The Gear Movement

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!