Behind the Wheel with BMC Racing Team at Paris-Nice
by Jen See on Mar 10, 2011 9:18 PM EST
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PrintBMC Racing Team takes us for a ride in the team car during Thursday's Paris-Nice stage 5 (apparently, the text in the viddy had some trouble with the numbers). Jeff Louder has a mechanical and the team car has to move up through the caravan to get to him. It's very rollercoastery for a while. But they found him! So there's a happy ending! Louder gets his new bike and rides off into the sunglare. Whenever I watch these behind-the-scenes videos I know I was totally not meant to be a sports director. I would so crash the car.
Update! More viddy in the comments. So scroll on down.
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Whenever I see this kind of mix of riders and bikes now
I think of the current radio debate. To me, all this fast interwoveness of cars and bikes and human flesh is as new as radios, and the two come together. Maybe they can get all this kind of stuff done without radios, but it makes me feel better that they have them. Sorry.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
I'm not sure
that the interacting newness is all that new as radio communication but,radios certainly must have enabled the team car interaction in this circumstance.How,otherwise,would the other team cars know how to react when the BMC car jumps to the rescue?
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Mar 10, 2011 9:44 PM EST up reply actions
Sequence of Events
First, you hear the team director say something like, “I’m nervous” – probably because there had been a call about a crash (which he mentions later).
Next, Comm. 1 calls for “BMC No. 135” – which every other team director heard on race radio. The left lane is the service lane, meaning it’s open to cars moving forward in the caravan. So they expect the BMC Racing Team car to be zooming by from its position (10th on Stage 5).
Where the team radio helped the rider was when the director told him to “keep riding.” It also saves him a few seconds when he’s told to take his front wheel. He wouldn’t have immediately heard the director had the order not come over his earpiece.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 10, 2011 10:00 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
So then
radio communication was good (in an overall,safety making,rider servicing),way here ? That seems valuable to me.
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Mar 10, 2011 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
exactly.
It ought to be noted (correct me here if needed Chief..) Race radio is the radio channel that all cars from team cars to media cars hear from the Comm cars and other officials. It’s the pulse of the caravan. Race Radio is not the issue at stake in the current debate. Each team has a second radio, on an isolated frequency that they use to communicate with riders. This radio is the one at issue.
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 3:34 AM EST up reply actions
I could listen to, and watch, the race from the car all day.
I find it very exciting. I also like when the DS calls out “don’t worry Jeff, I’m coming!”
Oh, and the next time I hear some dumbass tennis or golf announcer complain about fan noise I’m going to scream STFU! at the tv. Does any athlete put up with more constant noise and potential hazards for a longer period of time than a cyclist? Let me answer that for you – fuck no.
"Your not going won't unbreak her arm."
vuvuzelas
but don’t worry, i have a feeling those might very well show up in a race soon. maybe on a mountain named after a european capital.
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
we had one of those stupid things at our local cross series all fall
I kept asking someone to give the moron a cowbell…
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 12:28 PM EST up reply actions
I saw one during the Tour last year
I believe it was during the cobble stage. I tried to google, found this pic of Robbie Hunter instead.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Mar 11, 2011 12:42 PM EST up reply actions
If Futbol players had to put up with vuvuzelas
while simultaneously dodging cars and motos, I’d have more respect for them. Until then, forget it.
"Your not going won't unbreak her arm."
I think we're on the cusp of inventing
an awesome new sport.
For this is cycling where suffering and success travel inseparably together - Jen See (poet)
by omnevelnihil on Mar 12, 2011 7:44 AM EST up reply actions
It would be impossible.
Futball/football/soccer players have a union.
I think everyone in Paris-Nice needs to take one less shot of espresso tomorrow. - Tejay Van Garderen
Uber Awesome!
"Does that mean over or resolved?" Arkady Renko
by frans verbiage on Mar 10, 2011 11:17 PM EST up reply actions
I noticed that too...and totally impressed by the driver doing like 5 things at once.
I’d LOVE to drive the car like this, but like Gavia, I’d totally crash.
by JustJoshinYa on Mar 11, 2011 8:39 AM EST up reply actions
it takes attitude
big attitude
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 10:50 AM EST up reply actions
Oh I knew you'd get here first..
