Time to Relax, At Last.

So I know this is only my 6th post for the year and I will be the first to admit I have being slack in making more of an effort, but this is the first week I have had completely free since starting the season. I have heaps of ideas to post on but this year has just being ridiculously busy and the time to sit down and write a post has being very limited, just look at the date of this post, I started it like 3 weeks ago and have just now found the time to finish it.

This year has gone at such a crazy speed. January was the end of my off season with Feburary a mad rush of building bikes and preparing wheels, March was an intense amount of driving from one country to another for races [clocking up almost 5000km in 5 weeks] and April was about the same. The time at home in between races was spent working, preparing more wheels. May was more races [close to home thou] but my free time then was spent in Dubai helping a friend set up a bike store [more on that next time] and now we're in June already with 3 weeks of the month spent in Norway. In the last few weeks I could really feel everything starting to catch up with me. My eyes felt constantly heavy like I could fall asleep at any moment, my whole body was tired. A sleep in the car during a race was looking possible for the first time since starting this job. I was feeling like I was almost at breaking point. On paper the teams program didn't look that busy but the races have just followed one after another quite quickly, with only about a week to a week and a half in between. Unlike last season, I seem to have had less time or even energy to get out for a ride. I don't know why but I certianly didn't feel this fatigued at this same point last season. I have had much more of a work load this season, and I can only put that down to the preparation schedule in those first months. If I have to open another tube of tubular glue it will be too soon. I started the season with 6 12 pack boxes of glue, and I think I have used 5 of them in the past 3 months.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the work I do, after all I'm not here to ride my bike everyday like some tourist. I was bought up to work hard and started working fulltime at the age of 15, so I'm quite used to constant work. But for people that think this is a glamorous easy job just working on bikes all day, think again. Yes it does have it's benefits but working on the bikes is just a small part of this job. For an idea of what a week for me in between races can involve then following is a schedule of my week once I returned home from the Olympia Tour, which was on a Saturday. And this was a more quieter week.

Sunday, this was already penciled in for a no work day.

Monday, send some work related emails [I liase alot of feedback with 4ZA about our wheels], do some bookkeeping of my work for Mr Tax Man then clean out the truck. After every race with every one in a hurry to get home, there is normally stuff packed anywhere and everywhere, and most of it has to come out so I can just get to the bikes. Just this alone can take 3 hours. Also in the first days back I have all my washing to do, at races the wash machine in the truck is normally back logged with riders clothing. A 6 hour day.

Tuesday, well I squeezed in a quick morning one hour ride before starting work at 10 servicing all the wheels. This included taking off all the old tubulars, checking every wheel for trueness, clean and regrease rear hub and cassette body and glue on a new pre glued [done the day before] tubular, do that a number of times and I was done for the day. A 7 hour day.

Wednesday [another quick ride], bike service day. Clean all TT bikes, spare bikes and race bikes [13 in total]. Then with the race bikes the work can vary, on one it was replace a shifter and some cables, regrease bottom bracket, some new bar tape, check it all over and the bike is finished. On another it was just a simple general check over of the bike. The goal is to have the bike in top shape for the next race which hopefully gives me less work while at the race, but there are some things that have to be done at a race. Chains, bar tape and cables get replaced on a regular basis [usually I do this at home], it will vary from bike to bike when this is done but I record every bit of work I do on each bike so I can see what was done and when it was done. With the time and materials I have it is not possible to strip and rebuild every bike to new after every race, this is not pro tour, I'm just one man. A 10 hour day.

Thursday, another quick early morning ride by riding to work with Linds [at this rate I may get fit again], go out and get a few work related items, go to the supermarket for some groceries, drive an hour to the bike shop for some more Morgan Blue chain lube and then once back start to pack the truck. A 9 hour day.

Friday, wash the truck, finish packing [including my own bag], tidy the house a little and then leave, spend the rest of the day and the next day driving before arriving at our location for the race. Friday a 12 hour day and Saturday a 15 hour day.

That's a typical week in between races, ok maybe it doesn't sound too bad as I have no boss constantly looking over my shoulder giving me greif every minute of the day. I work at my pace and the fact that in the last 10 days I'm still being paid while I sit at home doing sweet stuff all, hence why I can finish this post. Some days I might only do half a days work, others can be a full 8 or 9 hour day. I plan the work and spread it out to a little each day and try to finish each day by 6, just before Lindsay gets home from work. At the races the days can be much longer, thou not including the time sitting at the bar having a few cold ones. In the last month, over a 26 day period I worked 284 hours, which is taken from the time I finsh having breakfast until the time I down tools for the night. From what I gather it is easier on a big pro team because they have more staff, but where I only do about 150 days away, fulltime pro tour staff can do up to 300. The downside to a normal job is no bonuses, no sick leave, and so on. Also the fact that despite doing a stellar job all year doesn't always mean you have a job the following year. It's unlikely an established buisness will be looking good one day and then suddenly be closed shop the next, but a cycling team can go bust real quick.

So if your wondering why I haven't wrote much lately then I hope this gives some insight into why that has been and what this job involves, it's not the easy life as some might think... yeah ok maybe it is. Now my rest week is over and I now head back to Norway for the championships, then bring on July because I have the whole month off, that will be nice.