Monday, April 21, 2025

World Championship 2010 Training Camp

-

HomeJournalsGarmin Physio Toby WatsonWorld Championship 2010 Training Camp

It’s been a cool experience jumping off of the Garmin-Transitions train and into the Australian team for the past week, for the World Championship 2010 Training Camp.

Firstly there is getting to know the staff and riders much better than the nods and “hellos” that most Australians tend to throw at each other when bumping into each other on the normal pro circuit.

Secondly there is the slow build of excitement for one of the key races of the cycling season, with our team being both the home nation, and also sporting the defending champion. It’s absolutely awesome!

World Championship 2010
Neil’s Adolf impression.

I’ve had two personal highlights thus far this week.

The first was discovering that Allan “Alby” Davis is a bigger St George Dragons fan than I am, meaning, we have had a week of gasbagging about how the Dragons are going to go in the NRL Grand Final this weekend. As there are no race radios and the Grand Final will be on at the same time as the Road Race this Sunday, Alby and I are trying to work out a system where I can let him know what the score is while the race rolls around.

World Championship 2010
Singing in the ‘key of angry’.

Motor racing pit boards are our best idea thus far, although where we’ll get one of these from is anyone’s guess. Anyone who has spares near Geelong would be massively appreciated!

The second highlight was discovering that Richie Porte was at the Tour de Langkawi last year when I did a rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” with a live backing band in the “key of angry” (as described by my fiancée Mands). Well, that he was there wasn’t the highlight, but that he recognised me as “that Total Eclipse of the Heart guy” was.

Absolutely chuffed with that! And it goes to show, it’s not singing ability, but passion on delivery that counts!

One of the funnier parts of the week for mine has been listening to the gossip and rumours that each of the teams have about each other. “We heard your bus has a frozen yoghurt machine”, “didn’t your director make so-and-so ride home because they were fat?”,  “I heard you blokes sacrificed a chicken every stage that you won” and so on.

The road race team have been based at the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) in Canberra for the whole week, and we head down to Melbourne tomorrow (Friday) in prep for the race starting on Sunday.

The week has consisted of a bit of team bonding, a lot of riding for the lads, and a bit of work for me, but nothing too drastic (thankfully).

The team bonding had us in a talk with a former wing commander of the Australian Airforce, which was absolutely fantastic.

His quote of “first we break them, then we build them back up” has been used throughout the week to describe pretty much any plan we have to do any thing. Very cool.

The training that the boys have done has been interesting.

The TT lads (Richie Porte and Mick Rogers) obviously have been going through a lot of shorter, more intense work, while the road race boys have done longer, tougher stuff.

Individual riders have tweaked the final week’s programme individually depending on what works best for them, what sort of racing they have had in their legs in the month immediately prior to this week, and what type of a rider they are.

It’s been a juggling act handled with aplomb by our DS Neil Stephens and physiologist Dave Martin.

World Championship 2010
Matty Hayman chuckin a mono.

We’ve had a good start to the Championships — Luke Durbridge ripping up a silver in the U/23 TT, and Rohan Dennis taking 4th, while Richie Porte and Mick Rogers came in 4th and 5th today in the Elite TT.

It was an interesting day for me, as Dave Millar was in the lead for a large part of the day, and I found myself cheering for Millar (who is a friend and team mate every other week of the year), while also hoping that Mick and Richie would go super well.

It’s all a little confusing, but for me it means I have more chances of a result I’ll be happy with occurring.

First and foremost will be an Aussie win, but if one of the lads from Garmin-Transitions gets up instead, it’ll be a pretty good consolation result.

More soon, Tobe.

Toby Watson
Toby Watsonhttps://www.veloveritas.co.uk
Ex-Garmin Transitions physiotherapist and soigneur Toby Watson brings you inside the squad, and shows you what it's like to be working with a top team on the biggest races in the world. Through his regular blog updates, Toby shares his sense of drama and fun that were essential parts of his job. Toby is Australian, and currently lives in Girona with his fiancee Amanda. If he has any time, he enjoys reading and running, and occasionally skiing too, when he can.

Related Articles

Schlecks Shaken

Schlecks Shaken... What a stage last night turned out to be! Prior to the stage, the thoughts were that it was always going to be a breakaway, and there wouldn't be much movement on the general classification. Half right! The high likelihood of the break staying away meant that all of the boys not in with a chance on general were hoping to get a piece of the action, meaning it took hours before the break finally got clear.

The Champ Rolls On

The Champ Rolls On... I can remember seeing the photos from the presentation of the teams at the start of the race and thinking how embarrassing it was for the Garmin team to be doing their bow down to Thor thing while he held up a warhammer. I was clearly completely wrong!

Close Run Thing (TdF 2012 Stage 5)

Close Run Thing... the “Guaranteed” Bunchie that I mentioned yesterday did indeed eventuate on stage 5 today, but it was looking touch-and-go as to whether they’d be sprinting for the win, or lower placings! People always ask why teams get into a break if they know they’re only going to be caught in the lead-up to the bunch sprint, and today’s stage was a great example of the answer: you never know.

Oscar Freire Starts The Show

The Big Gorilla didn't pack his climbing legs for this year's TDU. Translation: Andre Greipel couldn't stay with the peloton as it went up the very tough Mengler's Hill at warp speed. Oscar Freire, however, did, and he led a good-sized bunch over the line in Tanunda today. It was a very good result for the race as much as anything: processions tend to put the fans off.

At Random

Le Tour de France 2010, Stage 6: Montargis – Gueugnon; Top Mark Renshaw

We're in Montargis today, talking about Mark Renshaw; he has some nice wins in his palmares; the 2006 Tro Bro Leon, a stage in the 2008 Franco Belge and a hand in shattering Garmin's dreams to win the TTT in the 2009 Giro.

Ronan McLaughlin – Irish (and World!) ‘Everesting’ Record Breaker

I know, I had a ‘pop’ at ‘Everesting’ in a recent rant but when AN Post Flatlands veteran, Ronan McLaughlin contacts me to tell me he’s just broken the Irish record with 8 hour 09 minutes, the fifth best time in history behind Bert Contador’s 7:27, I have to pay attention…

Katie Archibald – Olympic Team Pursuit Champion!

At an Edinburgh Book Festival event last week Chris Boardman was asked about his experiences commentating at the recent Olympics, and his standout moments and riders. Chris mentioned that he spent some time with one of the riders who he reckons is an amazing woman and a very interesting character. We've spoken to her enough times to agree with that and to add that she's also an incredible bike rider - and we had a feeling she'd do the business in Rio... of course, we're talking about Ms. Katie Archibald, Olympic Team Pursuit Champion.

Peter Traynor – The Man Behind the Madison Music

If you ever decide to promote a Six Day race there's a check list you'll have to go through. Start with a short steep indoor track; the best riders you can afford; food and drink concessions; a cool light show; a good 'speaker'; maybe some live acts-but one of your key ingredients will be music. Enter Peter Traynor, originally from the Wirral Peninsula across the Mersey River from Liverpool - the city that gave us the Beatles and the 'Mersey Sound'.