“I hope you all slept well?” Frank enquired, joining our little party in the breakfast room.
“Could’ve done with another hour,” John blearily suggested.
“Shoulda slept on the flight,” Izzy opined.

Of course that got a very adult response – not!

“Kinder,” I sighed.
“When you are finished,” Frank mentioned. He waited for the offending parties to cease before going on, ”Leon has all your bikes ready, as I told you last night, we’ll go out as a group for a leg stretch this morning then Annika will take Gaby and Tony for a look at the time trial course this afternoon. Questions?”
“What do the rest of us do this afternoon?” Tal queried.
“There’s no programme until this evening so the time is your own all I ask is that you stay close to the hotel and don’t wander off alone. you’ll need be ready to go to the registration at five. That it?”

Silence was the loud reply.

“Okay, so as soon as you’re done here go and see Laurin for your team kit, then if you can be ready for the ride at nine please.”

I checked my watch, less than an hour, i’m glad I did my hair before coming to breakfast.

 
“Ah Gaby,” Laurin greeted when I reached the improvised kit store .
“Thats me, through to the core,” I joked.
“Well I hope so,” she grinned, “so lets see, bib shorts….”

She went down her list checking the pile of stuff with ‘Bond’ pinned to it, bibs, tights, long and short sleeve jerseys, for some reason two skinsuits and to top it off a new helmet. We might not be a big squad but we’re being looked after well.

“Hope it all fits,” I opined.
“You’re dad sent all your sizes so they should, we had to get your suits custom made, we don’t normally have need of XXS kit.”

Remind me i’m small why don’t you.

“That it?”
“Frank wants you all in the training gear for the ride out.”
“Training gear?” have I missed something?
“Bibs and jersey?” Laurin suggested.
“Oh right okay.”
“Oh, nearly forgot,” she fumbled with a folder then presented me with a sheet of A4, “massage time table.”
“Er thanks,” I plonked it on the top of the pile and scooped the pile up.

 
With time at a premium I couldn’t try anything on beyond what I needed, it was plenty warm enough for short sleeves and shorts, so I was dressed quite quickly. The new helmet however needed fitting, I was still fiddling with the chin strap when I clacked across to the others outside of reception. There was certainly no doubt that we are a team, all resplendent in our new national team strip.

I felt a bit self conscious though, last year – well even at the start of this year I was rockin’ the predominantly blue and red Team GB kit when I did international duty. Today, for the first time, i’m wearing the black, red and yellow German bands on my white strip. I always felt some pride wearing the GB kit, to be honest i’m not sure what I feel wearing the German jersey.

“You alright with that?” Paul queried seing me fiddling with the straps.
“I can never work out which strap does what,” I admitted. In truth Dad usually sorts it for me.
“Here let me see, you want it shorter?”
I plonked it on my head and showed him, “yeah, about another centimeter?”
“More like two,” he opined taking the casque off my head.
“Everyone here?” Annika asked over the teen mumblings of our squad.
“Now Gab’s is here,” Tal offered.

Well okay, I was last but I was still on time.

“So if everyone is ready, Thalia, you okay with the radio?”

Radio?

“Think so, feels a bit weird,” my teamie observed as she touched the sticking plaster I now saw on her left ear.
“In that case, get your bikes and lets go.”

 
We’d been getting some curious looks from other guests and a few watched as we collected our bikes and prepared to move out. I was surprised to discover that we would have an RCMP escort out on the road and instead of the minibus the management were in some sort of people carrier, I think they call it a minivan this side of the Atlantic. We rolled out onto the street and of course our little convoy with the flashing red lights drawing even more attention.

“So what’s with the radio?” I asked Tal as we settled into a double line.
“I’m road captain for the day,” I was informed.
“Ah, but a radio?”
“Its only one way, bit over the top if you ask me.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.

Thinking about it I do seem to remember hearing that some of the top mens teams use them but come on, we’re just the under eighteen German team.

 
We rolled along at a very comfortable sub thirty kph, quickly moving from the urban sprawl of London (still makes me chuckle that) and into the more open south Ontario countryside. It was certainly weird seeing signs for places with the most English and Scottish of names, Elgin, Oxford, Southwold mixed with the more unusual. i’d been riding for a few minutes before I realised that both my and Tali’s bikes were different.

No, both our bikes were the same they just weren’t the same as we’ve been riding all season. Whilst the frames, saddle and so on were the same the drivetrains have had a bit of an upgrade to the stuff the senior squad use, yup, we’re now rockin’ Super Record instead of plain old Record. Cool eh, of course there isn’t really much difference in function, the differences are in more exotic materials, carbon and titanium, being used to replace aluminium.

Maybe there are weight advantages but the few grams difference pale compared to the mental side. Okay, it might sound crazy but having a bike decked out with the latest cutting edge kit really adds a filip. Looking around our mini peloton everyone looks to have pimped their rides to some extent, new bar tape, tyres and no doubt more besides.

I grinned to myself.

“What’s so funny?” Izz asked.

We were doing a slow rotation, everyone would at some point be riding with everyone else.

