Alex Bok’s Blog

New Year’s eve seems like it passed just a few weeks ago.

I enjoyed one of the most magical new year’s eve ever in my life together with my wife Ellen on the beach in our new home town of Krabi (Thailand) with hundreds of little lights in the dark sky. These lights are the so called lucky torches. You light a little ring underneath a big paper bag and then the burning ring creates hot air and yes, after 2 or 3 minutes the big paper bag expands with hot air and then slowly starts to go up into the air. It goes up and flies higher and higher for at least 10 -15 minutes so it’s out of sight before the candle is gone.

You are supposed to hold hands and make a wish while the paper bag with the candle underneath it will go high in the sky and this will ensure your wish becomes a reality.

I always have dreams, but that night one of my dreams had already become a reality… Ellen and I had managed to move our family into our new home. After having lived for 10 years in Singapore, we managed to make our dream a reality and changed the always busy city of Singapore for a very laid back and relaxed lifestyle of a little but beautiful place called Krabi in Thailand.

Never stop daring to dream!

It’s nearly 10 years after I married my dream women to start living in a new place that we would call our dream location.

Many times people don’t understand exactly what we are going to do in that quiet little beach place in Thailand, but that has never been a question for us…

That new year’s eve in 2009 was magical and was the successful completion of 2 full years of planning, hard work and never ever giving up on a dream we set ourselves.

But then a few days later into the New Year, reality kicked back in very quickly and it was only 3 weeks before the entire 2010 squad of teamTBB was to arrive in Krabi for their first 2010 training camp…

Doc and I were talking every day on Skype about sponsor products that should be there, logistics, hotel for the athletes, swimming pool requirements, etc. etc.

Suddenly that magical New Year’s eve was gone very quickly… but will never be forgotten!
For the next couple of weeks it was hard work to ensure our 25 athletes would be fully equipped, have a nice place to stay and our training facilities would be up and running.

I will spare you the details of how much effort is required from sponsors, TBB staff, athletes and team management to get a new season started but a few parties deserve some special mention:
• Our title sponsor The Bike Boutique which continued their support of this world class team since the start of the team in December 2006.
• Our co-sponsor Cervelo deserves a big thank you as they decided to continue their support for teamTBB again in 2010 for the 4th year in a row!
• Our other co-sponsor Avia was again part of teamTBB in 2010 with their support of our team’s performance footwear.
• Our saddle sponsor ISM Seat (bike seats) and Blueseventy (wetsuits and speed suits) continued their product sponsorship of teamTBB in 2010.
• New product sponsors came on board such as Louis Garneau (helmet’s and bike shoes), Token (wheels), 3T (aero and handlebars) and Compress Sport (compression socks).
• The Bike Boutique staff Eric Foong, Mike Turnbull, Abby Poh, Choon Wei and Azmil for their tremendous support of all our athletes. Thank you folks for pushing it all the time!

teamTBB would simply not be possible without the support of these great sponsors and TBB staff!

On the 2nd of February it was D-Day and after the coach arrived in his newly selected training base for teamTBB, soon he first teamTBB athletes started to arrive as well. Many of the 2009 teamTBB athletes were chomping at the bit to start a new 2010 seasons and equally excited and anxious were the many newly selected teamTBB athletes. Our new hotel (Tawanthai hotel) proved soon to be a good pick as it was clean, well located in a quiet area of town and very close to the swimming pool, run track and at the start of an area that soon proved to be excellent and safe for our bike rides.

The start of the 2010 season was now official and there was no way back.

It’s at the start of each season that the coaching staff quickly put a stamp on what can be expected this season. And this year it was clear that some very hard work was ahead of us to try and make sure all our teamTBB athletes can live their personal dream to become the best athlete they can be. Training sessions were hard and hot and Krabi soon proved to be a good selection for our season opening heat training camp. Day in day out, the sun was shining, temperatures of 34c – 40c are the norm with a humidity of >80%. This makes many so called hot races look like an easy day out in the park compared to this training climate.

It’s now end of March and the results till date are simply amazing already: 1st place in the Geelong IM 70.3 by Caroline Steffen, 2nd place in IM Malaysia by Hiro, 1st place in IM China by Amy Marsh, 4th place Abu Dhabi by Caroline Steffen, 1st and 2nd place in IM Singapore 70.3 by Caroline Steffen and James Cunnama, 2nd place in IM Australia by Rebekah Keat and then I’m not even mentioning the many other great results of teamTBB athletes finishing in top 5 – 10 positions at these same race.

Wow, this is a team that was dealt a bad hand of cards in Q4 of 2009 when it lost a chance to welcome a new title sponsor, which had been a 12 month project and would have made this a greatly sponsored team. We still had to deal with this setback at the start of the 2010 season, but everyone part of this team had decided to give it his/her best and now nearly 90 days into the new season, the results are already amazing and even more important the team spirit is possibly better then we have ever seen so early in the season. And we haven’t even started our training camp in Switzerland yet, which normally helps many of our athletes reach the peak of their training season just prior to the big summer race season starting to kick off in Europe and the USA.

