Chris Baldwin will be doing PR work for the Navigators Team at the Tour of California, so he got me in touch with Ed Beamon, the Director of the team, here’s the interview.

@##=#<1,L>@##=#DS: Hey Ed, so it looks like you guys are getting ready for the Tour of California, are you guys doing a full team camp or is it just preparation for the race?

EB: We have most of the team out here right now. Mainly we do administrative type stuff as the camp goes, take care of photos and some of the some of the background stuff we’ll need for the rest of the season

DS: You guys do a pretty full calendar as far as US teams go, you go to China, Australia, Europe, and of course, the United States. How does it compare getting ready for different races, is it easier in the States than it is overseas?

EB: Well, the States are so big; sometimes it’s no easier than overseas. Most of our challenges with the team is just getting guys to a certain place and the getting equipment and the tools we need for a certain race organized, and whether were going to the States or Europe it’s pretty similar. When you do the bigger trips to the southern hemisphere o to a place like China, it’s a little bit more complicated logistically, and it’s usually just a one race trip so we’re bringing our entire allotment of all the equipment we’ll need for that race to the event. We keep some equipment in Europe. Of course, we have most of our stuff here so that cuts down a little bit on the logistics of going back and forth between Europe and the United States.

DS: Are you the director in all of those races? Are you traveling almost constantly?

EB: Yeah, I do a lot of traveling. There are some events now where we’ll have two teams operating at the same time. We might have a team doing a block of races in Europe while we have a team here in the States doing races. So at that point, I’ll have help and someone else will be directing those races in the States.

DS: When you go overseas do you end up directing in some pretty strange cars? I would imagine what you’d get in China or Europe might be a little unusual.

EB: Uh, yeah, not so much Europe but a few of the trips to Asia… Some of the cars we get in China or Malaysia are pretty intriguing. One of the other things that’s a little disorienting at first is when we go to some of the Commonwealth countries and we’re on the wrong side of the road, wrong side of the car. It usually takes a couple of days to get used to that.

DS: That whole head on collision thing could get old.

EB: Yeah, it kind of takes the fun out of it.

DS: So, are you riding with the team out there on the training rides?

EB: This week, yeah, as much as possible.

DS: What category rider are you?

EB: Um, old.

DS: I ask because I remember seeing you at races here in the city at the parks…

EB: I still keep a category one license but I don’t get to use it too much anymore.

DS: You’re more of a “vintage” one, then.

EB: Ha ha, yeah.

DS: So, do you find, especially in the city that people are trying out for the Navigators? Do you find anyone trying to show off for you at all?

EB: Um, yeah.

DS: Do you really? So people will try to show how they can attack or show what they can do…

EB: Not so much while I’m racing, but certainly when we travel around the country and, of course back home. It’s not unusual to have guys, if not on the bike, certainly off the bike come up and try to make you aware of who they are.

The Navs at last year’s Mengoni. Photo Marco Quezada.

DS: Oh, good so it worked! I was trying to show off and get a place on the team. That was me.

EB: (laughs)

DS: You have a lot of racers from Eastern Bloc countries, how do you scout that talent? Do those racers come to you? Do you go to them?

EB: I hired a few (Eastern Bloc) guys going back several years – Davidenko was the first guy I hired from the ex-Soviet Union… From July to January I’m usually inundated with resumes from around the world, a lot of them come from the riders themselves, some come from agents representing the riders. Most of the initial contact I had with guys overseas had come from resumes I had received. Now that we do a little bit more racing overseas and the team’s a little bit more known across the pond; I get to see more guys, I get to meet more guys, and in some cases I’ll see someone that to me look like it makes sense to have him doing a program like we’re doing. He may particularly suited to what I think is American-style racing as well as having the skills for the European peloton. At this point, more often than not, I’m finding guys through the resumes that they’re sending me.

DS: What would you think is the difference between American-style and European-style racing?

EB: Well, first of all, the whole criterium scene is a big part of American racing. So, guys with a little bit of a track background, or guys you can tell have good bike handling skills and good speed adapt well to that type of racing. But also the road racing or even most of the UCI calendar that’s here favors more power riders and guys that are good on shorter, steeper climbs as opposed to guys who are more adept at the 30 kilometer climbs. From a US racing perspective, you put a premium on strength and speed as opposed to more GC oriented climbing-type guys.

DS: What style of racing would you consider the Tour of California to be, more American or European?

EB: It will be a full on European race, I think.

DS: Do you think that will be better for developing American talent?

