[EN] The Very Hungry Caterpillar

In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.
One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and POP! – out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.

My name is...well, my name isn't who I am, it doesn't define me. At the moment, I am the hungry caterpillar, eating everything around me, gathering everything in that I can, waiting to sprout into a beautiful butterfly.
OK, that metaphor was far too pompous, let's cut that out and get to straight English. I'm an assistant DS at the newly formed Caterpillar Cycling team. Caterpillar Inc. sponsors the team, trying to improve brand recognition and sales across predominantly Europe but also other countries they're based in across the globe (you can find out about the company here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_Inc. ). We've got 16 riders and a Continental license. Caterpillar have said they'll sponsor the team for a minimum of 3 years, an extension depends on whether we're ProTour or not by then.



So a bit more about the team. The head honcho is Rupert Evergreen, not well known in the cycling scene, but put in charge here. He's a bit old school, preferring a more formal relationship with the riders (and the staff too) as well as not really embracing technology. We're not exactly going to be best pals, but we'll get along.
Pre-season training has already begun, and we've got 16 good riders, a real mixed bag of young and old, sprinters and climbers, introverts and extroverts. My job will focus on keeping these 16 happy, as well as monitoring their training and being at the races. A lot of responsibility and hard work, but it's a job I like and a step towards the job I'll love – team manager of a ProTour team.
I've already got my itinerary sorted for January. I'll be with our five Australians (can't give out names yet until the team presentation) for their national championships, which are when the team presentation is (it's back in London), which Rupert will oversee. Then it's training up until our first race proper, the Tour Down Under, which we've secured a wild-card for. I'll be second in command their, but I'm not entirely sure how much freedom Rupert will give me. We'll see.
Oh yes, my name. My name is Jonny Clayton. It's going to be very well known soon. I hope. Or should that be I know?

Source: www.cyclingnews.com/news/caterpillar-unveiled

Caterpillar Unveiled
Hilton Clarke and Glen Chadwick lead Continental squad
London was the venue for the unveiling of one of the worst kept secrets in cycling: the brand new Caterpillar Cycling Team.

Sponsored by Caterpillar Inc., a company renowned for it's production of machinery and engines, the team is hoping to achieve ProTour status within 3 years, under the guidance of relatively unknown team manager Rupert Evergreen, who was enthusiastic about the team and it's future.
“Failure is not a word in my dictionary, and the riders will not fail me. They're all good riders, but they know they need to constantly prove their good enough to stay in a team like this.”
The team presentation was a reasonably low key affair, a fact confirmed by the team manager, as the riders were presented to the awaiting media in suits, with only a model to show off the jersey festooned by the traditional Caterpillar yellow.
“We're not your big high glamour, high budget team like Team Sky. We're going to be getting results through hard work, not mood lighting. We don't need wind tunnel testing, it's the rider's strength that gets results not what he looks like on the bike.”
The team was mixing it's five Australians, who are tomorrow riding in the National Championships, under the watchful eye of Rupert's number two, Jonny Clayton, who nobody seems to know anything about.
A low key entrance, but a high profile race will start the team off as they secured a wild-card to the Tour Down Under. However, a team with ambitions like this was always going to be asked about Le Tour.
“Not this year. Probably not next year either. We're focusing on races like the Tour of Britain and Tour of California whilst we're not in the ProTour.” A bold statement, only made bold by a couple of astonished looks from the Caterpillar Inc. representatives. Trouble at the top already?

Squad:
Hilton Clarke (AUS, 30)
Glen Alan Chadwick (NZL, 33)
Ed Clancy (GBR, 24)
Rory Sutherland (AUS, 27)
Marc De Maar (NED, 25)
Dean Downing (GBR, 34)
Karl Menzies (AUS, 32)
David McCann (IRL, 36)
David Veilleux (CAN, 22)
Dean Windsor (AUS, 23)
Daniel Fleeman (GBR, 27)
Cameron Evans (CAN, 25)
Ben Day (AUS, 31)
Joshua England (NZL, 23)
Alexander Boyd (USA, 22)
Guy East (USA, 22)

Australian National Championships (ITT, Buninyong, 6/1/2010)
I came to Buninyong for the Australian National Championships expecting glorious sunshine. I got the same damp, drab, depressing, overcast, miserable grey weather that I thought I'd left behind when I left London Heathrow.
The course for the individual time trial was 40km of rolling terrain, with a long downhill run to the finish. We'd got all five of our Australians with us, but only Ben Day, Karl Menzies and Rory Sutherland would realistically do anything, especially with Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers here. Therefore, Dean Windsor and Hilton Clarke will just be taking out as training, not going flat out.



