Vince Gee

First real nap in the car

Today was the first real chance to get a nap in the car. A badly needed one at that too. Good thing for the early breakaway. The fools who thought they could get away only made it easy for me. Because 3 riders tried to do the suicide break from the gun, the ONCE team (with the leaders jersey) set tempo the whole day. That fact alone made it easy. Because it was steady, there were no crashes and also they could look out for the shit in the road more.
All in all that makes it better for me to have time to nap.
Spanish races start late and end late. Yesterday we started at 1:00 PM and ended at 5:30. With a transfer and post race wipe down of the riders we got back at 7:00. That meant a late work day as we finished after 9:30 and dinner at 10:00 PM. OUCH! Then an early (relative in Spanish terms) noon start for today (and a transfer to the start), meant an early rise this morning. Add that to the pile and I really needed today’s nap in the car.
I forgot to mention this tidbit in my Luxembourg diary. There were 15 teams out of 18 teams in the tour of Luxembourg, which had Director Sportifs who were former pros. Great (former) pros too. Frans Massen-Rabobank, Johan Capoit-Farm Frites, Henrick Redant also with Farm Frites, Walter Plankart-Palmans, Walter Godefroot-Telecom, and Marc Sargent-Mapei to name a few. So, a short trip from the bike seat to the directors seat. I get the honor of being driven by Dirk Demol who was a winner of one of the toughest one day races in the world. PARIS ROUBAIX! Also for the last two days of this race, our Head director sportif Johan Bruyneel will be here.
June 17th continued: Going tempo
The next stage has not started yet but I’m thinking about it already (I usually don’t until that morning). I’m will be going tempo now. Meaning, I’m not going at maximum effort while still getting the job done. Sounds contradictory but that is the way it is here. Get the job done but don’t expend more energy than is necessary. That is me right now as I’m feeling the batteries draining just a bit.
Bonus for today was desert. Creme Catalan. A specialty in this area (Catalonia). A rich creamy vanilla pudding like desert with the top of it almost burnt in the oven to give it a hard thin crust. Very tasty, but it is sure to add a few grams (OK a lot) to the scale.
Laundry gets done for me any time (almost every day) I need it. Every one (staff) puts a little into the pile to be done daily. I am told “Don’t wait till you have a lot of laundry to do.” Everyone brings a little every day (to stay just head of your dirty clothes). If you wait till you have a lot and there is not a way to do it at the next hotel then you are stuck with nothing. Laundry is done for the staff in the morning and early afternoon (by the soigneur who goes straight to the next hotel) and then right after the race the washer is needed for the riders clothes.

CClinton

Owner of Promechanics.com and long time professional race mechanic.