Sean Kelly in the new An Post-Chainreaction kit for 2014, currently in Calpe, Spain, overseeing his team's pre-season training camp.
Our man Barry Meehan took a break from his bike business in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and headed to the An Post-Chainreaction training camp in Calpe, Spain, over the past week for some miles in the sun. He brings us inside the camp for a look at how the squad operates and for a peak at the new kit the riders will use in the season ahead.
This week I was fortunate enough to attend the An Post-Chainreaction team training camp in Calpe on the coast of Spain. It’s always nice to start the year with a taste of some sunshine and cycling to shorten the Irish winter.
There are some new faces on the team in Calpe this year with the likes of the Marcus Christie, Conor Dunne and Bobbie Traksel joining stalwarts such as Sean Downey and Jack Wilson along with the rest of the boys in green.
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The team's new shorts and jerseys have a lot of white, in what the team says is a new material that will help it stay that way no matter how many times it's dirtied and washed.
The bikes have changed too, with Chainreaction Cycles now supplying a much sleeker and stiffer looking Vitus which was getting some very good feedback from the riders and mechanics.
The Shimano Ultegra 11 groupset on the training bike is a significant improvement on the previous 10 speed version. The race bikes all have the range-topping Shimano Dura ace mechanical groupsets which are just as smooth and even more precise, while also being lighter.
The Vitus bike brand is owned by Chainreaction; little wonder the team is riding them this year after starting with them this time 12 months ago.
The vision wheels come from the same stable as the FSA bars, stems, seat posts, chain sets and brake calipers and are all stiff, light and fast. Just what the pros need.
Prologo saddles and bar tape make for comfortable contact points, whilst the Speedplay pedals were acknowledged by Des from Cadence Performance , who was conducting a three hour bike fit on each rider, as being the best pedals on the market.
It was very interesting to watch Des carry out the full precision bike fit. Ireland's Marcus Christie was the first rider up and every step of the bike fit was intently scrutinised by manager Kurt Bogaerts, his assistant Niko Eeckhout and Sean Kelly himself.
The owner of Cadence Performance was there overseeing the operation too.
Now based in London where he owns and runs the very successful one stop bike shop, Frank Beechinor was once a familiar name on the Munster cycling scene competing regularly against the likes of Anthony O’Gorman, Vinnie Kelly and Colm Braham amongst many others.
The team took the opportunity of their gathering in Spain to undergo some bike fits for the coming season.
Just watching and taking notes during the bike fit I learned many ways that we can improve the fitting we carry out in our own shop.
Another highlight of the early season training camps is the arrival of the new team clothing kit.
Portuguese clothing company Onda are sponsoring the team this year and there was a sense of Christmas morning as bags were opened and the new kit had to be tried on immediately.
At least this took place in normal hours unlike an occasion when a former Irish international cyclist was awoken at 3am a few years back by a teammate who was so excited about their new team kit that they had to get up in the middle of the night to try it on and admire themselves.
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The white on the jersey and shorts is a new material that will remain pure white with no color run or fade to ‘grey white’ no matter how often it is washed. The Gillets also brought on some impressive comments.
The riders now have three different styles to choose from. The thermal Gillet has three rear pockets, as does a lighter version which is made from the same weight material as the short-sleeve jerseys.
But it was the lighter version with a windproof front, and mesh rear that brought the most attention from the team. Both sides of the rear mesh panel have access slots that allow jersey pockets to be accessed without the need to pull up the Gillet.
The team also have a choice of shorts with a winter ‘roubaix’ material providing a layer of warmth for the early season races and the specially developed aero Lycra shorts for use in summer and warmer locations.
Sean Kelly may be the big name behind the team, but it's Belgian Kurt Bogaerts (above) who runs the operation on the road, managing the men in green.
It was interesting to watch Kelly speak to each rider about the gear as they returned from their first spin wearing it.
Speaking to UK rider Mark McNally, he emphasised the importance of having the shorts tight enough in order to stretch the chamois. The problem being that if the chamois were not stretched it could bunch up and cause saddle sores.
Sean Kelly and Liverpool rider Mark McNally at the An Post-Chainreaction training camp in Calpe
The Kinetica energy and recovery drinks and bars disappeared quickly each day with the riders looking after their nutrition on and off the bike. Comfort seemed to be the main word used in relation to their Specialized helmets and shoes.
Sean Downey started with Banbridge CC, rode in France for a couple of seasons and is now headed into his third season with the team. A strong climber, he'll be looking to get up in the more testing races this year.
Whilst An Post and Chainreaction Cycles are the two main sponsors, other Irish companies are also supporting the team.
Jones Engineering has been involved with the team for a number of years now as has another Irish international success story Mercury Engineering.
Glenstal Foods based in Murroe, Co Limerick, is a leading dairy products company with an avid cycling workforce whilst Arbelos is a Clonmel based IT company which also has a strong cycling connection.
While the team was out training we too were getting our spins in. One day as we headed out from Calpe towards Altea we picked up a local Spanish amateur rider who slotted in alongside me near the rear of our group.
As we chatted in my pidgeon Spanish and his slightly better English he asked me if any of our group raced. I said that I didn’t do much but pointed to Adrian Hedderman in front of me and said ‘he raced and won the Des Hanlon, a big classic race in Ireland’.
All I got back was a blank stare so I persisted and pointed in front of Adrian to Philip Cassidy and said ‘he won the Rás twice, Ireland’s biggest stage race’; still nothing more than a stare.
So I pointed to the rider in front of Philip and said ‘that guy won the Vuelta a Espana’ to which I finally got a reaction.
He asked ‘Kelly?’ To which I replied, ‘si’. And then the excitement got the better of him as he took off into a machine gun staccato of excited Spanish with a few English words in between the only three of which I caught being ‘ did not recognise’.
I am on the way home now but Kelly and the team are still in Calpe planning the year ahead with their new riders, bikes and kit and it looks like this could well be the team’s best year yet.
Barry
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