Team CSC Training Camp

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Listening attentively (Image credit: Sabine Sunderland)

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It has become something of a tradition that Bjarne Riis, manager of the Danish CSC team, gathers his troops for a survival camp in early December. The formula has proven so successful that other teams have adopted the team bonding idea, and over the last few weeks we have read about cyclists running around in woods, playing games of paintball, hanging off cliffs, or just enjoying some quality time together in spa-resorts without race-stress.

I'm not really the sporty type, believe it or not. It's not because I am married to a sports addict that I feel the need to work up a sweat in the gym or go running or cycling for miles every week. Ok, I often get disbelieving looks when I am asked if I like riding the bike myself and I give a negative answer. For some people, because your husband earned his living riding a bike, it seems that you're considered to be abnormal if you are not a sports maniac.

It was a very relaxed and enjoyable but long trip up to Århus in Denmark. We had a great time catching up and I guess the subjects we talked about were sometimes a bit spicy, as we got some amused looks from the two businessmen sitting in front of us when the plane touched ground in Copenhagen. Realizing that we must have animated some of the other passengers' journeys, we decided to limit further conversation to "household and kids" on the flight from Copenhagen to Århus.

I warned B.S. Christiansen, the military expert who assists Bjarne all year round, that he'd better be good to me the next day or that I'd get back at him in the story I was asked to write after the weekend. He was greatly amused by my obvious worried expressions and him and Bjarne who was sitting across from B.S. at the dining table, shared some great laughs. I don't understand Danish too well, but I get the context of most conversations and from what I could make up from the gestures, they had something crawly and scary in store for us.

A relapse of the sinusitis, the accompanying headache and the puffy eyes could have spoiled the rest of my day. But I made the conscious choice not to let it get to me. A couple of coffees and aspirins later, and I joined the rest of the women in the lobby. The bus trip lasted almost an hour and by the time we got to the Ebeltoft Zoo in the Eastern part of Jutland, I was feeling more or less human and actually looking forward to a day out in the open air. The weather report had promised a dry but cold day. Everybody was chirpy and smiling, wild assumptions were made and I was trying to calm a few of the worried minds... Yep, me, the previously anxious little woman!

"First of all we train how to be a team," Bjarne told us. "Because it is often difficult to really be a team. The time we had with the guys during this training camp has given us some very valuable information and it will definitely benefit us later on when we hit the roads. We do this with a specific goal in mind: to improve. Improve the way we work together, the way we communicate as well as how to gain the maximum from our potential.

"Cycling is a hard sport and sometimes it's not that nice. It's hard and demanding. Your husbands are away a lot, training and racing, they are away from home a lot, and they are missing out on a lot of important moments with the family. I know that this is sometimes hard on them and on you. I had a lot of success and nice moments in my career but I also had the other experiences. We all know how though this sport is, how much sacrifice it asks.

"I want to bring something more positive in the lives of those connected to this team. I can't change cycling completely but I can make the experience of being with this team as positive as possible. A happy and peaceful home-base makes a huge difference in how the athlete performs. We know that if our guys are happy and supported at home, it will reflect in the riders' performances on the bike, so we definitely value your contribution and support very much and we want you to know that, that is why you are here today.

Everyone was listening attentively. As far as I can remember, in the thirteen years I have been involved in cycling, I had never heard a team manager speak to the women like this. It made the women feel appreciated, and above all welcome. I can assure you that sometimes the wives have been made to feel very different by a lot of team managers in the past. Even today, while we have moved into the 21st century for some time now, there are managers who wish to see the least amount possible of the spouses and girlfriends.

There were snakes and spiders for my group to start with. Now, being an adopted Aussie country girl, I had no trouble with that. Heck, just before we left Australia in November, my nephews had caught a baby brown snake in the garden, and my sis-in-law Donna was recalling the time a funnelweb spider stood up on its back legs and spat acid at the kids in the sandpit...there's not much that can scare me out of my wits nowadays.

This wooden stick, 15 metres high, had hand grips stuck to it, the same you find on the indoor climbing walls. I had accompanied Saën and Scott before when they went to train at the gym, and I always stood in awe how my little man could get to the top so swiftly and easily. I knew though that there was no way I'd get my substantial behind even only half-way up there, especially not in the jeans I chose to wear that day.

After the pole experience, we had some lunch. A typical military style meal, I gathered; something that was prepared to look like chili con carne with rice, but it had a strange taste of oriental ingredients like lemon grass and hot curry to it. We didn't complain. The cold and physical activity had made us very hungry and we ate quickly and in silence. I now also understand why after a race, the riders always eat the food served to them in the worst hotels like they won't get another meal for a week: the taste doesn't actually register until your worst hunger has gone.

After what we thought of as an interesting lunch, we went on to the mongoose hole. A tunnel of thirty metres underground, with faux alleys of approximately two metres which could make the whole experience quite frightening when you don't like crawling around underground in the dark, or in the event you'd suffer from a sudden bout of claustrophobia. This test seemed to be a tough one for some, but we all stuck together and the jokes took the stress of the situation for most.

After an entertaining presentation with birds of prey, while warming up with a cup of tea or coffee and a tasty piece of chocolate cake, we climbed into the bus and exchanged experiences and some great laughs. The bus driver took us back to the hotel where the riders and the rest of the team were in a meeting. We were guided into the room under loud cheers and applause and the smiles on the faces of all present must have made it very clear to Bjarne and BS: it had been a good day.

A nice surprise was waiting for us; all women were invited to choose from a collection of five different Skagen watches. Forget the psychological and physical tests, the cold endured that day! As far as we were concerned, they could ask us for more if there was a reward like this at the end of the ride. Our choice of watch would be handed to us later that evening. It was a very nice and unusual gesture from a new team sponsor and definitely very much appreciated by all.

I could tell you quite a few interesting anecdotes about the party afterwards. But I'll wisely keep my mouth shut about how my husband discovered that both Christian Vandevelde's spouse Leah and I have a similar taste in diamond rings. Or how Piilleke and Allan Johansen welcomed the new riders and personnel into the team, how John Axel Hansen and his assistant Troels Johnsen do a mean impression of the Blues Brothers... I'll just let the pictures do the talking there.

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