At the Worlds

Before I begin, let me just say a quick word about an anomymous comment [now deleted] I was left which I took as insulting. I won’t go on too much as I don’t want to give the person the satisfaction but my respected readers will know that the picture of the Ultegra derailleur on my banner is from my own bike. I work with high-end materials regularly but just because I ride Ultegra does not make me less of a mechanic, I can easily buy Di2, Dura Ace or even Super Record if I want to, but do I really need it since I ride maybe 3 times a month these days?. I am not one of those show ponies that has to have all the bling just to ride up and down the beach, I mean bloody hell, my race wheels are 32 hole 3 cross GP4’s and the bike itself is aluminium and weighs a tonne. So just because I don't ride the top level components does not reduce my skills as a mechanic, I ride with what is within my needs and budget. So next time keep YOUR “B grade” [as I was called] comments to yourself.



Just to note, this post was posted but for some unknown reason did not stay posted, so it may seem a little late now to read.

I have been back in Oz for a little over a week now. I had an average flight as I was sick just days before leaving and actually spent a whole day in bed just prior to flying out to Oslo to hook up with the team. We arrived in the evening and by the time all 19 of us had our luggage I was looking forward to a hotel bed, for a change. But that was put back further than I thought as there was 2 hour bus trip to Torquay to go.
First days work is always put the bikes together, so that was done quite easily and quickly by myself and Lorentz, even without workstands. Then we had to go collect all the rental cars and then I had to make a trip to Pete’s shop to collect all my bits and pieces that I had arranged, things like workstands, cleaning items, table, chairs, coolers etc. Most teams bring all this with them or they buy it here, but there was some overweight concerns so I organised what I could. The bike storage area at the hotel for us to work from. Here there is also 3 other teams [Netherlands, USA and Canada] and each morning it is a buzz of mechanics making bikes ready and riders coming in to go out on their days training, where it is a noise of different languges until they all head out so there is just 3 or 4 mechanics left doing their thing.

This is our bike storage area. The riders are all out training except for Thor whose bike sits in the corner with spare bikes hanging above.


Things went a little down hill for me on the second day as I became sick with food poisoning or something, so just to be safe I was isolated from the team as quickly as possible. I went to stay with my brother Chris and it was luckly he was going away with his wife and kids just incase I had something contageous, which is why I was sent away from the team. They had to take every precaution as a lot of money is invested in the trip here and the last thing we want is the team to fall ill, because it has happened before. So Sunday I was given the all clear to come back, it just mean’t I missed the warm up race. The day turned out ok thou because I was at the hotel to wash the girls bikes for when they returned from their race that morning.

Monday I was back into the swing of things, not that there was much to do. The bikes all arrived ok so not too much work had to be done with those, just prepare them for the days training, give them a wash afterwards and that’s about it. With Thor’s two reserve bikes the last to arrive everything was ready to go. I spent a day in the car with Steffen following Edvald on a 7 hour training ride, as I knew the roads. He apparently likes to photograph so I used his camera to take a few shots of him training in the Otways area.
the riders get ready for a days training.

So today has being a busy day making sure everything is ready for our first days racing, the under 23 men. The task was to make sure all their wheels were in racing condition, by this I mean clean,true and good tires fitted. Also the cables were all checked for condition and replaced if needed so that the shifting was perfect, then all bolts were checked before the bikes were finished off with a fresh roll of bar tape. For this race there is only neutral support, so no follow car, which means I will be on the sideline all day. Lorentz will do the girls race while I stay at the hotel preparing the 7 bikes [ 3 race and 4 spare] for Sunday’s main race, hopefully it’s a Norwegian on the top step.



Til next time
Mark