Tour of Californa Stage 1
Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Jordan in Jordan, Pro Wrenching, The Gear Movers
The Garmin Transitions Team Bikes before the start of Stage 2
Stage 1: Nevada City to Sacramento. We had about a 1hr transfer this morning from our hotel in Sacramento to the race start in beautiful, quant Nevada City, what a cool little mountain town! This morning all the three mechanics had to do was get the race bikes, spare bikes and spare wheels pumped and loaded up on our many vehicles, wash the two race cars and get rolling. Our standard procession to the bike race is with the bus in front, leading the way with all of our riders, mechanics driving the race cars and everyone else sitting and ready to roll!
Mechanics Jordan Schware and Tom Hopper before the start, looking good!
With a prompt race start at 11:45am, we were off! We have two caravan cars here for the Garmin-Transitions team, me in car two, big time mechanic Tom Hopper in car 1. I did a lot of sleeping in the team car today, no real work, it was a little bit different for Tom. The front car saw some action with a few flat tires and a rear derailleur to the spokes in Tommy Danielson’s bike on a climb. After a quick bike change to his spare, Tommy D was up and rolling along!
The craziness before the start...
Mark Cavendish from the Columbia – HTC Team took the win in a final sprint in downtown Sacramento. The Columbia boys have started off the week in style! All the Garmin boys finished with the group and were unscathed in some of the crashes at the finale.
Kevin the Bus Driver and Nick the Swany before the start
After rolling back from the bike race, us mechanics got the bikes and cars washed, cassettes and cranks changed for the hills of tomorrow and the trailer packed and ready to go for its first transfer. Tomorrow Jake is going to be in the 2nd team car, with me doing the transfer of our mobile service course to the next hotel. Cheers and goodnight ya’ll!
We were shooting some B roll for a Cliff Bar commercial today on both team cars...
Tour of California Stage 0
Posted on 16. May, 2010 by Jordan in Jordan, Pro Wrenching, The Gear Movers
Garmin Transitions ProTour Mechanic Tom Hopper Getting the Bikes Dialed!
Ever wanted a behind the scenes look at what goes on at a top level pro cycling race in the United States? Look no further! A lot of websites ask for athlete and race related content, what about the fun times that is had by all the support staff in the pro peloton? There are mechanics, sougniers, directors, logistical staff, chefs, bus drivers and many more important people that help each pro team to get through each day and keep the race running behind the scenes!
SRAM's new Aprila Motos and their sweet custom chromed racks!!
I will be spending this week with the Garmin – Transitions Pro Cycling at the Amgen Tour of California. Talk about the real deal! This ProTour level team has it all. We are totally set up with almost 25 staff members for only 8 riders in the race. This large discrepancy means we have our basis covered and every t is crossed and i is dotted, we are dialed!
Rockstar Fly V Australia Director Ed Beamon, apparently too busy to chat with me...
It is now day two of prep before the race and my legs and feet are already done. Standing in parking lot for more than 12 hours a day while running around doing odd jobs from working on bikes, washing bikes, cleaning cars, setting up radios, applying vinyl stickers to rental vehicles and eating burritos! Thats right, we are sponsored by Chipotle, its pretty sweet!
The Fly V Australia mechanics truck and a bike getting unpacked...
Too many words to put into this quick blog right now, so lets let the behind the scenes pictures tell it all…
Fly V Australia mechanic Chris Davidson
Garmin Transitions Chef RV. This bus is for cooking food for the riders only!
Food all over the chef RV. The guys will be eating very well this week!
The mechanics side of the Garmin Transitions Team, nice setup boys!
I worked on these spare bikes today, ready to go for stage 1!
Tom Hopper checking out the new trainers for the TT bikes, kinda cool idea - LeMond Trainers...
USA National TT Champ Dave Zabriskie's new custom TT rig, this thing is dope!
Ben and Nicole go to Moab!
Posted on 05. May, 2010 by Ben in Ben, Nicole, The Gear Movers
So, it was Nicole’s Birthday this past Sunday. She and I got to escape for the weekend thanks to my parents. We drove up I-70 late Thursday afternoon; dropped the kid’s off in Wolcott where my mom and dad were ready to endure a full weekend of chaos. They even took the puppy! We were alone, finally!
The set for the Movie: "127 Hours" About Aron Ralston who had to cut his own arm off after getting stuck in the rocks in Moab
We rolled into Moab and on up to Sandy Flats campground around 7:30. We noticed signs for “127 Hours” – What’s that? Then we saw camera crews, a full Hollywood set-up… later found out it was the filming of the movie about the Aaron Ralston story – the guy who had to cut his own arm off after getting trapped in a canyon on a solo mission. Bonus.
We woke up the next morning – weather was iffy – but it held out long enough for us to ride Slickrock….
Nicole Duke riding the Moab Slickrock
Nicole Duke, posing in Moab, I would say the only time she wasnt hammering me into the ground!
…what a wonderland!
Then the rain came – we hid in our pimped out van for a few hours the reaped the benefits a gnarly storm cloud can have on a sunset!
The Beautiful Moab Sunset
Ya, that’s not a fire.
The next day was a beautiful one – and we cranked out the Porcupine loop – I love this trail and all its wonderful views !!!
On your birthday, can it get any better than this?
Happy Birthday Nicole!!!
SRAM Tour of the Gila Recap with SRAM NRS
Posted on 05. May, 2010 by Jordan in Jordan, Pro Wrenching, The Gear Movers
A quick picture opportunity in some of the beautiful New Mexico Landscape with the SRAM NRS Team Car
Long, long, long week! I think that is the best way to describe this last week of bike racing down in Silver City, NM. The SRAM Tour of the Gila outdid itself once again and provided all who attended at the races, on the internet and in the newsprint with a spectacular show! The characters, the racers, the locals, the in-race antics, the insanely tough conditions and the all around fun atmosphere provided by SRAM gave us a Tour to remember. For those of you not familiar with the SRAM Tour of the Gila, if you are interested at all in bike racing I recommend you check it out – www.tourofthegila.com.
Fast Tube by Casper
Fast Tube by Casper
Fast Tube by Casper
More great YouTube videos from Jordan at the SRAM Tour of the Gila – The Gear Movement’s YouTube Page
Jordan checked in after day two of working with the SRAM NRS road crew, but doing much more than that was pretty hard for him based on the enormous amount of work that needed to be done at the race. Here is an opportunity to check out some cool videos from a mechanics perspective as well as some great behind the scenes photos from the Gila.
SRAM NRS team bikes lined up and ready to go in the Stage 4 crit at the SRAM Tour of the Gila
Jordan atop the custom SRAM NRS Aprila GT 850 support moto, this thing has a nice kick to it!
That is some beautiful SRAM NRS red and black at the Stage 3 TT...
We hope you enjoy and please stay tuned as Jordan ventures out to the Tour of California with the Garmin Transitions Pro Cycling Team for more bike racing!
Roswell, what? Gotta love the New Mexico state bus, government cover up, what??
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