MASH Spectators

Photo by Josh Kadis

Friday was a different kind of race for the pros and a different kind of day for us. It was a time trial stage, meaning that riders are timed individually over a short distance, rather than racing in a pack over long courses like the one’s we’ve been covering. Because there were only fifteen miles to ride, the MASH crew was able to sleep in and cruise around at the venue for a while.

Time trial days are great for spectating because you get to see so much. On the road stages, the teams have been showing up about an hour before the start and leaving within minutes of the finish. But at the time trial, the riders took off at 1-3 minute intervals, starting with last-place Francesco Chicchi at 12:00:00 and concluding with race leader Levi Leipheimer at 14:07:00.

Plus, the course started and finished in Solvang, so the pro squads were posted up there all day. Each team roped off an area around their vehicles for working on bikes, warming up, and hobnobbing with sponsors and media. For us bike nerds, it was pretty overwhelming.

Photo by Josh Kadis

By far, the best moment of the day was checking in with the Garmin-Slipstream crew that we met last week at the Clif Bar event. Jonathan Vaughters, the man behind the program, hadn’t been able to attend the Clif thing, so it was great to meet him finally. He has done amazing things to grow that program intelligently and set the bar really high not just in terms of clean racing but also in the quality of his organization.

Photo by Josh Kadis

Allen Lim is the team’s physiologist; he writes the riders’ training programs and analyzes their power data from racing and training.

Photo by Josh Kadis

Finally, Christian Vande Velde was rad. Hearing the guy who placed fourth in the Tour de France asking, “Are the MASH guys here yet?” was actually kind of embarrassing. Christian’s dad, a former Olympic cyclist himself, was there as well and told us stories about how he used to make Christian do intervals on the track bike on the road. Maybe we’ll get to tape a bit with him some day…

-Josh