Zabriskie will be defending his TT title for four more years with Garmin

Slipstream Sports LLC and its chief venture, Team Garmin-Transitions, is once again poised for a big year. Coming off the 2009 Tour de France, where the team placed second overall with two riders in the top 10, along with three stage victories at the Vuelta and success at the Tour of Britain and the Sun Tour, the team has officially unveiled its 2010 roster. Team Garmin-Transitions features 10 Americans among a total of 27 riders from eight different countries. Christian Vande Velde, 8th overall in the 2009 Tour de France, David Zabriskie, U.S. Time Trial Champion and sprint sensation Tyler Farrar will return to the squad along with stars Dan Martin, Ryder Hesjedal and David Millar.

New additions include Jack Bobridge, Australia’s U23 Road Race and Time Trial Champion, Johan Van Summeren, two-time top ten finisher of Paris Roubaix, and expert lead-out man Robbie Hunter.

Vande Velde, Martin and Zabriskie have all renewed contracts with the team that will extend through 2012, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

“I’ve come an long way with Team Garmin-Transitions in a short time,” said Vande Velde. “I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve done as part of this team and I’m excited to see what the next three years have to hold.”

“The progress we have made together in the past two seasons shows what a perfect environment Garmin-Transitions is for a young rider,” said Martin. “I’m really excited to have the chance to continue to improve, grow and have fun in what is the perfect team for me.”

“It’s a beautiful thing,” added Zabriskie. “To commit for four years myself, and to have the team commit to me is something really special.”

A complete roster follows:

Jack Bobridge, AUS
Kirk Carlson, USA
Steven Cozza, USA
Tom Danielson, USA
Julian Dean, NZ
Timmy Duggan, USA
Tyler Farrar, USA
Ryder Hesjedal, CAN
Robbie Hunter, SA
Fredrik Kessiakoff, SWE
Michele Kreder, NED
Trent Lowe, AUS
Dan Martin, IRE
Maartijn Maaskant, NED
Christian Meier, CAN
Cameron Meyer, AUS
Travis Meyer, AUS
David Millar, GB
Danny Pate, USA
Thomas Peterson, USA
Peter Stetina, USA
Svein Tuft, CAN
Johan Van Summeren, BEL
Ricardo van der Velde, NED
Christian Vande Velde, USA
Matt Wilson, AUS
David Zabriskie, USA

“We’re poised well for 2010. Our roster is strong and versatile with some of the world’s best riders returning to us, and the addition of others,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports management company. “This year we will look to build on Tyler’s success by adding lead-out guys, we’ve added climbers to help Christian in the mountains and we’ve rounded out our Classics team. With Christian, Dan and David signing on for the next few years, we’ve built a foundation that we will be able to enhance in years to come. Looking ahead to 2010, we expect to be competitive throughout the year.”

Team Garmin-Transitions will compete in a full slate of international races throughout the spring and summer, kicking off with the Tour Down Under in January 2010.

In the Garmin car at ToM. We discussed fashion and the appropriate time to use a Windsor knot.

It was with great sadness that I read today that Bradley Wiggins – someone who you had recognized as raw talent – was leaving Garmin-Transitions and joining Team Sky with a four year contract. I know how disappointed you must be to have a potential Tour de France champion leave the team. All is not lost. Christian Vande Velde can still be a threat for the podium at the Tour, and you yourself have mentioned David Zabriskie could have a breakout year. And let’s be honest, Team Sky paid you a bundle to get Wiggo out of his remaining year – that’s a lot of cash for POM-martinis. However one piece of the equation is still missing – another Englishman.

Me and my BFF

Taking a page from Fat Cyclist, I am proposing you bring me onto the Garmin-Transitions team. On the surface you might have some reservations. Yes, I’m a hair over 40 and perhaps past my ‘prime’. And yes, technically I have dual citizenship with Ireland due to my father. However, my mother is British and all I need to do fill out a British citizenship form, pay 460 pounds and before you know it I’m singing God save the Queen. With my move to South Carolina I have been able to get in great training miles and I’m getting good sensations in my legs. But I can bring more to the table than just cycling skills. Let’s face it, you need someone on the team that ‘gets’ Zabriskie. I’m that guy. I understand his love of comics and can match him with his random movie quotes. Let’s not forget David Millar. Dave and I got on famously a few years back, putting back a few cold ones and discussing our love of Underworld. While I don’t quite have the accent that Dave has, after a few months of hanging out I’ll develop an outrageous British accent that will finally make my parents proud.

