2:00 Hrs., 60 km's, 1,700 KJ's

By Steve Chapin, CycleOps Marketing Director

The morning was consumed with rider arrivals and typical press events. On the surface, there are only photos and a short, 2-hour ride in the afternoon sun. At a moderate pace, the ride winds along the coastal roads in and around Benidorm and Calpe. It is everything you might envision camp to be, and the riders are fresh, happy to be training, and in good spirits. The riders cover about 60k and put out about 1,700 KJ's. For most of us, that's a solid ride with some sustained efforts, but for the team it merely stretches out the legs and prepares them for the 'real' training in the coming days. All in all, a relaxing way to kick off camp, for the riders at least.

Generally unnoticed, however, is the behind the scenes juggling act of logistics. First, the mechanics needed to pick up the bikes and gear from the Service Course and drive a fully loaded semi for 20 hours to get to camp. To envision the Service Course, just think of a small version of Costco, filled with the teams' training and race bikes, wheels, equipment, clothing, 100,000 or so water bottles, spare parts, tools, and everything else the team will need over the course of the coming season. For the bike junkie, walking into the Service Course is like walking into the living room on Christmas morning.

Each rider will typically have 5-6 bikes: at home they will keep a training road bike and a training TT bike, and at the Service Course they will have a racing bike, a back-up bike, a racing TT bike, and a back-up TT bike. For training camp, the mechanics brought the riders' training and TT bikes, along with a handful of back-up wheels and gear, water bottles, and tools. It may not sound like much, but for 23 riders, but it filled an entire semi-truck. There were 2 mechanics who worked - seemingly around the clock - to make sure the rider bikes were perfectly prepped and ready to go each morning. The bikes are then set out, gleaming as if new, on stands so the riders can easily wheel them away and begin riding.

For the road trip from the Service Course, the mechanics are joined by 4 soigneurs, who will each drive a team car to camp. The soigneurs will spend an amazing amount of time behind the wheel, and in addition to getting to camp, the team cars will double as airport shuttles (Benidorm is only 30 minutes from the Alicante airport, but try to imagine coordinating the arrival of 23 riders) and support vehicles for the daily rides.

This is only a small portion of the responsibility of soigneurs, which we will highlight later, but simply put, the mechanics and soigneurs are the backbone of a team.

After a quick shower and massage, there is dinner with the team, and the riders mostly spend the rest of the evening trying to keep in touch with the rest of the world. Unfortunately for them, there is no internet in the hotel rooms, so they all hang out in the lobby, enduring a wireless service which could only be described as maddeningly slow. Other than this, camp is off to a good start, and from the outside, the life of a pro is looking pretty rosy. Day 1 complete, 9 days to go...

Stay tuned to the CycleOps Team Vacansoleil page for more updates about the team