3...2...1...LAUNCH!

We’re finally getting internet tomorrow, right in time for my life to find a rhythm again. Man oh man it’s been an eventful couple of days. We celebrated Phil’s birthday with champagne and truly massive kebabs (Phil fell into a ditch in the dark, but managed to keep his kebab intact, and that was before we had the champagne.) We presented him with an expensive watch and a snuggie in team colors.
JJ showed us perhaps the creepiest sleeping bag of all time, and we had our first team get together and got showered with all sorts of cool gear.
I finally got over my cold and got out for a ride with JJ, G6, Jamie and Phil. The riding around here is just stellar, and we stayed mostly dry the whole time. Sick! We had a bit of a blowout on our ride and had to limp into a local shop. They were a Raleigh dealer and stoked to meet some of the new team. We also discovered that we are living with a celebrity: Boom! After a brief stop on a pump track to sort the men from the boys we were back to the house to prep for our team launch at the London Bike Show. Casual wear and smart trousers into the team luggage and a 6am wakeup call. Ouch.
The bike show was impressive. A huge hall of the Excel Expo center was completely taken up with all manner of display booths, two trials arenas and a big indoor mountain bike and pump track. The boys were quick to rip it up, and I just missed capturing Phil taking an award winning spill over the “rocks”. Matt Cronshaw (one of four Matts on our 12 man roster) set an absolutely blistering pace around the MTB track on a pixie bike coming within seconds of Danny McCaskill’s record, which he set on his regular bike. You’d think having four Matts would be a problem, but it’s actually pretty nice, especially as I get to know people. I’m generally awful with names, but now that I know Phil, Jamie and JJ I’ve got a 50-50 chance that anyone else on the team will answer to Matt.

We spent a lot of time on Friday hanging out at the Skoda display. Skoda is one of our biggest sponsors and has hooked the team up with the most pimped out team fleet since Rock Racing’s ludicrous Cadillacs. I know I spent more time than I should have just oggling the cars. They are fully loaded road machines with custom racks, TdF horns and, best of all, the riders names wrapped on. Stellar.
We did the team launch on Saturday and it was something else. This pro team gig is a new deal for me, but I truly felt the part as we were all interviewed one by one by the voice of UK cycling, Mr. Anthony McCrossan. We’ve been watching the Tour Series and Premier Series videos, and I recognized Anthony’s voice right away. Better still, he’s friends with the boys from Davis Wheelworks. Small world, right? Joe made sure to write Anthony a good long email full of the most outlandish BS you’ve ever heard. A highlight for me was a section describing how Phil had made a name for himself in the UC Davis theatre scene for his incredible portrayal of an Umpa Lumpa in a production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Pure gold.

Like I was saying, this whole European Continental team thing has been like a dream come true, so much so that I keep worrying I’m about to wake up. But standing on that stage with a group of 11 other no-nonsense asskickers, all resplendent in pristine Raleigh kit, really drove it all home. I’m here, and it’s happening. I'll get more photos when I can, but until then here's some coverage from Cycling Weekly.
You’d think a bunch of fit cyclists could manage to schmooze for a few hours no problem, but I swear I’d take a 6 hour day in the saddle over 5 hours of standing around any day of the week. It was a long three days on our feet to be sure, but it was well worth it. The sponsors were chuffed at how everything came off, and the lads all got some time to eat some team meals, drink a few pints and talk trash, which, as any athlete will tell you, is how those important friendships are born that will set the tone for the year and see riders through those inevitable tough times.
There was one other, well, highlight, I guess. Mooney and I befriended some guys at a demo tent for the X-Bike stationary bike. The X-Bike is like a standard spin bike, except the handlebars are free floating, which allows you to steer a little videogame avatar on an attached screen. It’s basically an interactive cycling videogame. They were super nice guys and after we whined a bit about being off our bikes for three days they offered to let us come in early on Sunday to spin out our legs for an hour. But the plot thickens. Whosoever set the fastest time on a pre-selected course over the duration of the bike show would win an X-Bike.

Now, I come from good video game stock. That’s not to say my parents can game. They can’t at all. They’re hopeless. But my younger brother Dan has something of a gift, and many a time during my youth I had swallow my pride after a severe beating in Goldeneye lest it come to blows. My brother is no nerd, mind you, he just has a gift. Legend has it that when Halo II came out for the Xbox 360 there was an open tournament at his college. He walked into a room full of uber-nerds with their skills honed by hours of gaming and senses heightened by a cocktail of Mountain Dew and Jolt Cola, and as dozens of eyes looked on from pale faces untouched by the light of day my brother laid down an epic beating. I’m told that cheers of “do it for the normals,” erupted as he made those final few kills and was crowned king of the nerds. It was Dan’s talent that I tried to channel as I went for the X-Bike record.

After a an embarrassing number of tries I managed to get the hang of it and I set the fastest time of the day. The time stood all afternoon and evening and looked good as gold. Then, with about 9 minutes left before the show closed I got a frantic call form my director, Eddie, saying someone had just beaten my time. Now I’m not one for crazy conspiracy theories, but when a guy from a neighboring booth manages to set the fastest time with a few minutes to go before the show closes I’m gonna cry foul. This guy, James by name, was clearly a ringer. Undaunted, I ran over to the demo tent and hopped onto the closest bike in smart trousers and leather shoes. It was looking awfully grim, but as time was expiring and they were readying to break down the display around me I managed to have a stellar run and TIE his time exactly. It turns out they’re not willing to cut an X-bike in half, and that left only one option: race-off.I had the best pit crew a guy could ask for as Jamie and Phil yelled out turns and advice as I whipped myself through the head to head race, but James started in front and never lost the lead. Heartbreaking, yes, but there are a couple of ways to look at this. Sure, I got out-ridden by a ginger carnie (I mean, a trade show is really just one step up from a state fair) and had to ride four hours home in sweat-soaked wool slacks. However, as we all know there’s no shame in losing to a carnie. I mean, those games are always rigged so that the odds of winning are inversely proportionate to the coolness of the prize. Had we been x-biking for a gold-fish I’d have smoked him. Also, I’m a bike racer not a hardcore gamer, otherwise my life would be a lot more like The Wizard. So yeah, some people might say this is my first tough loss of the season. I choose to think that I scored the first podium for the new Team Raleigh.