And just like Wiggins, I also look dapper in a scarf

Sure Wiggins was fourth at the Tour, but he was a PR nightmare! He was a deer in headlights whenever the camera was turned on him and then there’s those drunken Tweets sent out after a few Guinness (well I can’t 100% guarantee no drunken Tweets). I’m a natural when it comes to speaking on camera and can drone on forever about myself, the team or how fabulous POM is to drink after a race. Finally, I’m a big deal on Twitter, which as you know, is how all communication will be done. To further sweeten the pot I suggest we put a philanthropic angle to my arrival to the Garmin-Transition team. We need a cause that really tugs at the heart strings. The world needs a charity for children who have never felt the joy of an Egyptian silk shirt with pearl buttons against their skin or even the sheer pleasure of owning an ascot, never mind even wearing one. And instead of a charity wrist band we could get scarfs and cummerbunds designed with our charity’s hand stitched logo. You and I have spoken in the past of the importance of fashion. How can you let the children of today become the Old Navy wearers of tomorrow? Is that a world you want to live in? I know I don’t.

Your public relations person has all my people’s information so lets talk soon and iron out the details. And remember, we’re not doing this for me or for you, but for the children.

]]> http://neilbrowne.com/2009/12/an-open-letter-to-jonathan-vaughters/feed/ 8 http://neilbrowne.com/2007/01/the-seventh-deadly-sin/ http://neilbrowne.com/2007/01/the-seventh-deadly-sin/#comments Mon, 22 Jan 2007 05:21:00 +0000 neilroad http://neilbrowne.com/2007/01/the-seventh-deadly-sin/ Sarah wins three golds just as she is on the cover of ROAD. Coincidence? I don’t think so… It was quite the busy week. There were the three days of track racing at the ADT velodrome and I had to continue training for my upcoming camp visits. You ask, “Why do you need to train [...]]]>

Sarah wins three golds just as she is on the cover of ROAD. Coincidence? I don’t think so…

It was quite the busy week. There were the three days of track racing at the ADT velodrome and I had to continue training for my upcoming camp visits. You ask, “Why do you need to train when you visit these camps?” The reason is simple, number seven on the list of seven sins – pride. Usually journalists and guests are allowed to ride along with the pros during the camp. These are usually long enough for the pros to get in a bit of actual training, but not ‘on the rivet’ causing certain death and destruction for VIPs. In the magazine realm, I can hold my own among most journalists, but to be honest, that’s not saying much. Sure there are a few ‘ringers’ like the guys who just graduated and had been racing every weekend. Wait till they get older and settle into the grind. Then we’ll see who is still training! Anyways, I just don’t want to be that guy who gets dropped an hour into the ride. I want to be the guy that the director is thinking, “Hey, we should sign that Neil guy.” As a result of my growing hubris, I’ve been logging some solid rides on the weekends. The weekend before I rode with my BFF, Cush. He works for Bicycling and apparently has all the time in the world to train between ‘How to make your abs flat in three weeks’ and ‘Climb like Armstrong’ articles. He dragged me around Orange County for four and a half hours. Then during the week I’ve been doing short, hard intervals to bring my AT up to a decent level. Yesterday, Saturday, I rode with my favorite metrosexual hairdresser, Slover and the rest of his crew in the hills of Malibu. About ten miles into the ride one of the group gets a puncture. As we are standing on the side of PCH, who do I see approaching us but David Zabriskie. He stops and we chat for a few minutes as we wait for ‘Un-Loyal’ who punctured. Dave is down in SoCal to avoid the cold Utah weather and log some solid training miles. Also, Dave and his wife, along with Floyd Landis, attended the velodrome the night before in support of Sarah Hammer. I also suspect he is looking for some of my riding mojo. Our plan was to climb into the surrounding hills of Malibu, but that wasn’t on Dave’s list of things to do, so we waved adieu when our group turned onto Latigo Canyon. He was headed to Starbucks to see how many shot of espresso he could down.

