Hi, I’m Joe V. The V is for Vadeboncoeur, but no one ever really calls me that (except my business card). That card also calls me the Global Director of Product Development, Marketing and Creative Design for Trek Bicycle. Yep, I am sometimes not really sure what all that means either. I do know that I dig bikes, oatmeal, motorcycles, burritos, the weird things I see along the way, my family and my job. I get to travel the world helping make great bikes, so it’s a pretty great gig.
If you have been living under a rock, you may not know this. There is a new MTB movie coming soon. It is called Strength in Numbers, and it completely might be the coolest movie ever. Check the website, trailers etc... (close your mouth) But, before we get to that, I need to rant about something. Yep, I am admitting that I am ranting up front. If me ranting bothers you, skip all the way through to the trailer at the bottom and other videos...
I am listening to a playlist mix right now of Cat Empire and Cage the Elephant. Good stuff, I know you were curious.
Have you heard the word Webinar? Is that just the dumbest word you have ever heard? I kinda hate the whole put a "inar" suffix on a word and that makes it legit. Webinar - Dealerinar - Repinar... Why not just add "inar" to any word? How about Left Handed-inar? What about Oatmeal-inar? I am having a flip flop-inar tomorrow.
Now you get my drift. How hard is it to just write Online Seminar? Are we all daft? I realize that Online Seminar is 6 letters longer, but if you are using a keyboard - just how hard is that? Even if you are using a small iphone, it still is not really that hard to type the 6 letters. Plus, using the full Online Seminar acually makes you more intelligent sounding and certainly more handsome. (I have typed Online Seminar 4 times now, which means I have typed 24 more things in that amount of space. Probably has cost me at least 20 seconds in this blog post alone.)
I like to ask, what would Buckaroo Banzai do about this?
Ok, I am back. These are my own shoes I am wearing today, privately owned, not rented (flip flops today, not converse). I will definitely be wearing them to the Madison premiere of Strength In Numbers.
So, Strength In Numbers - May 24 - Eastgate Cinema. If your not in Madison, check the website for the closest location for you.
That is the official trailer. Kicks butt.
If you have not seen this piece, it is unbelievable. Watch it twice. That is about the sickest scrub I have ever seen on a bicycle. Similar to James Stewart doing it on a motorcycle. If I could do that, I wouldn't be boring you with this blog. I would be somewhere scrubbing right now.
Go ride your bike. Go to the intro. See you there. May 24 - Madison Eastgate Cinema.
I am not Belgian. Let's just get that part straight. I do love it there - I think. I lived there once, for 2 years. I was a kid though. I remember it, but I was 16-18 years old. There are other things that are more important to a 16 year old than the lore of bike racing and how Belgium is the center of that universe.
But, I lived there. I lived on a cobbled street even. I would love to say that I knew from then, just knew that a cobbled road and all the greatness that goes along with that would be super important to me in the future. Alas, I was just a kid. 16 and stupid.
Now of course, just the mention of Belgium and I get all goose bumped for the thought of crosswinds and cobbles and epic racing. Yow. It is only 10ish months till next years race season starts and we are back in Belgium.
In the mean time, here are the last pictures from our Roubaix trip this year.
That is it.
More good stuff coming to this space soon though. Stay in touch.
I heard that once. Actually, I have heard that more than once. In fact, I heard it this past week in Waterloo at the Hullabaloo. What is the Hullabaloo you ask? Well, I will tell you exactly.
The Hullabaloo is mythical. Not in the sense that it cannot be found or defined. But, in the sense that it is a little bit like that ice skating race in Holland that they only have every 25 years or so – when the ice is just right. Of course you do not need ice in significant quantities for the Hullabaloo. But, trying to get someone from Waterloo to tell you about the Hullabaloo is pretty tough. I’ve tried. Once I was in Rhinelander Wi, and they have something there called a Hodag, but the Hullabaloo doesn’t have anything to do with that. There are people in the UK that think that a group of pugilists is necessary for a Hullabaloo. Nope, you do not need flat forehead pugilists or Hans Christian Anderson or any mythical beasts… You just need a few crazy cyclists, preferably a couple of Belgians.
