A true development team in every sense of the word. Everyone seems to throw the words ‘development team’ around a lot over the past few years all of them used very loosely before the frustration of lack of results sees older riders in the prime of their career bought into teams or overseas talent flown in to bolster the teams chances of a win. I spent time as a part of one of these ‘development teams’, it really just felt like I was a part of a regular team, nothing special but I guess if the team is seen as investing in future talent, theres an excuse for a lack of results on the big stage against larger teams.
Currently there are seven riders who are a part of the Van D’am Racing (VDR) team; Callum Pearce, Connor Butterfield, David Fumpson, Ethan Egglestone, Rhys Gillett, Tom Alford and myself. Rhys takes on the ‘old man’ title of being the oldest to join VDR for 2016 at the senile age of 25, followed by myself at 22. Both of us having raced bikes for close to a decade having experienced the journey through junior racing, state sports academies, small teams as well as large, well funded continental teams racing UCI races. Everyone else on the team is aged 20 or younger; Dave (20), Tom (18), Ethan (17), Callum (17) with Connor as the team youngster at just 16 years old.
Team founder Lachlan Ambrose (still pretty young at just 24) and I have been good mates over the past few years, when he approached me with the idea of a starting a development team to start racing around the country as a part of the National Road Series, I was sceptically thinking “it hasn't worked with big teams how would it work with a small one”. Keeping my two cents to myself I started to watch the team build, more guys showed up for training rides, Lachie’s team started to take shape and everything came together. These young guys I’ll be riding with next year are ones who have been used and burnt by institutes or purely overlooked for one reason or another.
Does that makes us a mashed up team of oddballs and outcasts? Maybe so, but in just a month and a dozen rides together everyone has gelled, lead outs have been tested and a lot of chin-wagging over countless hours at various brew shops. Rhys and I are not only racing to take the next step of making cycling a career but also helping these young guys navigate the hard years. We all know that 17 and 18 year olds can be distracted, things they don't want to talk to their parents about, girls and drinking tops the list (personally I have seen a lot of talented cyclists stop riding for aforementioned reasons), we aren't here to say “No, don't do it”, more as a space to vent, throw ideas around, have a chat and work through issues because a happy cyclist always rides faster. Of course there are times during the year where motivation wanes and you just need a good ride with a good mate.
Back on track now, Lachie and I have worked very closely with a man who wishes to have his name kept quiet (Tim Clayton). Tim has coached Lachie and myself for a few years, he is now offering his coaching services to the guys on the team if they wish to take them. Tim’s approach to coaching is aligned with the ‘development team’ spirit at VDR, helping me personally get through a full time Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree, working four nights a week, living out of home and still his program had me take a 5th and 7th in the U23 National Road Race and Time Trial championships respectively. Needless to say I have a lot of faith in this man. With most of the young guys on the team taking on year 12 next year Tim adapts his training methodology with the ideal that quality beats quantity, making life balance easy.
All in all its safe to say I'm very excited to join Van D’Am Racing for the rest of 2015 continuing into 2016. All of the guys will be out racing for the first time together come Thursday night for the first round of the Cervelo CIC Series held at Victoria Park. Sun's out, guns out, Adelaide is warming up and my procrasti-blogging is done. More to come next week.
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