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Wrenchin' in the USA: The Chris Davidson diary 2007
Chris joins us again in 2007 to report on life on the road turning the wrench for a variety of teams both in dirt and on the road. Formerly with Ford Cycling in 2006, Chris has also worked for such teams as T-Mobile, Equipe Nurnberger, Quark and Mercury in the past, as well as neutral support programs with Shimano, Pedros and Trek.
As 2007 holds some new challenges for Chris, some things will stay the same. One of those will be his informative diary contributions on Cyclingnews, where you'll often receive the inside scoop on all things tech and a look at life behind the wrench.
June 30, 2007
NMBS #4 & The future of America
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Greetings Cyclingnews readers.
Chris Davidson here back from 10 days on the rivet attending to two completely different tasks. Task one was the National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS) weekend at my home venue, Deer Valley, Utah. That was followed up directly with a trip to California for the USAC West Coast Junior Development Camp.
While my usually busy NMBS weekends involve taking care of four female and two male pro athletes for Kenda/X-Fusion/Titus, I never could have anticipated the workload of 27 eager junior [and a few U-23] riders for a week. It went something like this...
NMBS Weekend
Friday, athletes arrived at the venue and pre-rode. Hopes were high as all of our pro women riders live at altitude, and the Deer Valley course has plenty of that, as well as some sweet singletrack. The bikes were rolling really well, so I felt good about the mechanical stuff. However, I did decide to take on an additional task on Friday night with the hopes of picking up the spirits of one of our riders. Heather Holmes is a first-year pro with our team and she has been kinda bumming lately about her form and riding the bike. So I bumped up the schedule on delivering her new Titus Exogrid hardtail bike and got the last parts for it in this past week and started the build on Friday night at my house to keep it a secret. I got to the venue early on Saturday morning with enough time to bleed the brakes and put the bike in the rack with the others.
Saturday was race day. The athletes rolled into the tech space starting about two hours before race time. They went through their pre-race rituals. After setting her backpack down and arranging her stuff, Heather announced that she is heading for the restroom and headed over to the bike rack looking for her dual suspension race bike. I say nothing and continue to go about my work. I see her looking at the titanium hardtail next to her dualie for a second or two. Finally she asked out loud, "Who's bike is this?"'
I walked over to the rack and looked critically at the bike for a few seconds, looking closely at the drivetrain, the wheels and the fork as if I am perplexed. Finally I looked at her with a straight face and said, "I think that it is yours." The next few seconds of disbelief quickly gave way to her excitement. First she protested, then I invited her to swing a leg over it and take it for a spin around the tech area. She did, and returned with a huge smile, to which I went over all the parts that her bike is spec'ed with. She was still in disbelief, so I asked her how it rides. I could tell she was getting really excited now. Like the gleam in a child's eye on Christmas morning, she was stoked for the rest of the weekend.
Cross country race time came at 11:00am. The girls launched up the hill at Deer Valley and as soon as the race is underway, I was off to California. The future of American cycling awaited. I have to call in an old friend from the Shimano days, Chan Head, to cover the Kenda/X-Fusion/Titus crew for the rest of the weekend, but I drive home, pack the car and head for Sonoma, California.
Junior development camp time
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I was asked back in February, on the suggestion of 2006 west coast camp director Mike Engleman, to direct the 2007 west coast junior development camp. Mike and I worked on the women's development camps for USAC in 2004 and 2005, and he recommended me for the director's spot at the California camp for this year. This is a little bit of a change for me, because now I was going to be calling the shots, rather than turning the wrenches. Oh yeah, 27 juniors too. It seemed like a pretty daunting task as I drove west across Nevada.
On Sunday, After the night in Reno, I finally got to Sonoma and Sonoma State University, site for the camp. I hoped that the campers could not tell that I was as nervous as they were. I slotted into the dorm room, kitted up, and got ready to lead the first ride of the camp: a 4:00 pm start, 90 minute easy spin before dinner. The campers started to assemble for the first ride and we had a large, diverse group. The 27 campers represented California, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Texas. 20 males and 7 seven females, several state champions, a few national champions and a former junior world champion from another sport. A really impressive group. I was not alone, I had help. Fortunately for me, the camp manager, Claire House, had assembled a top-shelf crew of coaches, a mechanic and all the logistics to make things work smoothly. She had also secured great sponsors such as ClifBar, AbbiOrca Photography, and BikeSomona.org to complete the array of support for the camp riders.