We held the Hullabaloo this past week. We threw some cyclists into a ring on trainers and asked them to go fast. Really fast. Axel Merckx was there, he even raced a guy that looked like a young version of his dad. Axel cleaned the floor with him. That pretty much proves it for me, Axel is faster than his dad was. I am going with that.
The Hullabaloo was an online match race on trainers. The Bontrager LS team vs. old guys in the office. Youth vs. experience. In order to even out the teams, Axel rode with the kids. (They are his kids after all). The old guys did pretty well, but in the end the final 4 were all from the U23 Bontrager LS team. And, as we got to the finish, Axel was certainly proud to note that the final was an all Belgian affaire.
Axel vs. Jesper. That is my amateur video.
We have had one weekend of the first of the classic races. Not the Classics proper, but the first of the big Belgian races, the Omloop Het Volk and KBK. In the end, the spring time is all about racing in Belgium. It is the perfect time of the year. Snotty Belgium weather, bike racing, bad roads, crazy fans…Everything is right with the world.
It is spring time in Belgium, the Galactic Center of Cycling. I know what I will be doing the next weekends.
This week I found a wrinkle in the time space continium.
Just like the best science fiction movies, I woke up one day and it was 5 years ahead into the future. Madonna had given us world peace, Lance Armstrong had won the Ironman Triathlon multiple times, cars no longer run on dead dinosaurs, it is commonly known that the burrito is the perfect food, converse shoes can now be had with a road SPD clipless version so that you never have to remove your perfect shoes ever again and of course almost nobody uses a blackberry any longer as the concept of buttons is just so passe (of course you do not really have to go to the future to know that most of that stuff I just listed is actually going to happen).
No, what I discovered this week is that the designers at Trek actually own their own black hole in the space time continuim that allows them to travel back and forth to the future at will. I am actually reading a Stephan King book about there being a time fold below a diner in Maine, but that one only takes you to the past. Sure that could make for some good party tricks like going back and making some money on a sports event, but the future - that is so shinny.
The Trek designers actually travel to the future on a regular basis to figure out what things are going to be available for cyclists in the future. They do that, just so they can wow me with their knowledge of the future.
We brought these manuals back from the future.
Seriously, this week we held an innovation summit at Trek. It was sort of a science fair like in high school, but way way cooler. It was presentation after presentation for a whole day of designers showing the future thing they were working on, or how they had learned from the past to create an alternate future. (There is that space time continuum again). Heady stuff.
I saw things that you could not imagine. Things that will make your and my cycling so much better and more fun in the future. Lighter, faster, stronger, bam!
Here are some of the things that I saw.
- Bontrager Trifecta
- The ones we didn't do
- The Four Letter Word.
- For innovation to happen it takes a village
- Bert and Ernie were part of someones presentation.
- Wouldn't it be cool if...
- If you want to kill an idea real fast, then take it into an exec's office. (I think this was really saying, do not show it to Joe)
- The word Yaw was used several times in presentations.
- Air pumps
- Shop stools
- Really extensive use for a high speed camera. I have got to get myself one of those.
- Adapt our race simulator for customers.
- One day today's high tech will look stupid. Get used to it.
- We have a guy on staff named Neo. I think he invented the Matrix or something.
- Get an accidental photo taken by the press of your new thing. That creates an actual crease in the time space continium.
- Hey new guy, run these 143 different airfoil shapes through the CFD
- Quote Issac Newton in your presentation like it is your brother.
Keith Bontrager was at the innovation summit. Gary Fisher was there also. These guys know a little bit of something about innovation.
I would really like to tell you more about the future, but I would of course have to kill you if I told you more. I have told you that before. You really must stop insisting that I tell you all about the future.
Out. Go home. Maybe go ride your bike. Have some Oatmeal, you will feel right as rain in no time, don't mind the vase you are going to knock over on your way out.