Slover – keeping it real

Sunday at the velodrome was fabulous! Sarah took her third gold medal and she’s on the cover of ROAD. Yeah, I’m a Hammer groupie…We’re working on the next issue of ROAD and you can see a complete run down on the three days at the track.

Sarah taking her third gold in the scratch

After jumping back into my Scion, Tim and I blasted down the freeway to rendezvous with Floyd Landis again. As mentioned in my previous blog, we had been at the ADT Velodrome that morning to watch Dr Kay attempt the Master’s Hour Record as well as see David Zabriskie go for either the American Hour Record or the Eddy Merckx Hour Record, there was a little confusion about which he was supposed to be going for. Dave had just returned from CSC training/boot camp in South Africa which included deep sea diving and having to catch all their own food as none had been provided. Then to top it off it was 30 hours of traveling to get back to the States. Not ideal Hour Record preparation.

The David Witt Memorial Cycling Classic at the San Diego Velodrome was a chance to raise money for the California Fire Foundation and the honored riders were, of course, Floyd and Dave. Against my better judgment, Dave has grown the beard back. Shaving is probably not a major concern when you have to catch your own food. Hell, I barely shave and all I do is throw my food in a microwave, let alone try and catch something to eat, so I guess I shouldn’t talk. Floyd and Dave raced each other twice in a three lap match sprint. Landis was on his road bike and Zabriskie with his time trial machine. In the first race, Dave hit the brakes forcing both of them into a track stand. I don’t think Floyd saw that coming. The first race Floyd won by jumping onto the track apron and the second sprint Dave, looking for revenge, took with a blistering sprint from the front position. This was a low-key event with spectators coming into the infield and talking to both riders and grabbing precious autographs. The day ended with jerseys being auctioned.

Dave leading out the sprint for the win

While this was going on Tim, John Seguesta our photographer, and myself were strategizing. I had a conceptual idea of what I wanted the photo shoot to look like, but pulling it off is another thing. The planets must have been aligned yesterday because other than lawyers, all of the key people in Floyd’s life were on hand. The plan was John would shoot some action shots and then he and Tim would go back to John’s photo studio, which was a mile away, and prepare for the shoot. John asked me if he should get anything. “A 12-pack of beer!” I’ve done a few photo shoots and they always go a little easier if you have some alcohol, food and music playing. You almost have to turn the shoot into a mini party. Now the tough part, gather all of Floyd’s friends, coaches, and doctors and convince them to come to the studio for the shoot. Sure they all wanted to do it, but now it was getting late in the day and I knew people were getting hungry for dinner. I kept telling them it wouldn’t take long and before you know it you’d all be at dinner. We rolled out of the velodrome with I think five cars in tow for a total of 16 or so people. When we arrived, John, was a little taken back. He didn’t, as did I, think that we had so many people with us. Not only did we have Floyd’s friends (Allen Lim, Robbie Ventura, Dr. Kay, Dr. Baker, David Z, Bob Roll, Landis’ good friends with their significant others) but Sarah Hammer and her coach who we needed to shoot as well. I quickly passed out beers and tried to organize our mini party. We decided to shoot Floyd’s group first, then individual photos and final individual photos of Sarah Hammer to accompany an upcoming interview. But like a party, people were talking, drinking or just sitting and relaxing. At one point, sitting down with a beer in his hand, Floyd said he was having a good time. We did get them organized for the shoot. I’ve seen some of the rough pre-production shots and they look good!