After the short ride, dinner was in the dorm cafeteria, followed by a group meeting and the camp felt underway. I felt relieved once it was underway, as the schedule was so packed, there was always work to be done.
On Monday, we did a three hour group ride in the morning followed by a short uphill time trial in the afternoon. We held evening lectures and individual rider meetings. It was starting to feel like a stage race, as every minute of the day was packed with things to do. The kids are still bubbly and full of questions at the meals in the cafeteria. I get to bed just before midnight. I am so thankful that my loving significant other is here at the camp serving as the team physician, it is helping keep me sane.
On Tuesday, we did some bike handling drills in the morning. Then USADA came in and talked about drug testing in the early afternoon.We suited up again and rode to the local crit. The local Santa Rosa race has an A, B, and C race. Many of the camp riders double up and do a couple of the races. One of our junior riders, Coryn Rivera, showed what multiple stars and stripes jersey can do and sprinted to a second place in the first race, against a large field of men twice her size. She is 15. I go for some extra abuse and do the triple, compete in all three races. My left calf cramped with three laps to go in the last race, so I pulled out and started putting on warmer clothes for the ride home. Coastal California can be cool in the evenings, even in the summer. I wore a long sleeve jersey, vest, legwarmers and a hat under my helmet for the ride back to the dorms. Some of the kids were still hungry when we get back to the dorms at about 9 pm, so we called around and found a Himalayan place still open near campus. We ended up buying all the food they had left in the restaurant. Multiple 5,000kcal days are starting to add up.
Wednesday: This was the long ride day. We headed out from the SSU campus and for the coast via Bodega Bay. Once on the coast we headed north towards Coleman Valley Road. This was the first KOM in the Tour of California this year on the stage into Santa Rosa. The pro riders' names are still painted on the roads as we turn left and I instruct the kids to start racing to the top of the climb. The attacks are brutal and start right away on the 15% grade. Near the top I had to hang on the follow car to observe the action at the front as kids fought to show their ability versus other campers. At the end of the week, there were spots available for a national camp at the Olympic Training Center and trips abroad, so the competition was fierce. We regrouped and rode back inland as the weather got sunnier. We conducted an intermediate sprint near the town of Occidental and again the kids got at it full force. We then rolled back to campus, a little under 80 miles in 5 hours with plenty of climbing. At dinner that night some heads are a little lower at the table, less talking and more sounds of silverware hitting plates. Our mechanic for the camp, Ian Sherburne[current BMC, ex-Saturn, US National] remarked that it was looking like a stage race now, lots of tired bodies at dinner.
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Thursday: We moved the ride start back an hour to accommodate a little more sleep and some more time at breakfast. The morning's ride involved an hour ride over to Los Alamos Road, then a ~20 minute uphill time trial that contains some 15%+ sections. Post TT, we headed back through Santa Rosa and stop at the Skyhawk Village Market for some food and drinks, the owner became interested in this large group of cyclists and ended up providing us with some free food for the trip back to the dorm. I guess our large group of junior riders, all wearing numbers for the group rides, made a big impression on a Thursday morning. Back to the dorm, more eating, napping and then a sprinting specific set of drills in the evening before dinner. Riders were really dragging at dinner, but the end was near. We had a brief group meeting in my dorm room after dinner and then screened the "PRO" documentary for the riders. Sleep finally came at ~12:30 am for me.
Friday was check out day. After a quick breakfast, there was a short 90 minute ride, and then a demonstration of pro bike wash, followed by packing out of the rooms and riders started to depart for the airport. I finally got out of my room at about 3 pm and started driving east again for Utah. I felt like I had just completed a stage race, I was wiped. Two days of driving, and I was back at home.
I am happy to report that the next generation of junior cyclists from the west coast is poised to take on the world. Names like Coryn Rivera, Bryan Larsen, and Josh Yeaton will appear in the junior nationals results this year, but my bet is that these will be names that will be representing the USA at Worlds in the future as U23s and pros. And that is only a few of the names of the next generation of American cycling prospects. The future looked very bright this past week in Sonoma.
Directing is difficult, so much more going on to cover versus just being the mechanic. And maybe not the easiest way to start by doing a week long camp with 27 juniors. I am beat. But it was rewarding in ways that I have yet to realize. So maybe I will not turn down the next directing job I get offered. But for now I am looking forward to US road nationals where I get the privilege of turning the wrench for current TT World Champ Kristen Armstrong and TEAm Lipton. Time to get that tool box back in order...
See you in Seven Springs.
Chris Davidson
