TOUR DOWN UNDER DIARIES
Mitch and Tom share their experiences at Australia’s biggest race!
I’ve been coming to the Tour Down Under since 2005 when I first had a chance to race Australia’s biggest race whilst still an amateur (and a kid) in the Aussie National team.
Back then the TDU was a massive deal for us young Aussies getting to race with the big pros just before the season kicked off for real in Europe. It was a pretty different race then, not that I would have known it as a kid, but for the Euros it was just a nice leg stretch of a race, and a chance to get some sun before the season kicked off – and maybe, one or two sneaky beers around the place…
In the past couple of decades, the race has grown unbelievably. Not only is it the legitimate start to the World Tour season, but its reputation in Australia has grown so much too that these days it really feels like one of the biggest races you’ll go to all year.
I’ve had a mixed relationship with the TDU over the years, I raced a few times for the National team (then Uni SA) as a youngster, then had a bit of a hiatus when I was racing at Green Edge and the pressure to win the race went through the roof. Later on in my career when I came to EF, it became a race that I’d always do at the start of the year to get things going and use my experience to get the team off to a decent start for the year.
If you know anything about me by now, you’ll know that I wasn’t the type of rider to spend the whole two weeks cooped up in my room, and I’d always be looking to find a bit of time to go out for a coffee in the morning or catch up with a mate or two outside the race.
The funny thing was that as a rider I always felt that I was way too busy, there were sponsor events, interviews, presentations – and of course the race! I imagined how nice it would be to come out and be on the other side.
Now that I’ve done that a few times though, I look back and laugh at how much time I really had as a rider!
Because now, when I arrive in Adelaide it’s like someone has pulled the starting trigger of a race: and we are off! There is just so much cool stuff going on! And I am really my own worst enemy because I can’t stop myself and say “ah… No, I’d better not.”
I love getting immersed into everything that going on and then bringing something to the party myself. I love it all, from the early morning “keep fit” routine, running with Southam and some old mates or just solo to clear the head. Then rolling straight into a 200+ peloton heading out of the MAAP | Specialized pop-up and getting punished in the hills.
These days I’ve been at the TDU as a rider, a spectator, a commentator, a podcaster and a journalist. The one thing I haven’t done though, is work the race from the other ‘other’ side, you know what I mean, the dark side… sitting in the air con in the team car wondering why everyone is so hot and bothered outside.
Funnily enough though, I know a man who does only that. So, for a bit of fun, I thought why not get Tom Southam to tell us what the TDU is like from his side, must be all iced-latte’s and fiddling with the controls for the air con, right? Well, read on – maybe it turns out our experiences aren’t so different!
A view of the TDU from my window at the Hilton – Tom Southam
The Tour Down Under is one of the best holidays out there, but it’s also one of the worst places to work in the world of cycling.
Imagine, if you will, a place where you have all the pressure of the start of a new season: sponsors keenly waiting for their new equipment to be proven with an early victory, managers and performance staff wanting to see the results of their new signings and work over the winter, and an expectant cycling world waiting to see who will strike the first blows and put themselves in the driving seat going into the European season.
In that same sun-drenched place, you also find yourself staying in a half-decent hotel in the middle of a great town with a whole bunch of people you’ve known from a career spent in pro cycling, most of whom are looking to make the most of the time away from the usual grind of the European races.
It’s hot in Adelaide, and most team staff and other DSs get thirsty after a day’s work. At no other race on the planet do you a) have an entire 10-day build-up pre-race and b) have so many great bars and restaurants in such proximity to the race hotel.
To compound the problem, added to this mix are the people who are there to really enjoy themselves. The entire (or so it seems) Australian cycling community descends on Adelaide.
Not only are the industry folk there, with their increasingly creative pop-ups and their social rides, but there are also the podcasters (Mitch), the gravel people (Lachie), the car park racing lot (ok then…), as well as the mass of riders who come to do three things in varying degrees of commitment: ride, drink, eat, and watch a bit of the bike race.
If you’ve not been and you want to get a feel of it: the Tour Down Under is a true cycling festival, with a sideshow of a World Tour bike race.
I want nothing more than for my riders to do a great race. I wouldn’t be in Adelaide if that wasn’t the case, but it only takes one look out the hotel window at 6 am to see the riding groups gathering for the morning rides, or the relentless chatter on the Coopers Challenge WhatsApp group, for me to start wishing that I was a spectator and not a person who has to drive in a race convoy at 0.0 alcohol level.
As the week wears on, there is a feeling more and more within the teams that you are somehow marginalized. It starts to dawn on us all that we are working while others are playing.
But then, the grass is always greener, right? I’m pretty sure there are plenty of people who’d love to hop over the barriers and get right inside the race (plenty more who would give their right arm to sit in one of my epic pre-race briefings).
If I were to tell you what the race is like on the inside, I’d probably just say tense. Nothing happens when you don’t expect it to. But you spend a lot of time thinking and telling the riders that it just could. The stress builds all the time, into the technical downhills, the potentially windy corners on the Tanunda stage, and of course the left-hander 5k from the bottom of Willunga (spoiler alert – my lot messed that up).
By the same token, I am amused to hear from my mates who ride back from the stages, complaining of heat exhaustion (beer does not hydrate you, lads), crashes on the bike path because of the volume of riders, and epic days in the seat in the heat before a night chasing a rare Coopers.
All in all, there is a balance to be found. For those of us who work at the race and jealously look at Mitch heading off for a gravel ride and a sack load of drinks and fun, it’s nice to feel even a little part of the wider festival. Our interactions with the public are much less, but they are there, and the ability to chat with whomever in and around the village is amazing.
We also need to find our own ways to make the most of the experience of a unique race. My own program looks something like this: a beer or two, very shortly after returning from the stage. There is a longer window than usual at this race because we are back four hours earlier than we would be at a European race.
The odd dinner outside of the Hilton buffet, which after two full weeks is enough to test anyone. Slipping through the lobby before 9 pm through the back door so as to remain unseen on my way back to the sanctity of my room. Then the best part of all: up at 5:45 for the morning run. This year the 6:30 group of staff from various teams – with guest appearances from Mitch from time to time – fluctuated between 4 and 10 people. 10k easy pace, a bit of a chat, back to the hotel for a cold shower and preparing for another one of these famous briefings.
The TDU certainly has its temptations, but it is an amazing event to be a part of. Whether you are getting amongst it spectating and hanging out at the pop-ups or, like me, hiding in your room of an evening, it has it all covered. If only there were more races like this one, then my life would be really hard.
Tom
So, there you have it guys: the TDU, it’s 25 years old now! It’s an amazing race, and a brilliant experience, whichever side of the fence you sit on, and however you want to tackle it. I’m already looking forward to the next one.
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