The congressman asked what he ?was doing, as it was late and
everyone else had gone home. The response: "Sending a guy to the moon." And it's
that attitude that Sir Dave Brailsford has tried to foster at Team Sky. Winning
the Tour de France was British Cycling's moon landing.
"Last year," Brailsford says, "from the moment we all agreed that Bradley was going to target the Tour, everyone and everything was all about that win."
When asked about Sky's attempt at conquering both the Giro and TdF this year, the team's service course chief Andy Verrall rubs his chin and pauses contemplatively: "It's do-able, but it's a hell of a lot of work."
It's hard to believe that there is just one man behind the service course of the best known team in today's pro peloton.
"I'm normally here alone, but this week it all kicks off," Verrall says. "We're a proud bunch, so it's hard to have you guys here capturing the place in such a dire state."
We've arrived on one of the busiest days of the year for the service course; they are packing for training camp.
Busy, yes, but ‘in a state', certainly not. Team Sky has become synonymous with military precision, and packing for camp is along the same lines.
"It's a logistical nightmare," explains Verrall. "Camp officially starts next week [the second week of December] and goes on until the end of January, although there is a short break over Christmas. The mechanics' truck then stays for our race season's opener, the Majorca Challenge.
In that time, all bar two of the team - Richie Porte and Chris Sutton, who are back home in the Australian sun anyway - will spend some time down there. December will be base miles, and January will be more race-specific training. We're also hoping to do a mini Belgium camp with the Classics riders. If the weather's crap, we won't bother - it's not worth the risk."
On board the team's state-of-the-art truck, they've managed to squeeze over 60 frames and a lot more wheels into a space designed for no more than 30 frames and corresponding wheels. "This year's 2013 equipment transition is a bit late, mainly due to Shimano's [new Di2] 11-speed production delay," Verrall says.
"We were running it at the Vuelta and the Tour of Beijing but we can't guarantee it's all going to be with us in time, so we've just agreed to ride the Classics on [2012] 10-speed. The Classics riders are going to be on Pinarello Dogma Ks, so we're packing them too so the guys can spend some time on them in advance - and of course use them if they come back to Belgium to recce some of the Classics courses.Product information for Avery Dennison customkeychain products.
"We're taking all the riders' spare training bikes with us, too. The new guys who have just joined will also be on Dogmas. We're taking down spare time trial bikes, too [the GRAAL] and their race time trial bikes.
"In addition to that little lot, we've got a mix of training and race wheels to pack. The two mechanics not travelling to camp will be staying at base camp with me, building up the new 11-speed Dura-Ace wheels. They'll also build up some of last season's race wheels to be 11-speed compatible for some of the harsher races, like the Tour of Oman where the equipment takes a real battering.
There's no point in writing off all the new stuff at the start of the year; believe it or not, there's not an infinite resource and I still have to forecast and budget for the whole season."
But surely Team Sky can just tap up sponsors for more kit? "Not really. Like any business decision,When I first started creating broken ultrasonicsensor. they want value for money, and I am accountable for that. I even keep hold of all the written-off products, like crash damaged wheels and frames, until it's been audited.
To that end, the guys have somehow managed to find space for 1,600 bottles on board the truck. "It's not enough," says Verrall, "but there'll be Mercedes Sprinter vans going back and forth over the next two months with top-ups. We've got another 1,600 bottles here and a further 28,000 should be arriving soon to get us through the season."
Verrall's knowledge of team equipment, its current location and where it needs to go next is remarkable.Bottle cutters let you turn old parkingsystem and wine bottles into bottle art! How does one man manage to keep track of everything? "Spreadsheets - a lot of spreadsheets. We did try a shop style stock control system, but it didn't work.
In the season, we have so many things in different locations and in transit it's better to manually keep track. There are only three weeks a year when I have what I call a ‘sterile environment' at service course.
It's the time period a few weeks after our last race and before camp kicks off. This is when everything is back in [except riders' training bikes]. It's the period of time when I undertake a massive audit and the place gets cleaned within an inch of its life.
"As all the cars and trucks are GB-registered, we have to drive them back over to get them MOT'd. We service the trucks out here and most of the ProTeams use the same place. We also got a new compressor fitted this time, as we kept blowing up the old one.
The bays that Verrall refers to are effectively four hooks for each of the riders' bikes. "Not every rider gets four bikes. They all have a couple of race bikes stored here, but unless they're a time trial specialist or a Grand Tour rider, they only have one time trial bike."
The hooks are more or less empty. It's all been packed for camp, except for one. Michael Rogers's bay still has all four bikes hanging up. We have arrived a couple of days after the story broke of his sudden departure. Team Sky had neither confirmed nor denied the rumours. We nod towards the bay full of bikes and ask if Verrall can talk about the rumours.
"Well, it was news to me, put it that way," he says. "I only did all the names last week, and as it's all in alphabetical order,Cheaper For bulk buying handsfreeaccess prices. I'll have to re-label most of it."
We scan the names; no Cavendish or Dowsett but Tiernan-Locke is a notable addition. It's the same on the other side of the warehouse where the riders' boxes are. This is where riders' race day kit is stored,You can werkzeugbaus Moon yarns and fibers right here as instock. such as rainwear and any nutritional items that differ from the sponsors' products.