Dean was the first rider off, and set a respectable 58'02, and was in the hot seat for precisely 1 rider. Karl was the 4th rider to go, and he went into the lead, with a time of 57'29. He also was in the hot seat for precisely 1 rider, as Travis Meyer shaved 35 seconds off of his time.
Ben Day was next up, and set a strong time of 57'10, moving into 2nd place. Hilton Clarke soon followed but was nowhere.


Ben Day riding well

With just Rory Sutherland to go, looking at the overcast conditions, rain had held off for our first 4 riders, and I was hoping that maybe it wouldn't come.
“Looks like we're in for rain,” Rory said to me moments before he set off. Of course, the clouds immediately unleashed a deluge of rain.
Rory rode well, getting out a nice consistent tempo, and finishing 11 seconds slower than Karl Menzies (who was now 5th).
So with only five riders left, I started to feel confident – Ben can't lose too many places, can he?
Spoke too soon, as the next 5 riders all went faster, with Michael Rogers setting the winning time of 55'48.

1 Michael Rogers Team HTC - Columbia 55'48
2 Cameron Meyer Garmin - Transitions + 4
3 Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team + 7
4 Richie Porte Team Saxo Bank + 11
5 Heinrich Haussler Cervélo Test Team + 32
6 Jack Bobridge Garmin - Transitions + 38
7 Adam Hansen Team HTC - Columbia + 46
8 Travis Meyer Garmin - Transitions + 1'05
9 Luke Roberts Team Milram + 1'19
10 Ben Day Caterpillar + 1'22
13 Karl Menzies Caterpillar + 1'41
16 Rory Sutherland Caterpillar + 1'53
24 Dean Windsor Caterpillar + 2'15
31 Hilton Clarke Caterpillar +2'20

Not a bad start, now for the road race in 4 days time.

dommage que ton récit soie en anglais,
je comprends rien

[Steegmans]

Nice team, even if going in Pro-Tour will be hard with those guy. You'll have to improve your team to complete your objective.

Really nice story, it's cool to have one in English.

nice to see you with another team
so where is raleigh

nice to see you with another team
so where is raleigh

Corrupt save game

Australian National Championships (RR, Hilly, Buninyong – Buninyong, 10/1/2010)



The same 5 rolled up to the start-line, and with us having the equal largest team, there was a strong possibility we could do well here, if we played our cards right.
17 laps faced us, totalling 172km and 17 times up and down the same hill. The small size of the pack meant a break had a strong chance of succeeding, and so I gave the job of Karl to follow any attacks, just cover them.


Of course, he just ignored me and attacked straight away, on his own.

Four others joined across to him, to form a pretty strong 5 man group (compared to a bunch now totalling 32). His companions were Roberts (Milram), Walker (Footon), King (Trek U23) and Wilson (Garmin). If the break stayed away, only Wilson would trouble Karl in the sprint.
The pack started to give the break a leash: 2 minutes, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12!!! The guys seemed to be enjoying the now warm weather instead in the bunch, and were willing to let the 5 breakaways contenders fight it out for the win.
In the break, with 25km to go, the others were doing the bare minimum of work, letting Karl set a pace. So then attacking Karl would be not on, right?
A flurry of attacks featured over the next 15km, each easily caught by an angry Karl, who seemed to be running on cold fury.


What absolute basta...

On the last ascent of the hill, Karl launched a blistering attack of his own. Luke Roberts was closest to following, but Karl was pumped up, and already had a minute on his “companions” by the top.
A short descent later, and Karl was crowned the best rider in Australia.


A fantastic win

Afterwards, Karl had a few choice words for his breakaway companions. And so did I quite frankly. But as soon as he was on the podium, that was all forgotten, as Karl would be wearing the green, gold and white of Australia for the next season!

1 Karl Menzies Caterpillar 4h53'04
2 Luke Roberts Team Milram +1'07
3 Benjamin King Trek Livestrong U23 s.t.
4 Johnnie Walker Footon – Servetto s.t.
5 Matthew Wilson Garmin – Transitions s.t.
6 Stuart O'Grady Team Saxo Bank +11'53
7 Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team s.t.
8 Rory Sutherland Caterpillar s.t.
9 Heinrich Haussler Cervélo Test Team s.t.
10 Richie Porte Team Saxo Bank s.t.
19 Hilton Clarke Caterpillar +12'48
35 Dean Windsor Caterpillar s.t.
37 Ben Day Caterpillar + 1'41

Great Job

first race and fist victory

[Steegmans]

Nicelly done.