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The Chris Davidson diary
Chris Davidson is a former mechanic for Bontrager Racing Service, now in the service of Shimano Multi-Service.
Chris' diary entries will show you what life is like inside the pits and an insight into the mind of a mechanic.
On the road with T-Mobile
Day 6 - June 1: People are starting to crack
There was a huge change in the weather today, 45 degrees and driving rain starting at 6:00am. People are starting to crack, not just the riders. Fatigue, confusion and disorientation are starting to win over. I was cracking today in the car on the way to the stage; half asleep and my mind was starting to wander. Late in the stage, I was in the back seat of the car and I could not concentrate on the race. This, during the most exciting part of the race and we had riders in the lead group.
Others are cracking around me too. Our team director for this race is Mike Engelman, one of the best US riders ever and a super-cool director. This morning I waited at the start till the last second to pick up riders' rain jackets (we started in downpour). Mike drives up and picks me up as the race rolls out, and I find him beating the dashboard with his fist. It turns out that he cannot get the electronics in the car to read in metric units (he wanted to follow the race navigation in kilometers), and it was driving him nuts. Little things starting to turn into big issues.
Riders are cracking all around me. And today's weather did not help. I saw one girl get off and walk up a hill today. Not because it was too steep, but the hill had become this demon obstacle in the rain. She said she needed to find a different way to get up it. One of our riders sat there at dinner tonight and stared at the floor for about a half an hour, awake, yet somewhere else. Despite the weather today, some mechanics decided not to wash bikes tonight due to the extreme fatigue. This is really rare, as we race the final stage tomorrow.
Ernie, the British national team mechanic, described today as one of the top three worst days he has ever seen for bike racing. And the weather tomorrow calls for more rain. And more people reaching their limits.
Until then, thanks for reading,
CD