"Last year," Brailsford says, "from the moment we all agreed that Bradley was going to target the Tour, everyone and everything was all about that win."
When asked about Sky's attempt at conquering both the Giro and TdF this year, the team's service course chief Andy Verrall rubs his chin and pauses contemplatively: "It's do-able, but it's a hell of a lot of work."
It's hard to believe that there is just one man behind the service course of the best known team in today's pro peloton.
"I'm normally here alone, but this week it all kicks off," Verrall says. "We're a proud bunch, so it's hard to have you guys here capturing the place in such a dire state."
We've arrived on one of the busiest days of the year for the service course; they are packing for training camp.
Busy, yes, but ‘in a state', certainly not. Team Sky has become synonymous with military precision, and packing for camp is along the same lines.
"It's a logistical nightmare," explains Verrall. "Camp officially starts next week [the second week of December] and goes on until the end of January, although there is a short break over Christmas. The mechanics' truck then stays for our race season's opener, the Majorca Challenge.
In that time, all bar two of the team - Richie Porte and Chris Sutton, who are back home in the Australian sun anyway - will spend some time down there. December will be base miles, and January will be more race-specific training. We're also hoping to do a mini Belgium camp with the Classics riders. If the weather's crap, we won't bother - it's not worth the risk."
On board the team's state-of-the-art truck, they've managed to squeeze over 60 frames and a lot more wheels into a space designed for no more than 30 frames and corresponding wheels. "This year's 2013 equipment transition is a bit late, mainly due to Shimano's [new Di2] 11-speed production delay," Verrall says.
"We were running it at the Vuelta and the Tour of Beijing but we can't guarantee it's all going to be with us in time, so we've just agreed to ride the Classics on [2012] 10-speed. The Classics riders are going to be on Pinarello Dogma Ks, so we're packing them too so the guys can spend some time on them in advance - and of course use them if they come back to Belgium to recce some of the Classics courses.Product information for Avery Dennison customkeychain products.
"We're taking all the riders' spare training bikes with us, too. The new guys who have just joined will also be on Dogmas. We're taking down spare time trial bikes, too [the GRAAL] and their race time trial bikes.
"In addition to that little lot, we've got a mix of training and race wheels to pack. The two mechanics not travelling to camp will be staying at base camp with me, building up the new 11-speed Dura-Ace wheels. They'll also build up some of last season's race wheels to be 11-speed compatible for some of the harsher races, like the Tour of Oman where the equipment takes a real battering.
There's no point in writing off all the new stuff at the start of the year; believe it or not, there's not an infinite resource and I still have to forecast and budget for the whole season."
But surely Team Sky can just tap up sponsors for more kit? "Not really. Like any business decision,When I first started creating broken ultrasonicsensor. they want value for money, and I am accountable for that. I even keep hold of all the written-off products, like crash damaged wheels and frames, until it's been audited.
To that end, the guys have somehow managed to find space for 1,600 bottles on board the truck. "It's not enough," says Verrall, "but there'll be Mercedes Sprinter vans going back and forth over the next two months with top-ups. We've got another 1,600 bottles here and a further 28,000 should be arriving soon to get us through the season."
Verrall's knowledge of team equipment, its current location and where it needs to go next is remarkable.Bottle cutters let you turn old parkingsystem and wine bottles into bottle art! How does one man manage to keep track of everything? "Spreadsheets - a lot of spreadsheets. We did try a shop style stock control system, but it didn't work.
In the season, we have so many things in different locations and in transit it's better to manually keep track. There are only three weeks a year when I have what I call a ‘sterile environment' at service course.
It's the time period a few weeks after our last race and before camp kicks off. This is when everything is back in [except riders' training bikes]. It's the period of time when I undertake a massive audit and the place gets cleaned within an inch of its life.
"As all the cars and trucks are GB-registered, we have to drive them back over to get them MOT'd. We service the trucks out here and most of the ProTeams use the same place. We also got a new compressor fitted this time, as we kept blowing up the old one.
The bays that Verrall refers to are effectively four hooks for each of the riders' bikes. "Not every rider gets four bikes. They all have a couple of race bikes stored here, but unless they're a time trial specialist or a Grand Tour rider, they only have one time trial bike."
The hooks are more or less empty. It's all been packed for camp, except for one. Michael Rogers's bay still has all four bikes hanging up. We have arrived a couple of days after the story broke of his sudden departure. Team Sky had neither confirmed nor denied the rumours. We nod towards the bay full of bikes and ask if Verrall can talk about the rumours.
"Well, it was news to me, put it that way," he says. "I only did all the names last week, and as it's all in alphabetical order,Cheaper For bulk buying handsfreeaccess prices. I'll have to re-label most of it."
We scan the names; no Cavendish or Dowsett but Tiernan-Locke is a notable addition. It's the same on the other side of the warehouse where the riders' boxes are. This is where riders' race day kit is stored,You can werkzeugbaus Moon yarns and fibers right here as instock. such as rainwear and any nutritional items that differ from the sponsors' products.
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