We’ll see what 2010 has to bring, but it sure looks like it’s going to become a very interesting year ahead of us.

Speak to you soon in Q2 of 2010 with some amazing updates of new TBB stores opening up in Germany and the USA. Our current TBB stores in Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines and the latest addition in Melbourne are all moving ahead in great pace. TBB Melbourne started the year 2010 in a fantastic way under its leadership team of Paul McDonald and Steve Waite who are creating some great waves in the Australian market already.

More updates will follow soon…

For now I like to wish all our new and existing teamTBB athletes a great year ahead. I hope you all start to realize 3 months into the new year, that teamTBB is not just a collection of pro athletes that train a bit together, but this is more like a family that together is out to make life better – two wheels at a time!

Hi triathlon lovers,

It’s with great pleasure that teamTBB management is able to announce today that a new pro camp base in Asia has been located and negotiations with local authorities have been completed.

For the past 3 months teamTBB management has visited various Asian countries to find the perfect Asian training base and we are very happy to announced that we have found our dream location:

Subic Bay in The Philippines!

In the team’s first year of existence the pro training camp was located in Phang Nga (Thailand) where the squad trained in the beautiful World Heritage area just 60km north of Phuket. We are grateful to Mr. Khun Kanit and Mr. Khun Boon, owners of the Bor Saen Villa Resort (www.borsaenvilla.com) who have been wonderful hosts to teamTBB and looked after our coach and athletes in an amazing way! The facilities at the Bor Saen Villa Resort were great and the staff were just wonderful. We recommend any person who wants to spend some time in a beautiful natural environment and amazing accommodation to visit this resort.

Thank you Khun Kanit, Khun Boon and all the staff of Bor Saen Villa Resort for all you have done for us, from the entire team!

TeamTBB management however felt we had to find a new Asian training base for two main reasons:
1. The roads around the area where we trained in Thailand were being upgraded and combined with increased traffic, safety issues increased for our athletes during the bike rides. Safety is the number #1 priority on our team, always!
2. Our athletes were not able to obtain extended visas which were required to stay for longer periods in Thailand.

So in November 2007 our extensive search started across Asia and has now lead us to a new training base which we believe is world class and will become our training home in Asia for years to come.

Subic Bay used too be one of the biggest USA Navy bases outside the USA. The location is fantastic for our team for various reasons:

1. Good quality roads
2. Low density of people, so not too much traffic
3. Great weather and heat camp training for Hawaii
4. Living and training right on the beach
5. Good accommodation from bunk beds to high end hotels and condos
6. Availability of running track and swimming pools
7. Great access to any major airport in the world
8. English spoken all around
9. Subic Bay authorities who are very accommodating to teamTBB
10. Safety of area

teamTBB’s first training camp will start on the 12th of February 2008. Final preparations are now taking place and we have a lot of surprises planned for our own pro athletes, underprivileged children in Clark/Subic, age groupers and other bike lovers in The Philippines, so watch this space!

We’ll provide some more updates soon, but this hot off the press update could not wait!

Best

Alex

In my blog after the win of teamTBB’s Chrissie Wellington in the IM Hawaii World Championships, I mentioned the pilot project teamTBB embarked on with the Triathlon Association of The Philippines (TRAP).

This project included a number of key “ingredient’s”:

1. A coaching team that produces winners.
2. teamTBB pro athletes who take their reponsibility very serious by winning big races around the world BUT also act as a role model for young Asian athletes during their daily training sessions.
3. The power of the mind.
4. Changing and building belief systems

It was only half October 2007 when 8 Philippino guys and girls started their training camp part of teamTBB’s pro squad. The President of TRAP (Tom Carrasco) took a bold move to get his national coaching staff and national athletes trained in Thailand part of the 9 months old teamTBB. His goal was to prepare his squad in the best possible way for the upcoming 24th SEA Games.

Once Tom and teamTBB agreed on this pilot project, for these 8 national Philippino athletes a dream became true by training with 15 world class pro athletes including Ironman winners, ITU World Cup winners and the just 4 weeks old IM Hawaii World Champion Chrissie Wellington.

Earlier this year I wrote a blog on the importance of this kind of approach part of a strong athlete development program and I referred to the journey Reinaldo Colucci was on when he started training with the then World Champion Craig Walton when he was only 16 years old. Training with a World Champion changes the belief system of a young boy….

The teamTBB coaching staff and the Philippino coaches (Melvin, Loy and Peter) leveraged on this same athlete development approach once again.

