 18% in some parts and riders were being pushed along by the spectators, it was a great atmosphere.
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| From Colombia |
What happens when the race just stops for 2 hours.
With the tour coming to an end Rudy was keen for a stage win, but time was running out. Stage 12 there was a incident with Velasco. He had a flat, it was a routine change, Chepe bought back to the convoy as far as we could [more on that in a minute], and within 30 seconds he was on the deck and changing bikes. He finished the day but was disqualified for pacing and was not allowed to start the next day, dissapointing. But that day was sweetened by the stage win from Victor, in a final break of four Chepe and I followed Victor from when the break formed at about 50km to go, and by the end he was seconds ahead of the peloton but put in a huge show of strength up the final climb to the finish. It was nerve racking in the car as we were unsure if he would make it or be caught, then the race radio shouts "VICTOR HUGO PENA", the team got its victory.
Then the next day was the unexpected victory, Chady breaks away with 80km to go and solo's to the line. Chepe and I were there again in the second car to see it happen, Chady with time up his sleeve punching his fist in the air, giving the famous Rock Racing salute with 1km to go and then throwing the two arms in the air as he crosses the line. We missed the team car deviation in all the excitment and drove the across the line instead where Chady was mobbed by fans and reporters. two in a row and the team team was going for number three.
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| From Colombia |
The crucial mountian time trial on the final day. It was a day of this one or that one as far as bikes go, normal bike or TT bike, normal wheels or disc wheel. Guti was out early and gave the info of the conditions. Paco set out on the TT bike and set the best time, I was on course with Victor who was on his normal bike with clip-ons and a disc and had also set a new best time. Then Oscar, who decided to change bikes just before his start also came in with a new best time, but Rujano couldn't expect that winning the tour by 5 minutes was enough as he went on to take the stage. Oscar finished third.
So that was the tour over and it was time to pack everything up which I mostly did on my own and some help from Willy, packing all the wheels and materials to take back to Belgium and then the 8 race bikes, 8 TT bikes and 3 spare bikes. In the end we had 6 bike cartons, 6 bike bags, 2 cooler boxes, 1 bag of spare parts, my tool box and all our suit cases to check in, good thing we didn't pay the excess weight.
The race was good organisation and only one crappy hotel, but for the rules, if you're going to follow UCI rules follow them all. You cant have a vehicle over 1.6 meters high in the convoy and yet they disqualify your rider for coming back behind cars after a fall or a flat. And they have way too many cars in the convoy that travel on the left, so team cars can't get through quick enough to get to their riders in the peloton. And telling us no feeding with 20km to go on a hot mountain top finish, have some sense. Its strange to see the different rules race officials apply at races where I travel.
With everything ready to go, Monday was a day to be a tourist. After a good sleep in and some brunch at the donut shop [a toasted sandwich] we headed up to the mountain that sits on Bogota's city edge. At almost 3000m [2980m right Chady?] you could look down on the whole city. On the way back we decided to walk back to the hotel, Rudy and Willy were a little ahead of us when some guy on a moto tried to snatch Rudy's blackberry straight out of his hand. Like the girl grabbing the camera from the car, their not afraid to snatch it right in front of you. Myself, chady and Robert weren't far behind so the guy rode off. Then Robert decided to arm himself with a stick that had a nail petruding from it [good photo on Chady's facebook page].
So if you come to Colombia, leave your flashy stuff in the hotel or take a stick.
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| From Colombia |
Apart from that, the whole Colombian culture was interesting. It was not third world as many people think, most people have a house/building to live in, and cars and all. I've seen many worse places for living/hotels/schooling conditions, such as China and Serbia. All the school children lining the race course were all wearing school uniforms. And people don't just come around kidnapping you for no reason, the Colombian mafia only deal with those in their business, stay out of their business and you'll be ok. Just don't wear/take anything flashy cos the petty thieves will steal the shirt off your back.
There's a few more races there later in the year, so maybe I get to go back, which would be good because the coffee is great.
Keep riding
Funky
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