Tim and I finally wrapped up the night at Hawthorn, a restaurant owned by Floyd’s mother-in-law. What a classy place! The restaurant is in a theatre, with the lobby the dining area. Tim and I had gotten there after we looked at some of the photos, so Floyd’s group was already seated. We pulled up a couple of chairs at the end of the table and decompressed. The expression, you are known by the company you keep, seemed very appropriate as I looked at the folks at the table. It could have been very easy for anyone there to say, “No I don’t want to go to the photo shoot” or just be a pain in the ass about it. But instead, when I asked each person if they’d like to do the shoot, no one hesitated and all said they would do it. They all crammed into cars and followed us over to the studio and made it happen. I like to think, when it is all said and done and we shuffle off this mortal coil, that is how we will be remembered. Not by the amount of bike races won, dollars earned, or how many expensive cars we have in our garage, but instead by how we treated our friends and family. In that regard Floyd Landis has nothing to worry about. No sanctioning body can take away the genuine love and respect that people showed to Floyd that day.

John is either directing Floyd or attempting a Vulcan mind meld

The new Oakley glasses?

The Uni-Bomber beard is back

]]> http://neilbrowne.com/2006/12/the-david-witt-memorial-cycling-classic/feed/ 1 http://neilbrowne.com/2006/12/the-david-witt-memorial-holiday-cycling-classic/ http://neilbrowne.com/2006/12/the-david-witt-memorial-holiday-cycling-classic/#comments Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:56:00 +0000 neilroad http://neilbrowne.com/2006/12/the-david-witt-memorial-holiday-cycling-classic/ Floyd Landis is donating his time for a charitable cause. The first annual David Witt Memorial Holiday Cycling Classic December 17th at the San Diego Velodrome is to raise money to support the families of USFS Engine Crew 57 firefighters that gave their lives fighting the Esperanza fire. Floyd will be joined by Dave Zabriskie, [...]]]>

Floyd Landis is donating his time for a charitable cause. The first annual David Witt Memorial Holiday Cycling Classic December 17th at the San Diego Velodrome is to raise money to support the families of USFS Engine Crew 57 firefighters that gave their lives fighting the Esperanza fire. Floyd will be joined by Dave Zabriskie, Sarah Hammer, Robbie Ventura, Bob Roll, Dr. Allen Lim, Dr. Arnie Baker. The main event is a ride featuring these cycling celebrities. There will also be a fundraising auction of jerseys. The event runs from 1:00 to 4:00. I highly recommend that you contribute to this very worthy cause and get down to San Diego to see these cycling champions first hand.

For more information about the David Witt Memorial Holiday Cycling Classic and on how to donate, please visit www.sdvelodrome.com.

Donate directly to the Esperanza Firefighters Fund;

http://www.cpf.org/default/working_for_you/esperanza_firefighter_fund/index.cfm

Lance ignoring me at the Discovery Channel team launch

My friends often ask me if I’m nervous when I interview a famous rider. In the beginning I was extremely nervous. I remember my first interview was with Fred Rodriguez and Bobby Julich. I wrote down everything I was going to say to them, even my phone greeting to leave on their voice mail if I needed to! Now it’s not that much of a big deal to talk to these guys as I’ve realized that they are, for the most part, normal people. I think the only person I’d be a little nervous interviewing would be Lance Armstrong. My only interaction with him was the last time he raced at Tour de Georgia. It was at the Brass Town Bald press conference. It concluded and Armstrong was walking out. The press were yelling last minute questions. He walked by me and as he passed I called out, “Lance, it’s Neil from ROAD Magazine.” I’d heard from a connected source that he’d checked out ROAD and liked it. He stopped, turned around and walked back toward me. “You have a cool magazine,” and walked away. That’s all the interaction I’ve had with Lance.

