Tour Down Under
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
Team UniSA-Australia Supporters Club
While
the riders and the coach are the public face of
Team UniSA, there are
people behind the scenes who are making sure everything goes smoothly
and the riders are equipped to put in their best performance. Two such
people are Paul Debroughe (official Team UniSA masseuse) and Steve Nash
(bicycle mechanic).
Team UniSA’s correspondent had a word to Paul and Steve during the first stage of the race.
Job: masseuse
Years on TDU: two
Comment: "I’ve got to take it a bit easy when massaging the riders
during the tour – you don’t want to try and fix problems or get knots
out of muscles at this stage, because if we try any heavy massage their
legs are going to feel really heavy….I’m a rider too so I know what it’s
like….a lot of our riders are tired from the 180km National Championship
race on Sunday, they’ve had a day break and now they’re straight back
into it, so there will be plenty of work for me over the next six days."
Steve
NashJob: mechanic
Years on TDU: five
Comment: "There’s been plenty to keep me busy before the race even began
– James Hannam had a puncture shortly before the start of the race,
Matty Rex had some problems with his cleats and Luke Roberts had a
buckled rear wheel…but all the problems have been sorted out and the
bikes are all OK now….Luke is riding a new bike that his dad built him
for this season, and Pat (Jonker) is also on a new bike – a fully carbon
one….I do what I can, and the rest is up to the riders."