Bicycles are cool. You probably did not know that. Or, you are on a pilgrimage to try to figure that out. It IS a question after all, and a quest. What things are cool, and what things in life are not. Hangnails are not, nor are utility bills. We all know that burritos are cool or Pearl Jam is cool (duh, are you all daft or something?), or Oatmeal is far superior to waffles. Unless, of course we are talking about Belgian Waffles - those things rock. I wonder if there is a way to combine Belgian Waffles and Oatmeal into the most superior of breakfast foods? Some of us even suspect that celebrity worship is cool (that would be wrong of course). Although, Pearl Jam is kind of a celebrity so that is hard to reconcile. But, if your radio dial is sort of stuck on Pearl Jam radio, it is kind of hard to deny. You do realize that Pearl Jam radio plays Pearl Jam 24/7 (unless they are playing Mother Love Bone or another Pearl Jam derivative - but who is counting), didn't you?
From where I sit, it is all related. Eating your 20th burrito for the year and the fact that bicycles are cool. Way better than something like a unicycle, as they only have 1 wheel. (Although I was in Madrid one time and saw a unicyclists on one that was about 3 meters tall...I had to admit that was pretty cool.)
This is not a rental laptop I am typing on, this is privately owned.
So, since you are wondering what you are doing here reading this, I will not delay any longer. Here are my top 7 of the well documented 87.6 reasons that bicycles are cool.
1. Tan lines. Good tan lines are sort of a badge of honor. Like shaving your legs, or owning a heart rate monitor. It lets everyone know that you are a cyclist. It allows you to see another cyclists in the grocery store and give the little head nod, "Yep, I see you cyclist dude or chick, I am with you." Even though you may look like an easter egg in a swimsuit, it is a price that is worth paying. Score 1 for cyclists.
2. Shit Cyclists Say. Enough said.
3. Jens Voigt. There really has never been a cooler person. He is a cyclist, so there you have it, cyclists are cool people and cool people are cyclists. Good god man, there is actually an app for sale at iTunes that allows you to play a bunch of cool things that Jens has said in interviews over the years. Go download it, and amaze your friends with your knowledge of all things Jens. Not only will the glow of cool that is Jens rub off on you, but you will be keeping Apple in business as they are not making enough money off of iTunes these days. Does anyone even buy CD's any longer?
4. Porlandia. It might be just about the funniest show there has ever been. I know that is a stretch to say that it makes cyclists cool. I do not really care, it's funny and I wanted to find a way to get that point across. In fact, you might actually assume that this whole blog post is just so that I could give a plug to the show Portlandia. Might be. I am not saying.
5. Bike Racing. I actually come from the school of "If It Has Wheels, It Should Be Raced". It is a small school, one that most people have not heard of. Just outside of Somewhereville. I respect anything with wheels being raced, from lawnmowers to Nascar to GP motorcycles to rollerblades to... You get the picture.
But, bike racing tops them all. The sight of Aaron Gwin shredding a downhill or Fabian Cancellara attacking the cobbles, is the making of legend. There really isn't anything cooler. Some people have tried to tell me that there are other things cool in the world. There probably are, but they are frankly for other people.
6. My garage. There are exactly 24 bicycles in my garage. The only reason there are not 25, is no more hooks (I am kind of a neat freak about my garage). I think a person should have lots of bicycles. You might think that I am boasting, but I am not. In fact, I have friend that has 30 bicycles. I have another friend that has 6 in his living room. Having 24 in your garage is nothing.
But, bicycles are the kind of thing that you just cannot have too many and you can fit quite a few of them in pretty small spaces. Just think if I had 24 motorcycles and the size of garage that would require, not to mention the size of garage that would be required if I had 24 cars (not sure who would actually want 24 money pits, but hey...). I could actually identify with having a garage of that size, but keeping the floor clean would be too much work.