My favorite interviews I’ve done are any with David Zabriskie. That guy is interviewing gold, plus I think he’s a good guy. He is also the only athelete who has tried to kick me. Out of the times I’ve interviewed him, the best was in Las Vegas in Tim and my suite. He was up there with his wife Randi, his agent Doug Katone, teammate Christian VandeVelde, and T.T. world champion Kristin Armstrong doing the photo shoot for the latest issue. It was relaxed and we talked casually about stuff and then did our proper interview. Another good interview was with Floyd Landis. Photographer John Seguesta and myself had arranged to go to Floyd’s house and do the interview as well as a photo shoot. Floyd was easy to work with. He was open to our idea of using his motorcycle in the shoot. I recorded my interview with him with two devices: an electronic recorder that Landis’ brother-in-law held for me and a tape recorder that I had set on the handlebar of his motorcycle that we were using as a prop for the shoot. After the interview I checked my recorders. The tape recorder recorded nothing, which to this day I still don’t understand why. It has 40 minutes of hissing. The digital recorder had about 10 minutes and then stopped, which I think a button had been pressed when I gave it to his brother-in-law and that stopped the recording. I thought, “Oh, I’m screwed!” I told Floyd and he said no problem, let’s go inside and do it again. Floyd’s wife made us snacks, we sucked down a few beers and watched his corgis race around the living room. It turned out to be a pretty good interview. Every once in a while I feel like I should download the audio of the interview to the blog. But the problem with that kind of stuff is that it’s funny to me, but to anyone else listening it just sounds like two guys laughing at dogs. I guess it’s just one of those things you have to be there to appreciate.

Another good interview is Tony Cruz. We live nearby and we’ve gotten to be friends since he has moved into the neighborhood. Tony would give me the honest scoop on what was going on in races and we would talk for almost an hour, which is really unheard of when talking to athletes. Usually you get 15 minutes and they are gone.

Levi is another guy who was really good to talk to. He had no problem with me calling him in Europe and bugging him at random times. He doesn’t have any kind of superstar attitude and would talk to me when we said we’d talk. A couple of years ago at TdG, Levi’s brother helped us out big time with VIP passes so we could drive to the parking lot at Brass Town Bald. If we hadn’t gotten those passes we would have been forced to walk a couple of miles uphill with several pounds of camera equipment.

The crappest interview that got better as time went on was David Millar. He was at the San Diego wind tunnel prepping for his return to professional racing with the Saunier Duval squad. I was there along with a few other magazines. We all stood around and waited a turn to talk to Millar. I was introduced to David and he was asked when he wanted to do interviews. “I’m not doing interviews today.” I had gotten up at the crack of dawn and driven for two hours to talk to the guy and now he can’t talk to me! His people told me to hang out. David was a little stressed because of all the attention and he really wanted to focus on what he was doing at the tunnel. I could understand that, I don’t like to be bugged during production week at the magazine. So I hung out from about 9:00 am till about 5:00 pm or so as they did the wind tunnel testing. David would walk by me occasionally as he left the tunnel and I would say something casually, trying to build up any kind of rapport with him. All the other magazines had left, but I was determined. Finally it was arranged; I’d go out to dinner with the team and would be seated next to him. We sat down next to each other at an Italian restaurant and chowed down. I remember we were both starved from a long day. We talked about random stuff during dinner and when we were both done, he said we should go to the restaurant bar and do the interview. After the interview was said and done I think it was about 11:00 at night and I got home around 1:00 am. Again, I think it turned out good and Millar is a cool guy who I think was a little nervous about talking to the press. I hope to talk to him again real soon at a training camp.

I know I have other interview stories to tell and if I remember them and they are half-way amusing I’ll let you know.

Levi checking out our Tour of California book

Tim and I are in Greenville, South Carolina for the USPRO time trial and road race. For anyone who hasn’t visited Greenville, it really is a hidden gem and I can see why George Hincapie as well as Craig Lewis call this city home. Greenville is located at the base of some mountainous roads that offer great training routes. The downtown area is very cool with eclectic coffee shops (ROAD recommends the Coffee Underground), a variety of restaurants and amazingly friendly people. The local bike shop has almost daily rides through the countryside. I spoke to Rich Hincapie and he told me they have a nightly Tuesday road race with a police escort! How cool is that?! Back in L.A. the only time the police come out to our rides is to tell us to ride single file. I gotta figure out how to open a satellite ROAD office out here.

While we were walking around downtown we came across Lucas Euser and Chad Hartley enjoying a post-training ride coffee. We swapped stories and rumors for a few minutes. Both those riders are up and comers and we’re sure we’ll see them on a ProTour team in the future.

