World Track Championships - CM

Melbourne, Australia, May 26-30, 2004

Event program and results

Tales from the track

News and gossip from day 4 of the Melbourne World Track Championships

Wrenching work for Team Australia's other Kelly

By Karen Forman in Melbourne

Ben Kelly
Photo ©: Mark Gunter

There's more ways for a cycling-mad guy to get to elite events than by actually racing a bicycle.

Ben Kelly from Adelaide is the perfect example. Not quite quick enough on the bike himself to race at international level, he gets his fix by working as a mechanic for the Australian national team when it is on the road.

It's a job many Cyclingnews readers could envy. Since he started as assistant mechanic to the Cyclones 18 months ago, the 32-year-old, married father of one has worked at two Sydney World Cups, two World Track Championships (Stuttgart last year and Melbourne this week) and had an all-expenses-paid month in Germany at a pre-Worlds training camp.

With head mechanic Jock Bullen, he has been responsible for maintaining, cleaning and preparing to race the bicycles of some of the world's best cyclists, including former world sprint champion Sean Eadie, the most senior of the team here in Melbourne.

To the observer, it could be quite a stressful job. After all, all fingers would point at the mechanics if and when something goes wrong. What if a mechanical error cost a gold medal?

What if, for example, Katie Mactier's chain had fallen off as she started the gold-silver medal ride-off yesterday in the women's individual pursuit? What if the team pursuit members' cleats had slipped from their pedals as they set off for what eventually became the fastest qualifying time?

Kelly smiles when you sit him down for long enough to ask him. During the racing, he's busy working with Bullen and the coaches to ensure every team member's bike is clean, mechanically perfect and wearing the right gear. There's no time to sit down. And with a pocketful of spanners and rags at the ready in case of contingency, it can be a tad uncomfortable, too.

"I guess I am lucky being the assistant mechanic, as the final pressure is on Jock," he said. "I do a lot of the initial preparation and he checks them. Obviously you have to get things right, it's crucial. But we have a process in place for checking and re-checking and generally things go pretty smoothly."

Kelly got the job after originally applying for a mechanic's role with the under 23-program based in Italy. However, because he is married with a young daughter (now two-and-a-half), he was advised by head coach Shane Bannan that it wouldn't be such a good idea to be away from home 10 months of the year with the team.

"I would have given it a go," smiles Kelly. But Bannan wasn't going to let the talented young bike shop mechanic slip away. He told him that a position was opening up as Bullen's assistant.

"Basically that means that they call me when they need me," he says. "Unfortunately I don't get to go to Athens as there is only one spot for a mechanic, but for now it's great to be here at the Worlds and I might get to go to the World Cups at the end of the year.

"Obviously it would be great if it turned into a fulltime gig. I love the atmosphere, I love being at the races. I've raced most of my life (he was second in the points race at the 1992 national championships in Tasmania) and I'm not good enough to compete at these events, so being a mechanic is the next best thing."

Kelly said despite the build-up, Mactier's silver medal ride yesterday wasn't the most nerve wracking. "Actually, things are more tense when riders don't qualify," he said. "It really changes the mood of everyone. But now, when the team has qualified fastest again, that's great and it's reflected around the paddock."

He says mistakes are avoided by "checking and checking again. Basically a coach comes up and requests a certain gear, for example, and I do that and then Jock checks it and then the coaches check it again.

"Things that could go wrong might be a puncture, which happens quite often, especially now we're developing tyres with Vittoria, trying to get tyres faster and faster. Or equipment can actually break, which shouldn't happen . . .

"There's always a risk of pulling feet but this mostly happens in the shorter events, so we use toe straps as an extra in the sprints, for example."

As far as equipment goes, Kelly says tyres are used until the mechanics can find a small nick in them which signifies wear and tear, while chains are used for a few months. "We will put new ones on before the Olympics but they are used again, not just the once," he said.

Gears can be changed (and changed again) seconds before a race begins. "Luke Roberts normally rides bigger gears than everyone else, up to 55-14."

Kelly loves working on the high tech bikes which are quite different to those which come into his bike store in Adelaide for repairs and service. "I guess this is the Formula One of bikes," he says.

If it all sounds pretty glamorous, Kelly reminds mechanic wannabes that the hours are long and hard. "We start work at 7.15am for a 9am session start and don't stop until about 11pm," he says.

But then along come the special moments, like being on hand when the Australian team got the world record in the teams pursuit in Stuttgart last year.

"That's the sort of stuff that keeps you coming back," he said.

Day 4 News from the Melbourne World Track Championships

• French track cycling legend Florian Rousseau has told Cyclingnews that he plans to retire from the sport after this year's world championships.The classy sprint legend was unable to secure a berth for Athens in the talent-heavy French track squad that includes Arnaud Tournant, Laurent Gane and Mickaël Bourgain who combined to win the team sprint gold on Wednesday.
• Japanese rider Hiroyuki Inagaki just scraped in to qualify for the first round of the men's world championship sprint today thanks to a little-used UCI rule that requires a draw to be conducted if two riders tie for the final qualification place.
• There's more ways for a cycling-mad guy to get to elite events than by actually racing a bicycle.Ben Kelly from Adelaide is the perfect example. Not quite quick enough on the bike himself to race at international level, he gets his fix by working as a mechanic for the Australian national team when it is on the road.
• Victorian teenager Michael Ford smashed Brad McGee's ten year old under-19 3000m individual pursuit world record at the Australian Championships last month, taking over two seconds off McGee's long standing record with a sensational 3:17.775. Ford was one of the stars of the Aussie titles, claiming gold in the individual pursuit, team pursuit and Madison, and silver in the points race.