7. It is hard to frown while riding a bicycle. You can frown big time in an automobile, I know - I've done it. But, unless you have just fallen down and are riding yourself back home to go to the doctor to get stitches, you generally do not frown when riding a bicycle. Even if you were riding to get stitches, you generally are not going to be frowning about that ride a week later. Trust me, I have gotten plenty of stitches and plenty of casts on broken bones, I continue to frown about a few different car rides.
So there you have it, bicycles are cool, they get you outside, you meet cool people, you learn to blow a snot rocket, you can collect lots of bicycles and they will make you happy. I think that pretty much proves it, a bicycle is a way better present than a football.
IT, is being out of Wisco when it is cold there and snowing.
Guilt. Guilt is a funny thing. Generally, I think guilt is for left handed people. A G is a letter that looks ok when written by a left handed person. Not sure why that it is, but I kinda like it that way. Any way, as I said - no guilt over the whole thing here.
It finally turned to winter at home. I saw it coming, so I got the hell out of there. Cannot really say I have anything good to say about winter thes days. Everyone out there should realize that snow and ice are actually water in a few of its various frozen states. I don't want to go all science on everyone, but in order for water to get into that state the temperature has to be below freezing. WTH? Wake up everyone, cold is not comfortable. I am not making this stuff up either, right here on the Smithsonian Web Site it agrees with me. When water freezes, it is cold out!
We are going to dominate this trail.
So Arizona it was. Pretty much certain that it wasn't going to freezing water and slapping that stuff down on me there. Loaded up the family, mountain bike stuff and supercross watching paraphernalia and headed to the frequent flyer website. Cashed it all in and beat it to AZ.
Before you go all J. Alfred Prufrock on me, just remember...it's cold in Wisconsin. Damn cold. Freeze your boogers cold. Humans just were not meant for that kind of cold. If we were, we would have a lot more hair. And don't start with the "where's your hair dude jokes". If I could grow a mullet again I would. Dang that was a hairstyle for the ages. In fact, I saw a chick with the most spectacular mullet, maybe ever, just yesterday. Yep, kinda makes you want to go and listen to some Journey or old Metallica right now. (not that newer shaved head Metallica either). Go down the stairway at my house, and you will see a picture of me with a mullet. I wasn't even trying back then, and I had one. If I could grow one now... Because, a BB gun is a good gift, a football is not.
So, Arizona. Sunshine, cactus, girls with less clothes on, MTB riding, burritos, more riding, sunshine and burritos. Yes, I did put up burritos twice. I just put it up twice, because putting it up 5 times would be really redundant.
We really didn't have a huge plan when we left, but we did have MTB shoes , sunscreen and a credit card along for the ride. So here is the summary of the days. Wednesday - MTB ride, Mexican food Thursday- MTB ride, Mexican food Friday - MTB ride, Mexican food (I think it is a law or something there) Saturday - MTB ride, Mexican food, Supercross race. It was nearly the perfect few days. There was more that went on, but if you want to bail out now - you pretty much have it from there.
I am a simple person. Give me a 2 wheeler, some sun, some Mexican lunch everyday - and I am pretty much pink. Throw in my family and friends to do it with, and I am all topped.
I think it is a law there or something.
We rode a few different rides. (Even though I can eat the same burrito over and over for lunch, I do like some variety in my riding.)
South Mountain! I hear pointing is the way forward.
South Mountain. I have been there a few other times over the years. We use those trails for testing in the winter all the time. I remember riding there back in the day, when Gary and I were working on Genesis Geometry. (That is showing my age again.) But, I got to show it all to Liz and the girls, so I got to be the one that knew all the routes. I kinda like being mister know it all, in case you hadn't caught on to that yet. Liz and I found a trail I had not ridden on the 3rd day, and for good reason. Turned out to be an hour long hike a bike. Ah, the joys of a new trail. Regardless, it was super fun. Did I mention how much I like the Remedy I was on? Geez.
Black Canyon trail. I cannot say enough about how much fun it is.
Black Canyon trail. Wow. What a difference. Where South Mountain is rocky and technical, Black Canyon was super flowy and huge amounts of fun. We rode a loop called Little Pan Loop. It was beyond cool. If you go, bring the Remedy and do it counter clockwise. There is a super payout in the second half of the ride with 30 minutes of flowing downhill. Brilliant.