“Nothing really.”
“Oh come on, what’s the tickle?”
“Just thinking, Sunday will be like the blingest junior race of the year.”
“Wotcha mean?”
“Well everyone will be on the best bikes they can, new wheels, even new bikes.”
“Didn’t think anyone would notice,” she replied with a blush.
“What?”
“The new wheels, Dad got them last week.”
“Exactly, just my point.”
“So what’ve you got?”
“New helmet for Friday and these,” I flicked at my Ergo’s.
“Campag?”
“Super Record,” I pointed out.

 
After about forty minutes I saw Tal listening to her earpiece, I guess it’s time to put a bit of effort in. Our escort pulled further ahead as Tali told us the programme, essentially a cat and mouse session, sprint from the back past the group, continue for twenty seconds while the rest chase you down. Sounds a bit complicated but it simulates the whole attack chase scenario you so often experience in races.

“Twenty seconds Gab,” Tal instructed as I prepared for my effort, Tony might be good against the clock but I guess not so good at this more reactive stuff.
“I know.”
“Yeah, i’ve seen your restraint before.”

Okay, I’ll admit to getting carried away in the heat of the moment sometimes, but you don’t win by being timid.

“Ready?”
“Yup.”
“Go!”

The bunch can’t chase until I actually get to the front, Tony didn’t even get a bike length ahead on his effort! I dropped a sprocket and stood on the pedals, the bike leaping forward as I hit Mach Bond. Twenty seconds is a remarkably long time when you are on full gas, I rapidly gained on the Police cruiser, getting to within a handfull of metres before he accelerated away.

I was still eyeballs out, on top of the twelve sprocket, my thighs burning, I glanced at my comp, bum how long have I been going, best keep it going a bit longer. The seconds clicked through ten more times before I hit the paddle to change down a couple of gears and sat up. I looked around to see how much road I had, huh, I must be like a hundred fifty metres ahead!

 
“Which bit of twenty don’t you get?” Tal asked when eventually I was reabsorbed.
“I didn’t see what the seconds were when I started,” I told her in my defense.
She rolled her optical gear, “John, you’re up next.”

Degenkolb dropped to the back, sprinters come in two sorts, compact like Cav or heavier like John. The big guys might have the advantage on a flatter parcours, the smaller the edge in hillier events or if there’s an uphill finish. John started his wind up and it was game on as he quickly cleared the front.

I don’t know which devil has gotten into me, I took off in pursuit and was latched onto his wheel even as he eased a little from the initial effort. He had to look back and nearly lost it when I grinned back at him from a metre away. Oops.

 
Our ride wasn’t intended as a big session, we were out for just over three hours, long enough to do a loop around London, the last few K taking us through the ‘burbs before chucking us onto a short bit of four lane back to the Lamplighter.

“Good session people,” Frank told us as we dismounted by the hotels entrance. “shower and change, then we’ll go across to the restaurant for lunch, forty five? Gaby and Tony, if you can bring your time trial stuff, you’ll be going straight off with Annika and Leon afterwards.”

No rest for the wicked I guess. We left our steeds in the care of Leon and Laurin, who, as team masseuse also checked we were okay, no aches and pains. I’m okay for now but I could do without these tight schedules, I mean, forty five minutes to shower and change, whats that about?

I did think about missing the shower stage, i’ll need one before this evening anyhow but a quick sniff at my jersey suggested otherwise. I did use the supplied shower cap though, no point wasting shampoo eh. It was a quick turn under the water, the hotel towels just about doing the drying job enough to dress in shorts and T, albeit with a fresh Bustenhalter – boys really are lucky they don’t have to wear them.

I’ve not worn my national champions skinsuit in anger yet so as i’d brought it I slung that and my new aero lid in my race bag with my best shoes and headed down to join the rest to go eat.

 
The restaurant, East Side Mario’s which, as the name hints, is a chain serving Italian, bit like Leonie’s back in England. The minivan was already in the car park when we got there after a five minute walk, looks like we really will be straight off after eating. Inside we had a couple of booths and as is usual, the adults took one whilst us plebs squeezed around the other.

Laurin had already organised the riders menu, not that i’m complaining, its free food that i’m not cooking. We were barely seated before bowls of salad arrived and no one needed a hint to get stuck in. The clearly put on Italian accents of the staff served to supply some amusement, i’m guessing our conversation in German was doing similar for other patrons.

The main course was Ravioli in a sort of Milanese sauce, bit bland, I had more Parmessan than usual to get a bit of flavour out of it. In its favour there was plenty of it, huge bowls in front of each of us supplemented by garlic bread, yup plenty.

 
“Gaby, Tony, you want to get changed here, not sure of the facilities at the course,” Annika suggested as we chatted after finishing.
“Sure,” Tony replied.
“Here you go,” Tal swung my bag over to me.
“Cheers,” I allowed grabbing it after clambering around the table.

I headed to the facilities where rather than a regular cubicle I shut myself in the baby changing area – well theres more room when you’re scrabbling with the lycra okay. You’ve seen a skinsuit right? Form fitting to say the least, there’s no way i’m walking back out into the restaurant in just the suit so I pulled my shorts and T shirt on over the top. Even so I felt quite self conscious when I returned to the others.

 
Maddy Bell © 15.10.2018