Next was the press conference. Press conferences are useful, not to so much for us, because we’re not too concerned with getting timely quotes up on the web, I’ll leave that to the other guys. For ROAD it’s about getting our credentials and more importantly grabbing food. Before the press conference began I caught the eye of David Zabriskie who was at the dais with George Hiincapie, Race to Replace winner A.J. Smith, Chris Wherry and Chris Baldwin and Craig Lewis. We nodded to each other and I noticed that Dave is rocking a full beard. I rubbed the side of my face and gave and mouthed, “What’s up with the beard?” David shot me back a double thumbs up. Classic David Z…doing his own thing. Dave is a fast rider, in contrast to his every movement which is like watching him in slow motion. From unscrewing the cap to the bottle of water, to running his hands through his hair: slow and deliberate.

The mayor as well as sponsors spoke about how excited they are about this being the first time the USPRO is open to Americans only, as well as the first time that it isn’t being raced in the streets of Philadelphia. Usual press conference stuff.

However, David Zabriski stole the show with his deadpan answers.
Announcer: What motivates you?
David Zabriskie in a slow drawl: I want to win. That’s what motivates me.
Announcer: How’s your form for tomorrow?
David Zabriskie: It should be okay. I can’t complain.
David Z is like the comedy of Monty Python. Some people think it’s the funniest stuff ever or they just don’t get it.

Afterwards I put some important questions to Dave.
ROAD: You’re rocking the beard. What’s up with that?
David Z: After I got done shaving my arms and legs, the razor was too dull to go to the face.
ROAD: You didn’t decide to go buy another blade and shave again?
David Z: There comes a time when every man needs a beard.
ROAD: Will you shave it down to a goatee for the time trial?
David Z: They kicked out the only other guy with facial hair, so…

After the conference we went to the lobby of the hotel to where the food was being served. It was classic delicious Southern fare, but one entrée stood out. They were serving what I called grit-tails. Poured into a plastic martini glass were grits and shrimp. Let me tell you, it was damn good! A.J. Smith sat down with us to give us the full scoop on riding for the Discovery Team for one race, the time trial. He was blown away by the organization of it all. Unfortunately, he’s had some hamstring problems that haven’t allowed him to train for the past two weeks. But he doesn’t lack in confidence. A.J. and I made a few $10 bets. When we gave him a copy of our Tour of California issue he bet me $10 that he’d win a stage of that race, another $10 bet that we’d have him on the cover of ROAD, and $10 that he’d win the upcoming national pursuit championships at the ADT Velodrome. Some might say that’s cocky, but in order to win you need to be certain of what you want to accomplish, otherwise you’ll always be the guy who finishes top 10.

Tomorrow the T.T. Stay tuned for more random stuff.

One of the hardest climbs I’ve done is the Brass Town Bald stage. When we started the last three miles of climbing I was forced to zig-zag back and forth on the road. Talk about a kick in the ass!! One of the guys we rode with got off and walked and was faster than we were. Then to see Floyd and Tom battling it out on those slopes and riding straight up after racing for four hours was amazing.

People ask if I get in the team cars for stage races. I usually don’t because it is like being stuck in traffic for four hours. You generally don’t see anything and when you do it is an emergency, so the stress in the car goes from a two to ten in a matter of seconds. The exceptions to that rule are circuit races and time trials. Circuit races are fun for a lap, like stage 7 at the Tour of California. I jumped in with the Sierra Nevada team and got to see the mass of crowds for myself and then get out at the finishline a lap later. At Georgia I jumped into the Navigators team car during the tt. The course was fairly straight forward, with a few downhill, off-camber turns. The driver of the Navigator car had those tires squealing as he whipped the team issue Audi from side to side. Plus, I’m able to crawl out the window of the car and get some good shots. You can’t really climb out the car window in a mass start race because of the ref and because it is a bit dangerous, so I have to choose my moments when the ref ain’t looking.

So I’m at the finish of the tt and David Zabriskie comes over to me. He wants me to take a picture of him giving a CSC jersey to this guy in exchange for the Discovery Channel jersey he was wearing. David is getting CSC fans one at a time.

Just got in the ROAD jerseys from Hincapie Sportswear and they look great. We are expecting ROAD bib shorts and caps as well. Damn, we’re going to look good!