“In the empty arrivals hall there was one guy waiting for us: Erik Zabel”

Andrea Tafi with his charges, including Michael O’Loughlin (far right)

'Canyon Young Heroes' mentor Andrea Tafi with some of his charges

During the winter, Carrick Wheelers schoolboy Michael O’Loughlin secured a place on the international ‘Canyon Young Heroes’ squad; a team run by the Canyon bike company for some of the most promising teenage riders in Europe.

As part of the programme he’ll be kitted out in Canyon gear – bike included – for the year. He’ll be mentored by the likes of Erik Zabel and Andrea Tafi and he’ll ride some races in Europe with the team during the summer. He’s sent us this great account of his recent first training camp with the team at Tafi’s estate in Tuscany.

It’s been a very different few weeks compared to what I’m normally used to in January and February. It all started when I sent away an application form with photos for the ‘Canyon Young Heroes 15+ Team’ in December. A few weeks later, I returned from school one evening to find that Dominic from Canyon had emailed me to say that I was selected for the team. I was delighted to have been picked because I knew the team had a great programme for young riders.

In the space of 24 hours my flights were booked for our first meeting in Tuscany. As there are no direct flights, my Dad didn’t need much encouragement to travel with me. I had to print off two copies of a contract, sign it and post it to Koblenz. I provided the details of the frame size I needed, plus crank length, handlebar width, stem length and gearing; Campag 11 speed, another new experience.

I play a lot of sports to keep fit in winter and normally only tick over on the bike until February. It wouldn’t do to be going badly in Italy, so I joined in the Iverk Produce Carrick Wheelers Saturday bashing session with threshold work on the hills and my Mam drove me to the midpoint of the club’s Sunday spins. The second half is always more ‘interesting’ than the first. A few weeks of that and my fitness was much improved. Thanks to Rory Wyley for the pain and suffering!

We flew to Pisa via Paris two weeks ago on the way to the Tuscany camp and literally ran at full speed from one terminal to another in Charles de Gaulle Airport because we had only thirty five minutes from getting out of one plane and collapsing onto another. We just made it; our big bags didn’t. But we expected that and had enough with us for 24 hours. After we reported our missing bags, we arrived into an empty arrivals hall. There was just one man holding up a Canyon sign waiting for us: Erik Zabel!

Erik drove us the forty five minute journey to the estate of Andrea Tafi. His English is better than ours. He told us loads about what we would be doing, about Mark Cavendish, Katusha, and his son Rick. And he asked me questions, which was cool.

Il Borghetto il Andrea Tafi is a beautiful location in the Tuscan hills outside Lamporecchio. There are self-catering holiday apartments and an outdoor swimming pool. This was to be our home for the next three nights. I had a room to myself the first night with two German riders Karl and Jonas in the room downstairs.

We met Andrea Tafi and he guided our convoy to a local restaurant. Andrea is a really friendly guy with a permanent smile on his face. We really felt welcome. Lots of languages were being spoken – German, French, Danish, Swedish; but mainly English thankfully.

On Friday morning, we woke up to find that all of our brand new Canyons were lined up outside the building. Mine had my name on it and an Irish flag down the inside of the fork. Our Canyons were black and orange and there were white ones for the junior team that Tafi runs.

After sorting out our positions, we went for a group ride with Erik, Andrea and the Polisportive Monsummanese team. The bike felt different - in a very good way. A lively pace was set. What was different from home was that both riders peeled off the front at the same time after they had done their bit. So everybody changed positions faster.

Halfway through the spin, we hit a climb. The Italians all appeared at the front and the pace went up. I held my position. It was fast, but not too hard. At the top we stopped. The group had split and I was in the front group. I was delighted because then I knew I wasn’t out of my depth.

On Friday evening we had another great Italian meal. It really is the best food. Saturday was spent on the bikes with a film crew. We rode over and back the same bit of road a good few times, taking different shots.

That evening, we travelled to a team presentation. Each of us was brought to the front while the announcer called out our palmares in Italian. A special custom ‘Flandre’ edition Canyon with Super Record was presented to Andrea Tafi. Then his team was presented and 250 people sat down to a dinner that went on until nearly midnight.

All too soon, we were on our last spin led by Erik Zabel on Sunday morning. Tuscany has amazing roads. Cyclists are everywhere. Then lunch in the town of Vinci (home of Leonardo) and back to Pisa Airport.

But the drama didn’t end there. Our plane was forced to turn around after fifteen minutes in the air due to a broken windscreen. We were bussed to Florence, put up in a hotel for six hours sleep and flew to Paris the next morning.