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!

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??

Super cool Custom SRAM Red 54t Chainring for Nat Champ John Murphy

Today’s a wrap at the Tour of Missouri. We placed 9th in the field sprint (John Murphy – OUCH Maxxis). The win went to Mark Cavendish from the ever powerful Columbia HTC team. A Little side note fans, the Columbia HTC team is one of The Gear Movement’s biggest clients, yes we work with the best! First place price today was a Buell 1125R moto! How will they split that between 8 riders and 12 staff? Any ideas? I’ll tell Cavendish your ideas tomorrow at dinner!

Dan The Bicycle Man - Check out the sweet off center front wheel!

Jordan spent the day in the feedzone and hanging on the massive team bus watching the race on TV! Only one caravan was allowed in the race today and the duty of mechanic goes to the rad Eric Greene (OUCH Maxxis’ head wrench). After the race the fun consisted of getting the team bikes washed super fast! I can now say I am one of the fastest bike washers when I am in my element, no jokes here please! This evening consisted of dinner with the OUCH boys in the great dinning hall. Tomorrows Stage 2 begins in Ste. Genevieve about an hour and a half transfer from the hotel here in St. Louis. Our start time is 11am which means us staff need to get up around and out at the trailer by about 5 or 6am to make sure we get everything dialed in. Stage 2 finishes in Cape Girardeau!

Super Mechanic John Sessa from the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team

Nice thing about this race is that it is super well organized! The organizers did a great job placing the finishes within 1-3 miles of the hotels we stay in that night, making for short nights and long morning transfers. No sarcasm here but this is a mechanics dream!!

Another Super Mechanic - Vince Gee of the BMC Pro Cycling Team

Looks as though my responsibility for this race will be transfer boy! We have a new staff member named Adrian who is as Irish as they come. He is so Irish that I can barely understand what he says when he talks!! Its gonna be an interesting week of fighting for parking spots, water hookups, rooms, and electrical hookups in the parking lots at hotels all over the state of Missouri. Anyways I’m off to bed, its early to rise tomorrow for a fun day of the Tour of Missouri.

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