;-)
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 3:30 AM EST up reply actions
Out of curiosity
what’s the protocol for dropping back to your place in the caravan?
The horn is an automatic signal to move left
You hear a horn in the caravan and you get the ^%$* out of the right lane. NOW.
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 3:28 AM EST up reply actions
damn I got that so backwards..
move right out of the left hand service lane. And woe to those who don’t…. The screaming far out does the horn. Never post late at night it appears.
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 10:52 AM EST up reply actions
Safety issues.
There is no direct communication between cars on different teams and therefore the car that moves up through the caravan uses the horn to get space as they have been doing for the last 50 years or so. Secondly the team car that moves up for service have no direct communication with riders from other teams that sits in the caravan and they too rely on the horn warning as it has been for the last 50 years. So really we are down to three team radio instuctions which have very little do do with safety.
I just happen to think that this mingling has been perfected over the years
and the addition of the radios somehow makes it work a little better and dare I say for the first time… “safer” too.
"It's a lovely thing, feeling that momentum. If you're lucky, it's also about grace." Tim Winton
nah, rather I think the additional radio communication takes some
concentration away from the driver as well as any of the riders who are communicated with. Personally I would rather want to focus 100% on the road rather than discussing with somebody on a radio.
the caravan is a very scary place
Those guys drive like rallley drivers and it’s upto a pairof commisars a referee and couple of motos to keep order
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 10, 2011 9:38 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Stage 5, Not 4
If this was shot on Thursday, it would be Stage 5. But who can blame the video editor? No one’s watching the slate when the video’s that good.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 10, 2011 9:40 PM EST reply actions
Another In-Car Video
The BMC Racing Team has posted another in-car video, this one showing the director talking to a rider at the car.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 11, 2011 1:00 AM EST reply actions
Silly Cut-And-Paste
The link above is the “Behind The Wheel” video. Sorry. Here’s the one with a different angle.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 11, 2011 1:09 AM EST up reply actions
This is interesting
Wish teams would release more of these behind the scenes action videos. I guess teams dont wish to indicate tactics but they are fairly obvious at times. I enjoy hearing their banter ( and the scary driving action)
"More accurately, the principle of Occam’s Razor recommends selecting the competing hypothesis that makes the fewest new assumptions"
Behind-The-Scenes
Many teams can’t afford to high a video production company to produce this kind of stuff. Or, they don’t have the staffing to even stick a guy with a camera in the car. Or, the front seat is already spoken for with a VIP. Lots of factors as to why we don’t see this stuff very often.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 11, 2011 2:08 AM EST up reply actions
i'll do it for free.
call me johan ;)
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
Johan is probably...
…enjoying himself watching these videos, seeing as he is under suspension at the moment.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 11, 2011 4:17 PM EST up reply actions
that's right
maybe i can drive then
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
Does that explain why Radio Shack is doing better this month?
I think everyone in Paris-Nice needs to take one less shot of espresso tomorrow. - Tejay Van Garderen
"Helmet Cam" for the car, some one can edit.
It’s been done in motor sports for years.
I think everyone in Paris-Nice needs to take one less shot of espresso tomorrow. - Tejay Van Garderen
Another Video
This one shows the reverse-angle view (of a different incident). Pretty skillful behind the wheel.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 11, 2011 2:07 AM EST reply actions
The most amazing thing to me is Louder's inactivity prior to the service car
coming up behind him. Louder needed an instruction from the service car to figure out he needed to remove the wheel to save time. Come on, Louder, you can do better than that. The is page 1 in the cycling book.
Depends on how the replacement bike is mounted I suspect.
One car may have fork mounts another may have ready bikes in trays.. Hence the need to tell Jeff which change to expect.
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 3:38 AM EST up reply actions
So Louder gets a front wheel puncture, and its better for him to stand there by
the road holding his bike waiting for somebody to tell him what to do on the radio rather than take the defect wheel off immediatly by himself and prepare for whats going to happen?
it wasn't a front wheel puncture
as he re-used his front wheel.