Looking forward to doing it again.
Now off to Brussels Belgium for work for the week. No riding, but it will be nice and cold and rainy. Can you say "I wish I was still in Arizona riding my MTB", of course you can - you just did to yourself.
Surely this is a holiday on the level of Christmas, or way more than my birthday or even more than National cold cereal day.
National Oatmeal Day is exactly 2.24 times better than Trekworld. National Oatmeal Day is nearly 4.32 times better than my birthday. National Oatmeal Day is much better than Christmas, precisely 2.67 times better.
If you are a betting person, you are probably thinking that I am totally screwing with the math here. Especially, given that I have said that Flip Flops are better than my birthday and I made a previous statement about the value and endorsement of daily burrito eating (exactly √45.63÷6.1 times better, but you have to divide that by the number of days since your last burrito to get an exact number - math is hard).
So, enjoy your oatmeal day. Go ride your mountain bike or your road bike or your motorcycle. In other words, eating oatmeal is best celebrated by riding something with 2 wheels. 4 wheels is so gauche.
The scene at Alpine Valley. Perfect night at a pretty cool spot for a concert.
#PJ20
You probably have already figured out that I am a pretty big Pearl Jam dork. I was a Pearl Jam fan from the first album. I cannot claim, as some people do, that I was a Pearl Jam fan when they were called Mother Love Bone - or some other point. Good Grief people, if you are a Pearl Jam fan, isn't that enough? Do you have to try to prove that you are more of a fan of Pearl Jam than me or some other person by claiming you have been a fan longer? Are people really that insecure in their band worship?
So, somewhere this summer I learned that Pearl Jam was coming to Alpine Valley. The problem was, on the weekend that the tickets were to be made available, I was going to be gone and I was going to be somewhere that did not have wireless access. Ugh... No problem, join the PJ fan club and there was a presale on the previous weekend. So I did. Problem was, that I completely spaced buying the tickets on the previous weekend - DWEEB!
The situation is, now I am a member of a fan club. OK, I'm a big Pearl Jam fan (I think my Sirius Radio is stuck on that channel in the truck), but I am not the kind of person that joins a fan club. Like Groucho Marx used to say, "I would never be a member of a club that would have me for a member". But, I am a member. I guess when they send out a mailer now, I will receive it.
So how did I get to the concert you ask? Well, Len Zanni from Honey Stinger (len_zanni on twitter, check him out), came to the rescue. He had an extra ticket on Sunday night and offered it up to me. Wow. That was super cool.
If you have not been to Alpine Valley, it is spectacular. A natural outdoor amphitheater. The slope of the hill is just right, the stage and roof project the sound really well etc...
I found the playlist for the concert online. I added some of my own comments also.
01. Wash 02. The Fixer 03. Severed Hand 04. All Night 05. Given To Fly- (This may have been the highlight of the night, except they did play Yellow Ledbetter) 06. Pilate 07. Love Boat Captain 08. Habit w/ Liam Finn 09. Evenflow 10. Daughter/It’s OK-(This was pretty damn cool) 11. Leatherman 12. Red Mosquito w/ Julian Casablancas (I have been hearing this song so much lately) 13. Satan’s Bed 14. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter A Small Town w/ Dhani Harrison (Only problem was that I wanted Eddie to intro it with Longest-Title-In-The-Pearl-Jam-Catalog-Elderly-Woman-Behind-The-Counter-In-A-Small-Town-One-Two-Three-Four-Two-Three-...) 15. Unthought Known 16. New World w/John Doe-(Doe) 17. Black 18. Jeremy ENCORE BREAK 1 19. Eddie improv/new song (performed solo by Eddie on acoustic guitar) 20. Just Breathe 21. Nothingman 22. No Way 23. Public Image-(Public Image Limited) 24. Smile w/ Glen Hansard 25. Spin The Black Circle-(dedicated to independent record store owners and customers) ENCORE BREAK 2 Chris Cornell wishes Pearl Jam a happy 20th birthday 26. Hunger Strike {Eddie Vedder duet vocal}-(Cornell) 27. Call Me A Dog-(Cornell) 28. All Night Thing-(Cornell) 29. Reach Down w/ guests singing bg vocs-(Cornell)
(Honestly - I kinda liked Temple of the Dog, but I did not come to hear those songs. I was fidgety during this, I just wanted the Eddy back with the microphone.)
