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Photo: © Chris Davidson

Wrenchin' in the USA: The Chris Davidson diary 2005

Chris Davidson is a mechanic for Shimano Multi-Service doing neutral tech support at road and mountain bike races..

Chris' diary entries show us what life is like inside the pits and give an insight into the mind of a mechanic.

Index to all entries

Wachovia Liberty Classic, June 5, 2005

June 4, 2005: Day Two in Philly: Showtime!

Wow, time flies when there is work to do. Last night the girls did not get in from the airport until almost 10:00pm. All headed to bed and I had a few extra hours for laundry and a few phone calls.

This morning the riders went for a spin at 10:00am in a light rain. Easy ride around the course, everyone wanted to be sure about their gearing choices. We are going to be running 12-27 cassettes save Regina; she is going to run an 11x23. The bikes got good and dirty in the rain and I hooked up with an old friend, Foye Troute, on the way back from the ride and asked to use his wash setup. He is working for the Recycling.co.uk/MG XPower men's team and he got a box van outside for the week. Great setup outside the hotel for Foye, so I rolled bikes out to wash in his area. It almost started raining again just as I finished the wash, quickly moved the bikes back inside. I went down to the garage to decal out our caravan vehicle and the race organization already has a vehicle wrap on the car that covered 90 percent of the painted area. I made it hard to find some space for the Nurnberger decals.

When I got back to the bike room to do the final tune on the bikes for the race, I discovered that our team's spare cassette's had been stolen from the room. Disappointing to say the least, even more so when you have to call the DS and tell her. Got done with all the bikes, the only cassette that we were missing for tomorrow is the 11x23 for Regina. At dinner Madeline Lindberg volunteered to ask one of her friends, Magnus, a team mechanic with CSC for a spare cassette. Madeline smiled and winked, and quickly Magnus and I were off the team truck to recover the required cassette. You can never have too many friends, thanks Magnus for the help.

Team staff meeting at 9:00pm in Petra's room and we set the schedule for tomorrow. It will be an early day. Starts at 5:45am. The caravan car has to be in the line one hour before the race. I decided to load our team car tonight with spares and supplies to make the morning go smoother. Finally I moved all the team's bikes in to my room in the hotel. We cannot afford any more losses tonight.

Tonight I would like to head to the 'Union meeting' with the rest of the team staffs at Tavern on Green, but there are too many of the small details left. Plus I have to finish my laundry.

Tomorrow Equipe Nurnberger has a great opportunity. The girls are riding really well right now and we are confident and realistic about our chances. Philly always puts an extra level of excitement into the racing; maybe it is the huge number of fans, the setting or the huge fields. I find myself a little nervous tonight about tomorrow. Nervous in a good way. 5:45 will come soon enough.

Let's roll….

Chris Davidson