This article originally appeared on BikeRadar
The race mechanics to the world's fastest seem to have a near-perfect job – travel the world; work on bikes; hang out with cycling's biggest names... With this enviable stereotype in mind, we thought we'd take you behind the scenes to show what it takes to turn a wrench at this level and what a day in the life of a pro race mechanic generally involves.
We were given this opportunity at the 2015 Santos Tour Down Under, where Australian Pro-Continental Drapac Professional Cycling outfit invited us into their team car.
The Tour Down Under is generally quite relaxed for mechanics – the stages are relatively short and dry, and the home base doesn't change for the week. With stress levels low, we joined two of Drapac's well-established and respected mechanics – Jeff Crombie and Jesse Geisler – to see what their working lives entail.
ADVERTISEMENT
Canadian Crombie, originally from Calgary, has recently worked with the likes of Sky and Orica-GreenEdge but started out in bike stores many years ago. If you're a fan of quality bike tools, the name Crombie may be familiar – with Abbey Bike Tools' cassette tool being named after him.
Australian Jesse Geisler comes from a fabrication background, where he takes great pride in being able to create things from a concept. Geisler has been in the Australian cycling industry for more than two decades and runs his own repair and fabrication shop, based in Melbourne, when not wrenching for Drapac.
Crombie told BikeRadar that if the mechanics do their jobs and have everything prepared in advance, the job needn't be high stress – it's usually just pitching up at the start and helping the team and other staff in general preparation.
Occasionally this isn't the case, and sometimes last minute things arise. We experienced this with Martin Kohler wanting his cleats adjusted 10 minutes before the stage start, something Crombie completed without issue.
Once the stage starts, there's one team mechanic (Geisler and Crombie alternate this each day) who joins the Directeur Sportif (sports director) in the main team car.
Crombie may be sitting in the back seat, but he's constantly busy either communicating race information or handing out bottles
"You can be the best mechanic in the world, but that isn't what the job is about," he explained. "The wrenching is just a small part of the daily role."
Bikes and cars must start the following day spotless
That cleaning is something Geisler and Crombie take in turns, alternating between wrenching and cleaning every second day. Once the bikes are suitably spotless, they're almost ready to be hung up for the next stage.
Checking bolts on a daily basis
Where a rider is involved in a crash – or has perhaps locked a wheel to avoid one – parts are serviced or replaced. As the wheels are all tubular, they're prepared days in advance, so a flat-spotted or cut tubular is simply swapped with a fresh wheel. The swapped-out wheel has its tubular replaced for future days to come when time allows.
When asked about chain wear, Crombie responded: "Things like chains we replace every 1,000 to 1,500km. Often it's not about wear, but really because these guys ride cross-chained so often on climbs and the last thing you want is a rider going head first into the ground because of a snapped chain. We'll replace all the chains after [the Tour]".
Crombie and Geisler, like all the other mechanics at the Tour Down Under are clearly passionate about what they do, and hard work seems to be part of the job description.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://ift.tt/191JxEf
No comments:
Post a Comment