30. Sonic Reducer w/ Mudhoney-(Bators, Blitz, Chrome, Magnum, Thomas, Zero) ENCORE BREAK 3 31. Alive Eddie thanks family, friends, and crew 32. Rockin’ In The Free World w/ lots of guests, friends and family-(Young)
BREAK LIKE THEY ARE ENDING 33. Yellow Ledbetter/Star Spangled Banner
Of course we all have our favorites, and they played forever, but I would have loved to hear Crazy Mary and my favorite - In Hiding. As impressive as the Pearl Jam set was, what’s most remarkable is how every song, regardless of whether it’s a little known PJ track or a Public Image Limited tune, the audience knew every word to every song. They knew every word, and they all sang along at the top of their lungs. It was really cool, but I felt inadequate in that regard as I did not know every word.
We all have bucket lists, and some of us have certain bands we wished we could have seen. I have missed a few of my other favorite bands along the way, and some of them are not around anymore (Led Zepplin, Aerosmith...) I did not want that to happen before I got to see Pearl Jam.
I tweeted during the concert that I was not leaving until I heard Yellow Ledbetter. I almost had to reneg on that. They played Rocking in the Free World, and acted like that was it. People started filing out. We did also. I was a little bit bummed. Then, all of a sudden they were back on stage and Eddy mumbled through the opening lyrics of Yellow Ledbetter. Damn. That was something.
Just in case you are really wondering at this point what I am talking about. Here is someones Iphone recording of the song at the end of the show.
If you do not like Pearl Jam, there is something wrong with you.
We are exactly T minus 4 days from the start of Trekworld. That title says it all. It is an exciting day. It is not the only exciting day in a year, but it is pretty much at the top of the heap. Along the way in the next days, I will be putting up a bunch more about what is going on with Trekworld. It is going to be really exciting days.
But there are a few other great days in the year. Some of them actually compare favorably with Trekworld, sadly - most do not.
Christmas - Santa comes, you get to have wine before noon and feel good about it, wrapping paper, leg lamps, getting up early, falling asleep on the couch while in a food coma etc... Trekworld is 2.6X better than Christmas.
The day the new phone book shows up in the mail. Just think about it, you are somebody on that day. That is the kind of spontaneous publication that makes people - btw. Trek world is 2.35X better than the day the new phone book shows up.
The first day of the Tour de France. It is the greatest bike race there is, and is soon to be declared a global holiday, so that no one misses the racing action. The best days of the TDF are better than Trekworld, but only by 1.23X.
My birthday. Most people want to celebrate it. Trekworld is 7.65X better than my birthday.
Wednesday - It's hump day. Enough said. Wednesday is 1.08X better than Trekworld. Most really good things happen on a Wed.
Just about any Sunday in April is a pretty exciting day. You get to watch the greatest races of all time. Flanders, Roubaix, Amstel, LBL etc... Fabian Cancellara will be shredding big time. Race days in April are exactly 3.47X better than Trekworld.
Having a girlfriend/boyfriend is a pretty good day. Unfortunately, that pales compared to Trekworld. Trekworld is precisely 4.65X better than having a girlfriend/boyfriend.
Winning an Olympic gold medal can be a pretty good day. But until you have been to Trekworld, you just cannot compare. Trekworld wins by 1.48X.
Getting your drivers license when you are young is a pretty big deal. Lots of songs have been written about the day. The day helps you get to the girlfriend/boyfriend day. But realistically Trekworld is 2.79X better than getting your first drivers license.
