Omnium Racing

A good friend of mine, Dan, is starting a new bike shop. This has been a long term dream and goal of his for a long time, one that we've talked about countless times. We also talked (more like ranted) about the state of racing, as any competitive cyclist does. All of these talks, and my experiences as a race mechanic, official, racer, spectator and general cycling enthusiast, have painted a picture in my mind of how teams can be run. I don't mean to say that there is anything wrong with local race teams, but I've had years to think about this.

Megan and I have been working to organize and start a team along with the bike shop, you'll hopefully be hearing much more about us in the future. In order to build a team with strong values, we broke down all the usual concepts, and looked at what a team was.

As a race mechanic, I worked for a team with a relatively low budget. We weren't pro, so riders didn't get paid, we didn't really have an equipment budget (at least not a huge one), so riders didn't get bikes or wheels or anything like that. But what we were able to offer was management, coaching, a mechanic (That's Me!), soigneur, etc.

Our goal was to do everything within our power so that the athletes only had to think about their upcoming race, being mentally and physically prepared, and performing well (side note, this was always my prime goal as a rowing coach). Bikes worked as they should, riders were given reminders of when they had to be at the start line, we coached and educated them on things that they might not have expected.

Bonds were forged, races were raced, a team was born.

While I can't possibly hope to have that level of support at anything less than the pro/elite level of racing, we are trying our best to capture this essence of "team," from the riders, to the support crew. It will be really exciting to see how, and if, we are able to pull it off.

Things have been a whirlwind lately, Dan an had some bumps and hurdles to getting the shop open, which they have conquered admirably in the short amount of time allotted to them. We couldn't even start in on a team until we were absolutely sure that a shop was going to happen this year. Once we were sure, things became real in an awful hurry, we had to design kits, invite riders, among numerous other tiny but not insignificant details.

Well, this has been a nice break from working on team stuff, time to get back to work, I'll keep you all posted.

In the meantime, be sure to stop in at one of our sponsors, Omnium Bike Shop, and the Cheeky Monkey Deli (more than your average deli, btw), they kick butt.