ToC - HOW DID WE RATE? DAILY :K #6

The 2009 Tour of California has come to a close but Powered:By fi’zi:k is not quite finished with our tour behind the scenes. With an estimated 1.6 million fans and ToC participants, to say that we were proud to be there would be an understatement. Dirtied hands, unforeseen mishaps and speed bumps tossed into the mix, and fifteen hour days of labor and laughter, contributed to a remarkable experience for Powered:By fi’zi:k.



Come in she said I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”
-Bob Dylan

Of the seventeen participating teams at the Tour of California, fifteen enjoyed the luxury of having a home on wheels to shelter them from rainy stage starts and to provide them with a heated haven following four to five hours of bone chillin’ downpours. While visiting European teams reap certain unstated benefits of being an ‘invited’ pro tour team, not all US based teams have the required budget to pony up for a 33-foot chariot. For that reason (plus that other tidbit about the 1.6 million viewers) Powered:By fi’zi:k was pleased and proud to be able to step up to help out our newest sponsoree, Fly V Australia presented by Successful Living on two week’s notice!

It wasn’t our only team out there (eight teams riding fi’zi:k saddles) but ironically, it was the team most decimated by a nasty traveling inter-peloton virus. One by one, day after day, illness struck – and one by one they left. In the end, the 8-team member capacity team bus held two lone riders – Ben Day and Curtis Gunn*- there to weather the storm and finish what they’d started. (*Curtis Gunn started but did not finish the final stage due to a knee injury).

Curtis Gunn and Ben Day

TWO WEEKS NOTICE

Two weeks notice, an idea hatched over a cup of coffee with 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist Steve Hegg, and a wrap design created by Crank Brother’s Art Director extraordinaire Tim Van Gilder in the span of two hours, and Powered:By fi’zi:k was born. So…how did we rate when stacked up against the others?

Team OUCH presented by Maxxis

Team GARMIN-SLIPSTREAM

Team BMC

Team Quickstep

Cervelo Test Team

Team Jelly Belly

Team Rabobank

Team Liquigas

Team Astana

Team Saxo Bank

Team Columbia - High Road

Team Ag2r

Team Type 1

Powered:By fi'zi:k

How'd we do?

TOC POWERED:BY FI’ZI:K, DAILY :K #3

Cervelo Test Team's Carlos Sastre carrying bottles.

FROM THE BACK – INSIDE THE PACK

We often wonder if pro cyclists ‘notice’ the kits, logos, components and bike frames of other teams while they’re riding in the pack. There is no shortage of long slow stages with miles to cover and time to while away. As cyclists - pro, enthusiasts or recreational - we spend a significant amount of time staring at the backs of the rider in front of us.




One moment of false concentration can spell disaster if the rider in front of you makes a quick move or over-correction in effort to avoid unforeseen road hazards. While the fi'zi:k back can me mezmorizing and hypnotizing, the extended trance can also lead to unintentionally crossed wheels with little time to undue the damage (as was the case yesterday when Levi crossed wheels w/ Lance and in effort to avoid taking him down, took down nearly the entire Garmin-Slipstream squad).



So…do they notice, we wondered - the fi’zi:k logos on the back of other teams?

Curtis Gunn from the Fly V Australia pb Successful Living team said, “I definitely notice what’s on the backs of other riders because that’s how I pick out where my guys are or where other riders and teams are positioned. That’s how I can identify them quickly.” He continued, “I don’t notice that much when I’m out on a group ride but I definitely notice when I’m in the pack – in a race situation.”

“That’s quite a billboard you’ve got there on the Columbia - Highroad Team,” Team OUCH’s Tim Johnson remarked. “Much bigger than ours, eh?”


“Is there anyone out there not riding your saddles?” Team OUCH’s Mike Tamayo asked. (When you’re staring at the back of rider’s butts all day, five teams with fi’zi:k logos equals 40 cyclists….and that’s a whole lot of bum look at).

And from the peloton during Stage 4 when the Team OUCH car pulled up next to Team BMC Manager Gavin Chilcott’s team car for a chat, “You’ve got the biggest logo in the caravan!”

“What do you mean? The one on Team Columbia - High Road?” we asked?




“Uh…no,” he said, “That 20 foot fi’zi:k logo spread across your team bus!”


Oh….that one.

TOC POWERED:BY FI'ZI:K DAILY :K #1 - Extra Grip is Extra Hip in the Pro Peloton

Admittedly and perhaps somewhat shamefully…we’ve been overlooking the popularity of the fi’zi:k Extra Grip with the pros. We’re discovering here at the 2009 Tour of California that it is 1. semi-coveted but, yet 2. still a fairly well-kept secret.
Biggest fan of fi’zi:k Extra Grip in the Tour of California peloton?
The award goes to Garmin-Slipstream.
Nearly half of the Garmin-Slipstream Pro Cycling Team is using fi’zi:k Extra Grip either on their TT bikes, or as noticed today, during sloppy, long road stages.

Extra Daily :k Feeding
1: In the middle of Saturday’s short Prologue, head mechanic for the Cervelo Test Team - Alejandro – scurried up to the fi’zi:k bus in search of an extra Aliante for one of the riders while also inquiring, Can I have that thing Garmin-Slipstream has that keeps them from slipping forward on their TT bikes?

That thing, it turns out, was the Extra Grip. And as for the Aliante? Since the fi’zi:k bus was stocked only with the new Antares, fi’zi:k’s John Cordoba was kind enough to loan Alejandro his personal Aliante, right off his bike. Turns out that loaner was for none other than Brett Lancaster, multi-time Team Pursuit World Title winner as well as the 2005 Giro d’Italia Prologue winner (and thus, wearer of the maglia rosa). Perhaps there will be magic in that saddle when it is finally returned to Cordoba.