Thursday, April 24, 2008

Rewind...

Awhile back I mentioned this cat I met in the feed zone at Madera...

We're sittin' there all chit chattin' and what not when he mentions that his racer is gonna be pissed off because he missed his feed.

So I respond with something along the lines of, "When they start paying you then they can be pissed off."

And my man quips, "They're paying me... quite well."

Now my interest is piqued and my ears perked up... "What's this?" I think to myself.

I guess the perplexed look on my face must have asked the questions for me because this guy who seems to have figured something out hands me his card. The card got lost somewhere in the pile of Gu wrappers and water bottles on the floor of my car, but the gist of it was...

You pay me $200 plus expenses and I will wrench, feed, drive, fill water bottles and do your laundry for you while you race... basically, I will treat you like a pro sans the massage.

The guy was the real deal. He'd previously earned his living wrenching in a bike shop, made a few contacts with Daddy Warbucks and his compatriots and the rest is history. He'd been to Phoenix and Baker City, Bend and all points California with his clients... road trips, he'd drive the car with all the equipment whilst the clients flew.

"here's my bike. pick me up at the airport. oh, and I'd like two scoops of cytomax in my bottle, my eggs over easy, and put a little of that butter in my chamois."

"yes'r" or yes'm"

Can't figure this one out. Part of me is thinking that it is a good gig, if you love bike racing... part of me is thinking that one couldn't pay me enough to do that. But, then again, I do it for free for a bunch of kidlets every weekend...

Anyways, I'm all wonderin' just who would really pay for this stuff... I mean, the 35+ crowd would be the target audience I guess... lots of extra dough laying around for most of those cats. Why do you think bike shops won't give 35+ers sponsorships worth anything more than a minor discount. So I sneak a peak the next time the boy's on the job passing out bottles.

Shor'nuff shoulda guessed it... he was passing up bottles to a team full of guys in red and white with a big S on their chest. Hmm? as if those guys needed anymore of an advantage...

4 comments:

Andrew said...

I always admired the guys who parked their cars in the feed zone and stacked their bottles on the edge of the roof. The self feed is pretty impressive when done properly.

Give me a good juniors race over a masters 35+ any day.

norcalcyclingnews.com said...

bike racing is fun.

if Joe X can spend more money on the sport, i say ... 'please do!'

money in the sport is how we get legitimacy in this country - bottom line.

some of those S guys are powerful advocates for societal change towards a more bike friendly, bike racing friendly future.

for all of us.

and that soigneur guy is very cool. and knows bike racing.

and i will crush them all ... with my steel bike and velopromo nasty-ass neutral feed.

yeehaw! see you at Wente!

Anonymous said...

mikes awesome
thor

Steve said...

MH... I hear that sometimes you can get your greens with the vp bottles. If you ever need a feed, you know I'm good for it. I won't even try to talk you off that steel bike tho!

agreed about the Specialized guys. they are role models that we can all aspire to when it comes to advocacy and promoting our nutty little sport. But danged if they aren't good... Imagine how epic it would be if they were all passing out at the finish of Madera because they didn't have somebody feeding them!

still, I don't think $200 a day is enough to get me to spread chamois butter in somebodies shorts. But I'm glad somebody is willing to do it for them...

Blake's got a man crush...

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