Team OUCH - fi’zi:k’s longest running US pro sponsorship partner - invited fi’zi:k into the team car for Stage Four’s 115 mile tour from Merced to Clovis.
There are a couple of things to know before jumping into a team car:
1. If female, limit coffee intake prior to getting in a team car – stopping for a female-appropriate relief break is rare (we’ve got this one down).
2. Be ready to settle in for what could potentially be a long, sleepy day.
3. No hanging out of the Team Car to take photos (our good friend Adrian Montgomery at Scott USA learned this one a few years back at the Tour of Georgia).
4. If a semi-hang out attempt is made for the rare photo opp (ie. of Lance) you may get the stink eye (experienced several years back at the Tour of Georgia). Thus, get ego in check.
Riding in a team car looks glamorous from the outside and can in fact, be absurdly exciting. Other than being a pro in the bunch, it’s tough to get much closer to the action. For the most part, the best view point will always be from the living room couch. Days can be brutally long in the team car - there’s no getting out to stretch or to stop for coffee - and if the hosting team car is ranked anything below Team Car #4 or #5 (the cars are numbered from 1-17 based on the General Classification), you are all but removed from the action. So, while exciting at times, the view from the tube is a great vantage point to watch a pro cycling race.
[Of special note, should the opportunity arise to jump in a team car, sharing the same language with driver and mechanic is a must. Otherwise, there is literally no one with whom to speak for approximately four to six hours. Chatting on the phone is a bad behavior.]
HOW IT WORKS:
Each team car (two cars per team at the ToC), has a Technical Guide that outlines the details of the day’s stage: left and right turns, railroad crossings, King of the Mountain Sprints, and the Feed Zone. The race usually starts with a few ‘neutral laps’ in each hosting start town – to put on a show for the locals – and after a designated distance, the race is officially on.
After a designated amount of distance (usually 20 miles or so), the race is then ‘open to feeding’. At this point, the riders can drop back to their team cars to grab bottles, snacks, or to drop off or pick up clothing. There’s an organized system to ‘feeding’ that goes like this (we’ll refer to Team OUCH since they were the hosting car). Team OUCH rider drops back to the rear of the main pack and raises his hand (as if to ask a question). The race radio announcer in Commissaire Car #2 spies the rider’s hand, and then announces over the team race radio, “Team OUCH for feeding.” In the meantime, Team OUCH rider has already radio’d his Director (driving the car) that he’s coming back for bottles – and Team Director (Mike Tamayo) has thus already made his way up through the caravan (Team OUCH was car #11 during this stage) toward the back of the pack by the time Team OUCH car has been called up.
Tim Johnson grabbing bottles.
Cam Evans doing domestique duties.
Photo time.
Another potential action photo opportunity occurs during flat tires and crashes. We usually refrain from snapping during crashes. FIRST THE FLATS…
While flats are a fairly common occurrence during race action, requiring the team car to find their rider and swap out their front or rear wheel (a technique mastered by mechanics taking less than ten seconds) – they can make or break the cyclists overall GC standing. This can depend on the terrain and what’s happening in the race when the flat occurs.
When a rider flats, the rest of the group doesn’t just ‘wait up’. The amount of effort required to catch back on has been known to crack many a cyclist – causing them to throw in the proverbial towel on the entire race. For example, if a flat occurs just as the speed picks up (fast rollers or descents), that rider can be severely off the back in the mere seconds it takes for the team car to find the rider on the right side of the road (they always pull to the right), swap the wheel, give him a push and then attempt to pace him back to the main group.
It can take 30 miles to get your rider back to the main group, riding at a full effort.
Even George Hincapie needs to be paced.
Such was the luck of Karl ‘Ten Men’ Menzies and Bradley White (Most Courageous Rider, Stage 3) early on during the stage. They eventually caught up with the main group but it was after a heroic effort – one that Mike Tamayo labeled – the best catch back on I’ve ever seen. It was an effort that completely destroyed Team OUCH’s John Murphy who sacrificed himself for his teammates to help them re-join the main field and make the day’s time cut.
THE CRASHES: When a rider goes down in front or near the team car, the risks involved with this ‘job’ become real. We’ve seen a few ugly crushes over the years; it’s an odd - sickly spectacular - but uncomfortable site. Inside the team car, the desire is high to stop to help – but the peloton doesn’t stop and the team car screams on (unless, of course, the fallen rider is one of yours). The hard reality in bike racing is that you never really know how or where your day is going to end. For BMC’s Scott Nydam and Team Columbia Highroad’s Kim Kirchen, the day started in Merced under sunny skies and ended at the Fresno hospital.
POWERED:BY FI’ZI:K - FROM INSIDE
MORE TO COME.
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