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Fresh 'Korn: Over to Europe

By Will Frischkorn, Team Slipstream-Chipotle
Published: Mar. 5, 2007

This being my first VeloNews.com journal, let me start by introducing myself. I’m 25; hail from Boulder, Colorado, where I live with my wife, Cheynna; and ride for Team Slipstream Sports-Chipotle. The past two years, under the banner of TIAA-CREF, our program has made a slow and steady progression towards a full bi-continental program, and this year we have full schedules in both the States and Europe.

As a Professional Continental team we’ll be doing some of the biggest non-ProTour races in the world and hoping for the occasional ProTour wildcard invite. In this journal I aim to provide a slightly different view into the life of a professional cyclist than the one you’ve gotten from well-known ProTour riders like Michael Barry and Christian Vande Velde — the good times and bad, the struggles and sacrifices, even the occasional triumph.

After a very active and fairly successful Tour of California for the Slipstream squad I headed home for a couple of frantic days trying to get my life in order for a near three-month absence and a few farewell dinners with friends. On Wednesday, it was back to Denver International Airport where I met up with a couple of the guys, each of us earning harsh glares as we walked up to check in with way more than the allotted baggage. Along with our personal bags each of us had a TT bike and suitcase for the team. Youngster Pete Stetina (still “Junior” in our minds) had the good fortune to lug along a 60-pound tub of massage cream — considering the alternative of rubs with olive oil or Nivea, a worthwhile sacrifice. While Slipstream is fortunate to have a generous budget, we’re still out to save a buck here or there, and the $100 saved on shipping each bag will come in handy later in the year.

Twenty hours later our crew, now numbering five, rolled groggily out of the Barcelona airport with almost all the luggage in tow. Nothing like a full day of travel and then another in the same clothes — sorry, Craig! Alyssa and Sandra, our two Euro soigneurs arrived shortly thereafter and we all loaded up for the hour-long, seemingly endless drive to our adopted home in historic Girona, Spain, the team’s European base.

Ten years ago a number of American cyclists under the direction of Johnny Weltz on the U.S. Postal squad moved to Girona, and there are many more here now. Johnny is our Euro director, completing a full circle with his then-rider, now-boss Jonathan Vaughters, and a number of us live in one of his apartments downtown.

Ah, yes — the apartments. Unlike most teams, Slipstream provides us with a place to crash while racing in Europe. The team has three apartments here, and from the second the car doors open it’s a flat-out sprint to stake claim to a room. Begging, old favors, seniority and just about everything else imaginable can come into play in this struggle. Currently I’m in the “big” apartment, just off the downtown Rombla, with four others: Mike Creed, Craig Lewis, Ian Macgreggor and Steve Cozza. We’ve been kind enough to save a closet-sized space for team leader Danny Pate to call home once he arrives.

Our first days are spent in search of the small touches one needs to make a strange place feel like home. I’m something of a foodie, so most of my hunting revolved around kitchen paraphernalia. And while wandering around town with Craig I stumbled upon the local-products shop of my dreams. Dried nuts and fruits lined the walls in bulk bins and overflowing shelves were stocked with local oils, vinegars, herbs and spices, canned goods, gourmet goodies and a great selection of teas and coffees. The poor lady that manned the register couldn’t have been kinder to two jetlagged and slightly sick foreigners, given our nonexistent Catalan and her similarly deficient English. She tried to help me find the oils that had the flavor profile I was looking for and even smiled as I went to town on her sample section’s oils, crackers, tapenades and candied nuts. Thanks! A bonk had been dangerously close. From there we hit up a number of small specialty shops and made a quick run into the supermercado for some of the staples.

Even for someone coming from a progressive, food-forward town like Boulder, Girona is a gourmand’s heaven. Tapas bars line the streets with sit-down restaurants hiding behind. The farmers market here runs daily with huge blowouts twice a week. Fresh seafood (a Catalan staple), meat, cheese, produce, and just about anything else you could desire can be found for a couple of euros. And the cost of living is crazy cheap. During my end-of-ride grab yesterday I swung by a stand for a bit of fruit, some veggies, a couple of goodies and some sparkling water, carefully making sure the 10 euros I’d carried would cover the tab. The total: $2.30. The prices on all the produce were per kilo, not per item, as at the Boulder Whole Foods. Not a bad surprise.

Okay, my enthusiasm has taken over. How about the hardships, the sacrifices? For one, I’m living in an apartment with five guys, not in a cute, freshly renovated little downtown house with my wife and dog. The life we’ve so carefully crafted in Boulder is a long way away, and until I hit the point in my career where we can support ourselves and maybe sock a bit away while maintaining a house on each continent Cheynna will have to remain in Boulder for much of the year, working as a fifth-grade teacher. She’s coming over for a visit during spring break, but after that we will not see each other for upwards of two months. How’s that for a sacrifice?

Is it worth it? I’ll say yes for now, but only time will truly tell. In one way or another we’re all out here trying to make it big, and sacrifice is what it takes. I hope this journal will be an interesting snapshot into this life — thanks for reading.

Will