EB: I think the more exposure to international athletes and international racing we have here will be better for development. One of the big changes in American racing in the last 10-12 years has been the influence of foreign riders here in America – their tactical knowledge and their experience. In Europe, so many countries are so cycling oriented that kids in those countries grow up learning cycling the way we learn baseball or basketball. They bring a whole different perspective with respect to the fundamentals of riding. The more we see guys here, whether on American teams or as individuals or actual teams from Europe – the more exposure we have – the greater opportunity the guys from the States have to learn a deeper level of the sport.

DS: It seems the Tour of California will be more of a focus for American teams as opposed to the European teams coming over, do you think there will be a lot of racers from those teams considering this a training race?

EB: No, I really don’t the rosters that I’ve seen – most of these teams are sending pretty solid groups of guys. I know CSC has a pretty impressive roster for this race, they’ve been over here for 3 weeks with a training camp themselves so I’m sure they’ve gotten a good look at the courses. CSC is an American company, so I’m absolutely certain they not coming over here to play around.

DS: Who do you see as the GC threats?

EB: Interestingly, I think a lot of the GC threats are actually American riders riding on European teams. I think Leipheimer will be pretty solid here, I would imagine that Danielson and/or Hincapie, if he does start, would be pretty dangerous here. And the Discovery team has a lot of classics riders on the team and those guys are going to have good form because when they leave from this race, they’re going into the heart of their season. The CSC squad, their whole team is (laughs) a GC threat.

DS: Do you think they’ll be racing for Dave Zabriske?

EB: I think a lot of it will focus on Dave. The time trial is going to be really important element of this race, and Dave is one of the best time trialists in the world.

DS: And Floyd will be coming over, too.

EB: Floyd will definitely be a threat for Phonak. I think of all those guys, Floyd may be the one that is a little bit less focused on this particular race because of the races that are important for him later on.

DS: From the Navigators standpoint, how will you game plan to take those guys out of the GC or hop above them? What’s your strategy for that? If you can say…

@##=#<2,r>@##=#EB: I think we have a pretty solid, balanced team for this race. It’s a really difficult time of year to gauge how fit any individual on the team is relative to the guys we’re going to be racing against. No one’s done enough racing at this point to have a really solid handle on how well they’re going relative to the rest of the field. But I think the squad we have for this race is fairly well balanced – it’s a lot of guys that are solid all around riders. And we don’t really have a pure time trial specialist although we have several of guys that are really solid in the time trial – so I think for us – we going to have be a little aggressive and take advantage of opportunities early in the race to try and shake things up. We have to put ourselves in a position to have a few guys in striking distance and can hopefully take the time trialists out of the race.

DS: Kind of a Vinokourov “put the race to them” type of attitude?

EB: Yeah, I think this first stage is going to a really critical stage – it’s pretty up and down at the beginning and then travels north along the coast and if the wind is more than the average day here the race could be over on the first stage.

DS: Could be a day for powerful riders who can echelon.

EB: And powerful teams.

DS: I think a lot of people are looking forward to the Tour of California. It’s a good time of year for an American race, It’s a good place in the calendar, because it’s not competing against the April races in Europe or any of the Grand Tours so it could really it into a nice slot on the international calendar.

EB: Yeah, I think that was their game plan from the get go to try and position the race so there wouldn’t be a conflict with other races so they could get a good solid contingent of European teams and I think that’s exactly why you have so many good European teams and teams are sending really good rosters. It will probably be one of the more interesting races we’ve seen in America.

DS: And I think California is an easy sell – it’s a vacation place for Europeans, there’s something to be said about that. They can hit the malls and so forth when they’re there. I would be more attractive than North Dakota.

EB: Yeah, I’m thinking a stage race in Buffalo this time of year would probably not go over.

DS: It’s a real bitch to put the skis on the bikes. I’m looking forward to seeing the whole race. I don’t know if they’ve worked out the TV schedule yet, but I hear it’s going to be on ESPN2. It will be great to have that sort of coverage of American racers, because you don’t see them that often, and TV makes such a big difference with exposure for teams.

EB: Yes, no question. I think that is the thing the sport is really lacking here in the States and the limiting factor in its growth is the lack of television coverage. I think that’s one of the aspects of this race from the development side and from the marketing and sponsorship side that really has everyone excited. It might not be the ideal situation because they’re going to run the programs very late at night or very early in the morning, but it’s a start. Hopefully they produce it well and get some excitement from the audience; it would encourage them to do it more.

DS: I think every cyclist in the world has a TIVO now – technical geeks that they are. If they televise is correctly it will be good television for a cycling fan at least. Hopefully they will have helicopters and a full crew covering the race because if you don’t have a helicopter at a race it makes for pretty painful TV viewing, especially in the finishing straights. It helps you watch the sprint develop and you can see the guys bumping off one another before the line, so that makes it fun. Anyway, good luck, I’ll be looking for the attacks out there.

EB: (laughs) I hope they come.