J Wakefield

Add then trailer purchase to get to the track, or a sprinter or similar. 5-10k helmet and additional 2-5 for kit. Petrol every ride, oil etc and then it all adds up. BUT 11k on a bicycle to me personally is mind blowing. BUT (again) as Path said - each to their own, buy what you want and can afford and have a smile on your face when you ride it.

Due to the cancellation, this means my season ends a week early. After this year overall I am not upset sorry to say.

Borut is an incredible human, incredibly knowledgeable and he makes me laugh alot and is actually coming to stay in November. UAE use their chainlube. On that note, his AB are not the conventional "oval" as everyone knows it or currently thinks when thinking of oval rings and what you buy in the shops.

He didn’t he did that in 2018 and rose Elite in 2019

2nd year

As a company we won’t coach any child younger than 16. In some circumstances we will help develop and guide a year or 2 younger and teach them how to train. The skills as mentioned above is one we strongly encourage. They can actually train without knowing f they training if this is done correctly. Mid pack believe it or not are some of the best athletes to work with, their progression is often the best of any type of athlete. I often get the “I am not or my child Is not a pro but would you look at coaching me?” The answer is always yes cause I really enmities that type of athlete as that process is always great with them. To me if I work with someone going from a 4hr to a 3hr Argus or winning a GT, the feeling I have is the same. A goal has been reached and that person is happy and I am happy the work done was good enough for them to achieve that.

I dont no, but Mike and the company do yes. Mike has been there for about 2yrs or maybe more with him.

Very much riding and is part of the Nanotime team that has been built up over Covid period.

I do sometimes make exceptions for A batch Hubbers like yourself.

I dont like talking about myself tbh so dont really want to go into publicly what I do and try blow smoke up my ass for everyone to read but I have gone far beyond the call of duty for athletes. **** that will make your ass drop out your pants if it came out. Beers and I have been working together since 2005 and go well well beyond a coach/athlete relationship. I know what colour his **** is in the morning before a ride. Same with others I am luckily enough to work with and maybe one day I will write a tell all book with all the good and bad over the last million years when I call it a day. However, as I said I will never sell a dream to any kid or parent to have them work with me or our company.

At present if you see the demographic of riders at the sharp end its now in those early 20's. Its not now where you take a 22yr old to a GT and let them experience 3 weeks. You now sending them to win. There is a group now that we haven't seen in the last 5yrs and wont see for another 5 I dont believe at best. This is Bernal, Tadej and Remco. These 3 alone have broken the normal mould and are very special riders we wont see for a while again. So to answer your question is hard overall but there is a big difference from Continental to PC and then WT. If you want to ride Conti from a local level in a way it doesn't really matter cause you can race Conti and work half day if that is your level. It would be how flexible work is allowing you to travel to races. The step up comes in PC where there if you not there by early 20's and in the system you chasing a dream. Yes, guys have gone slightly older but that's not a large volume to enter.

this trumped any open door or sacrifice. Similar situation I had in Feb when I called the head DS at 9pm and said I won’t be at a important week long Tour the next day and flew back to SA at 9:30am instead to be with family as it was more important. I could of lost my job but it wasn’t worth keeping over this.

Im not a sports manager or agent and have never claimed to be, I also do not sell the dream of "train with me and I will get you a Pro contract" if you good enough, you will go further than the next person on merit and all those things attached. However I have done the likes of deciding if a kid does home schooling or not, taken a young guy for his 1st shot at the Dr for a itchy winky cause he was naughty and couldn't tell his folks to paying for hotels, flights and sitting in contract negotiations and everything in-between and never getting a cent or thanks back. But Im not a manager and will never want to be and definitely wont sell the dream to any kid or his parents for a pay check.

Beers not riding PT or PC had nothing to do with his ability in terms of physiology and commitment to what it takes. He can do that with no thought pattern. Him returning to SA was a personal matter which changed overnight. I know this cause I had to book his flight home in literally 10min at 9pm while he was on route to the airport. However, when these things happen, opportunities are moved and so forth.

This is a very good post and observation and not uncommon at all. As an example, last year when Matt Beers did a staigaire gig on the team many thought it was cause I made it happen. It was actually not the case. I was asked by management "tell us about your mountain bike boys" being Alan and Matt. I did so and then had to provide a full package of info of a physiological profile, test data etc. Then they decided to bring Matt over for a gig. Alan had the XC deal so it wouldn't work. From that being public I had a massive influx of stuff from every parent to rider who wanted me to "get my kid on the team" I got CV's, race results, marriage to their 1st daughter and everything in-between. I even got asked to then put their kid on NAD cause Matt was leaving. Some of it was surreal. The best was "if I coach with you, will you make it happen?" No I wont. When you looked at the CV's and profiles the difference is so great that you have to think how they got to the point that they think their kid is this level. I would explain at times how big a gap is and the 1 example was "your son is 20min of Matt on average in results on a 1 day race in SA, the routes are easy and you want to go WT?" I was sent power numbers as a once off best - I explained that your sons best 8min on a road bike up Hels is what Matt does for 30min x 3 on a mtb on gravel. I was often told I was a **** for this and not being able to help. However, they are still lead to believe and pushed into this situation and to me it is sad and worrying to see but I also do understand it. Even now since the Tour is over, the communication I have gotten for this type of thing is alot, along with the requests for bottles, yellow jerseys etc from people I do not know or have met. My 2c.

When the price is right, people do amazing things.

Bahrain is still strong the McLaren part has moved on.

Yes correct and yes on the mtb, that goes without saying.

Pozzovivo and Gibbons are their best bet for results, hope they support them both as both are going well.

It did and didn’t; Team was happy with him and he had some things naturally to learn on the road but the timing was wrong for him. Due to respect to Matt there was a personal matter that was important for him to attend and deal with which was totally understandable 3/4 of the way through the stagaire period.

Depending where Matt is in his season it ranges between 460-480W and races at typically 80kg.

Tyres not wheels or bike. Spez road and MTB aren't the best for reliability in the tyre department.

sorry on this to add shoes are often personal unless like Quickstep you sponsored by Spez. So riders choose what they like and often do have personal custom shoes made where needed by DMT or whoever. Saddles are personal but will have to run what the team is sponsored by but the shape and model will be for their fit. Wheels - again team issues but you can always choose a 35, 45 etc depth as you want on the bike for that given day. Tyre pressure is also personal and often based on weight or aggressiveness of a rider and also temperature at the start and middle of the race.

Yes she is here she has been since Feb. The issue with the post was about her residency and in typical fashion SA home affairs not delivering what we needed a year later after we were told 3 months. It’s sorted now and was about a week after that post and got some great help. I am truelly grateful. Lockdown also didn’t help but we took a gamble and it worked. But being home only 8 days from 14 July - 21 September doesn’t help the dog situation ????

No, I’m in Sestriere at present for another 3 days as we had a 3 week camp here for the Tour team, then I head to Dauphine and then the Tour. Hope my Bullterrier doesn’t attack me when I get home after the Tour and my wife doesn’t call the police when I walk in.