So it’s my turn in our blog rotation and I had something all
planned, which I’ll save for next time, but Larry suggested I think about being
a team member since 2007 and something clicked.
When Mick and I joined the team six years ago, we were a two
man team/wrecking crew. Before we joined the team we won almost every 45+ race
we raced in locally but never the big ones nationally or internationally, at
least not on the road or in the TT. I had just won the world championship on the
dirt in the cross country race but that’s all about fitness and decent bike
handling. It’s not about thinking how to win a bike race.
Since then I won the world TT championship but more
importantly the elusive world road race championship that we all so badly crave.
What changed? Not my fitness or strength, that doesn’t happen with each passing
year at my age. It must be something else and that’s what’s clicked today.
Mick and I were and always will be geeks when it comes to
equipment. We tried everything regardless of cost and always rode the best.
Mick and I spent many, many hours researching and thousands and thousands of
dollars testing everything. And we always had whatever would make us fastest. We
had to have anything that would give us a legal edge because we thought that at
the best level of masters racing there ain’t much difference in fitness. So as
long as you got as fit as you possibly could, the only other thing holding you
back was your equipment.
That scared me when I joined the team. I thought I would
have to ride something that wasn’t the best. In fact, I didn’t even race on our
sponsor’s bike back then. No team was worth the cost of a world championship. But
then things changed, we got (S)specialized. And by the way, back then, I wasn’t
racing on Specialized bikes, if you know what I mean.
Now this is not meant to be an advertisement for
Specialized, I am not that type of person. I don’t get paid to race bikes, in
fact I have to pay to race Specialized bikes and, amongst other things, I race
bikes to win championships. Today I race and ride on nothing but Specialized
bikes and I win championships.
I have two Specialized mountain bikes, a full suspension
Epic and a hard tail Stump Jumper and I love them both. I have raced on all the
best mountain bikes out there and even if I weren’t on our team. I would race
on these two bikes.
I have a Shiv TT bike, (how can you love something that
causes you so much pain? I don’t know but I do). The Shiv was the last piece of
the puzzle in winning the world TT championship in 2011, the aerodynamics are
unmatched and it handles better than any TT bike I have ever ridden and I have
ridden many. The value of the aerodynamics are obvious but on the very
technically challenging and rain soaked TT course in Belgium two years ago, I
crushed it.
And finally, I race on a Roubaix and a Venge, depending on
the course. There is nothing more in a road bike that I want that I don’t get
from these bikes and the Roubaix was under me when I crossed the finish line
alone to win the road race last August at the world championship.
Specialized isn’t always the first to come out with
something that is the best, but when they figure it out, they get it right.
Now there is another important aspect of six years on this
team that has made a difference and it’s what I have learned from my teammates.
The two world championships and six national championships while I have been on
this team are the direct result of my relationship with my teammates. When we
decide we want to win a bike race, any race for that matter and we get all our
guys together and race, we win. Nobody beats us.
Sure, we lose races but it’s simply because the whole team
is not there. Not to demean our competitors but there is a reason we have world
champions, national champions and Olympians on our team and when we all come
together, we are unstoppable.
Watching and learning from the likes of Larry, Kevin, Craig
and Billy to name a few, was what I needed to finally get the brass ring. I
tried for years to figure it out on my own but never quite got there. Our
juniors are lucky to have Larry coaching them and if you ever want to learn how
to be the very best team leader on the road, watch and talk to Billy. I don’t
remember ever losing a race when Billy was there and I don’t mean Billy won all
those races but he made damn sure someone on the team did. Now that I have been
part of this, I often scratch my head when I see what other talented teams do
in a race and wonder what the hell are they doing? I never scratch my head and
wonder what we are doing in a race when we get the team there and decide to
win.
So as I work to get my fitness back post-surgery, I am
thankful that Wyatt asked Mick and I to join the team six years ago and I know
there is still plenty to learn from my teammates.
Rob
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