I agree he looked a little puzzled. But maybe not sure if he was getting a new bike or a wheel change?
moo
The day starts bad here, it seems.
Ignore my earlier wheelchange comments and Jeff, maybe i am the one who should use the brain a bit more.
Indeed, but it raises a further question
why not just give him a whole new bike?
Why have your bikes ready but on fork-only at the front, ie. all sans front wheel? In this instance it made little difference. But if the front wheel sticks, or there’s an issue, it’s a needless delay. If you’re swapping the bike anyway, have it ready to go.
On the radio debate. Yes there’s two radios – race radio and DS-rider communication radio. The riders have mikes too (used to be a couple per team, now I reckon it’s pretty much all of them). They are telling the riders not to have radios whatsoever. So there would still be race radio communicated to the cars/DSs but no communication to or from the riders other than shouting.
I think the best, and potentially only, way to sort it out is to find an appropriate happy medium. Allow the riders to communicate, but only with the person running the race radio. So if a rider falls off a mountain and they need to radio it in, they can – to the race radio who make the general announcement. Likewise if there’s a car coming up from the caravan, or debris on the road, race radio tells the riders.
This keeps good communication lines both ways, whilst also still preventing DS instructions to be fed to riders over the radio.
I suspect for a team mechanic it doesn't matter
It simply what’s on the car and he deals with it. I’ve seen really impressive stuff from mechanics in cars over the years. The Sagan (i think ) change last year at TOC was artistry.
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 10:58 AM EST up reply actions
Race radio is already busy enough with out riders on it too.
Races I’ve done, there are plenty of caravan members with race radio to cover accidents and the like. Nearly every vehicle in the caravan is on race radio in my experience.
Anyone who has every thought a working Photojournalist has a glam job needs to rethink...
by Christopher See on Mar 11, 2011 11:00 AM EST up reply actions
Right
Sometimes the bikes are complete on the roof, other times, it’s fork mount. Also, the car likely only has a certain number of spare front wheels with them. So, if his wheel is perfectly good, might as well use it, and save what’s in the car for potential flats down the road. This part of the viddy made perfect sense to me, and it also made sense that Louder would need instruction from the car as to what they were bringing him. Not obvious, honestly.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the view into the car thoroughly.
I think exactly this type of footage would increase the entertainment value of the sport immensely if broadcasted (The US is “reality tv” crazy to eat these segments up). Doing it live could be an issue, but if they tossed up in car segments from earlier in a race it could make those long flat stages in the tour more entertaining…
Yeah
This kind of thing would defo be a fun addition to the flatter stages – like, they could run clips from the previous stages and whatnot. But the teams, they have to be willing to open up to this kind of thing, and some of them may not be into it. And someone has to do the filming.
Compare Styles
Interesting to compare the styles of sport directors in these situations.
Here’s an older video from the BMC Racing Team, showing a rear wheel change with Alessandro Ballan.
And here’s a bike change – also at the Canadian world cup races – with Chad Beyer.
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 11, 2011 12:01 PM EST reply actions
Wow. What really strikes me in these (Ballan & Louder) changeouts
is how “pro” the riders are. Perfectly calm…no biggee. Different circumstances pending I’m sure. In ‘97, I was at USPro in Philly when Hincapie got his flat RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. He waited forever to get a wheel change and he was flippin’ the eff out. That’s the year he got relegated for drafting back to the break.
A bike should have a voice... it should speak to you, and you should hear it, and what it should say is: "Attack!" - sminer
Cool!
Someone said up tread that he can watch race from that perspective all day long. I second that with all my hart! The Sky guy is coming, Sky guy is coming , stay with him! I love it!
"I love bike races warm up, warm down, cobbles mountains or flats."
perezbike
.
USA Cycling...
…announced the legalization of radios for use “in National Racing Calendar (NRC) competition and at the USA Cycling professional and elite road national championship events.”
by Chief Commissaire on Mar 12, 2011 2:06 AM EST reply actions
That's dumb...they should be banned in crits all together.
including ones in stage races…no need for them.
by Vlaanderen90 on Mar 12, 2011 2:16 AM EST up reply actions
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