I suspect that by now you are understanding that Trekworld is a pretty big day. You can keep your Worldcup, your wedding day, your birth of your first child, your trip to Disney World etc... Next time you win the lottery and are tempted to say "I'm going to Disney World", trust me - you know where you are going.
Thursday was the biggest and baddest bike racing day in the history of bike racing. That is a bold statement, I know. How could I know that, you are asking? Well, first of all I am older than dirt. If you are older than dirt, you are just wise. At least, wiser than I was when I was not this old. There is something in that, just not wisdom.
Andy getting after it.
It all started for me last year. We knew we wanted to sponsor another team, we knew we wanted it to be a team based in Europe. We had the RadioShack team as our team based in North America, we were ready to have a team based in Europe.
While watching the Tourmalet stage last year, both John Burke and I made note that the crowd favorite was Andy Schleck. I had met Andy on one of the rest days earlier in the race and I had to agree with the crowd that there was no question that he was a great rider with a great attitude. The combination was convincing from the start and it had convinced the crowd on the mountain that he was their man.
Negotiations for sponsorship of a team are never easy, and there were plenty of moments in that process where it did not look like it was going to happen. In the end, Trek just wanted it to happen so bad that I did not let the challenges of negotiation stand in the way. We worked and worked at it, and in the end – presto, Leopard Trek was born.
We have gone through some good times and some tough times with the team. Fabian was the man in the spring time, but he did not win as much as we all expected. The situation for the team at the Giro with Wouter's accident was a horrible time. But they have always represented us as the sponsor in the most professional way. They have integrity and they are our partners. They are truly great representatives of Trek and it is an honor to be the sponsor. But, starting a team from scratch is not easy. All of the logistics and getting all the staff to gel and work together does not just happen. It was a huge amount of work, and there were plenty of doubters in the cycling world. My hat is off to Brian Nygaard (@nygaardbn), Kim Anderson, Ben Coates (@trek_ben) and all the rest of the crew. It was a huge undertaking. There have been plenty of bumps along the way, but yesterday made it all pay out.
Andy and Frank in the race department at Trek last fall.
I remember when the Tour route was announced. Andy told me that the stage to Galibier would decide the race. He told me that the goal of the weeks before that stage were to stay safe and not loose time. He told me all the way back then, that he would be attacking on that stage. The night before that stage, I did not sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart-rate racing.
I sat down in front of a television from 2pm Central European time. I did not leave that place to go to the bathroom, to get water to find food – nothing. I camped out my space and did not relinquish it for anything.
At 60k to go, Andy launched. He did not look back, he did not hesitate, he did not wait to see if any other favorites would follow… He just manned up and took off. I could hear right through the TV the rest of the GC contenders saying “That is futile. He will never hold that on the descent… He will never hold that across the flat to the Galibier…We will bring him back on the slopes of the Galibier” We all know that did not happen.
I remember Kim Anderson telling me a few weeks back that it was going to be a great race, and that the team is ready. I trusted that he knew what he was talking about. I walked around with a glow for days after he told me that. He knew.
As I sat there watching, I was a nervous wreck. In the later parts of the race a crowd of 35 people had gathered around with me. Most were thinking that I was a lunatic. I jumped out of my chair. I chanted “Go Andy, Go Andy.” I yelled at the television, convinced that I could make myself hear right through the screen. I had Eurosport in German on the TV screen, I had Europsort in English going on the lap top, and I was following #tdf twitter search for even more info. (There is no better way to watch a race than with a combination like that.)
Brilliant.
I was freaked out during the stage. I still am today.
The Tour de France is not over. Anything can happen yet. There is another hard stage today, and a TT on Saturday. Alberto had a bad day yesterday, Andy – Frank – Cadel could have bad days today. The TT is coming and Cadel/Alberto is a specialist at that. No matter what happens in the rest of the race, yesterday cannot be changed.
Yesterday, Leopard Trek showed they knew what they were saying and what they were doing. Yesterday, they were just superior – period.