Physical training and simple, yet effective training techniques, were applied and are very important, but equally if not more important is the belief system and self confidence that was established during the training sessions. Imagine, if you are an Asian athlete who suddenly trains with the world’s leading triathletes and you are trained and coached by people who have produced more than 25 World Champions and Olympic Medals, then a fundamental shift takes place in the minds and hearts of these young athletes.

* Feeling hope
* making full use of a unique opportunity
* Feeling inspired on a daily basis
* Taking destiny in your own hands
* Knowing you trained with the best and were coached by the best

The above ingredients are part of a strategy that produces champions.

I can hear you thinking by now “What were the results of this project?”

They were stunning!

On the 8th/9th of December 2007 the 24th South East Asia Games were held in Thailand. This was the target race for this pilot project between teamTBB and the Triathlon Association Philippines.

The hard results:
* 7 medals were won by the Philippines team out of the possible 12 across the Duathlon and Triathlon event!
* 1x Gold for Duathlon (men)
* 2x Silver for Triathlon (men and women)
* 4x bronze for Duathlon (men and women) and Triathlon (men and women)

Congratulations to the athletes of the Philippines, all coaching and support staff involved and not to forget the teamTBB athletes, as they too were a part of this success by being a role model that provided hope, opportunity and inspiration to these Asian athletes.

Congratulations of course to Tom Carrasco!

teamTBB will embark on similar projects across Asia and beyond to eventually become a magnet for rising talent.

We have already started projects now in South Amercia (Brazil) and Asia that we will report on very soon…

We have started to dream already of the UK 2012 Olympics as one can never start dreaming early enough…

The full results of the Duathlon and Triathlon of the South East Asia Games are as following:

Results – Men’s Duathlon – 24th SEA Games 2007
1. MENDOZA Ryan PHI 0:34:47 1:02:33 0:21:58 1:59:19
2. SRICHAT Amnat THA 0:35:15 1:08:46 0:19:12 2:03:14
3. BENEDICTO August PHI 0:37:18 1:06:41 0:19:16 2:03:16

Results – Women’s Duathlon – 24th SEA Games 2007
1. PIAWONG Saifon THA 0:38:57 1:13:08 0:22:14 2:14:19
2. SAIWAEO Sontiya THA 0:43:10 1:15:42 0:24:48 2:23:40
3. DYSANGCO Analiza PHI 0:43:16 1:17:41 0:24:15 2:25:12

Results – Men’s Triathlon – 24th SEA Games 2007
—Name——-Country—Swim——Bike———Run——-Total——-
1. MOK Ying Ren SIN 21:00.00 1:06:09.00 37:59.00 2:05:08.00
2. VILOG George PHI 23:13.00 1:02:57.00 39:22.00 2:05:32.00
3. MACASIEB Arland PHI 23:13.00 1:02:57.00 41:30.00 2:07:40.00

Results – Women’s Triathlon – 24th SEA Games 2007
—Name————-Country–Swim——Bike———Run——-Total——-
1. YAP Fui Li Kimbely MAS 19:44.00 1:07:26.00 45:04.00 2:12:14.00
2. ARAULLO Alessandra PHI 22:30.00 1:07:07.00 43:58.00 2:13:35.00
3. LUCAS Maria PHI 22:21.00 1:07:05.00 44:30.00 2:13:56.00

Hi,

This message below is simply a copy of my email to our 4 girls a few hours after their amazing result during the 2007 Ironman Hawaii. I hope they don’t mind me sharing it with you…

I hope some of you who read this blog agree with the important message to our girls. I hope you too can join ‘our bandwagon’ to reach out to this part of the world and say “He, Asian boys and girls, you too can dream about turning your passion for the sport of triathlon into an amazing journey”. This is not about everybody becoming a world champion, but about each one to enjoy this amazing sport in their our own personal way.

teamTBB hopes that Chrissie’s win and all the amazing results our team has achieved this year will allow us to provide Hope and Opportunity to a next generation of young Asian tri athletes, that just like young Reinaldo Colucci or Chrissie Wellington, or Bella Comerford, or Rebecca Preston or Belinda Granger etc. etc. can make their dreams a reality.

Thank you for reading this message.

Lots of Tri Passion for you!

>>
Message from Alex Bok at www.thebikeboutique.com

Hi teamTBB Hawaii Charlie’s Angels,

I find it difficult to write this mail as I have still not been able to comprehend what the 4 of you have achieved today out there in the years biggest and toughest triathlon race of the year…

But I guess two wheels at a time is the best way to start.

The 4 of you have simply stunned the whole triathlon world today in Kona and from today teamTBB will play a complete new role in the development of the sport.

The individual success each one of you have delivered today are unbelievable and coaches and team management will do everything we can to maximize the return on your investment of blood, sweat and tears over the next few weeks. We will be in for a few positive roller coaster weeks but let’s bring to you, the team and our social projects what we deserve and need!

But today’s results will reach so much further than your personal athletic results and gratitude for this experience.

The 4 of you, knowingly or not, have brought the BIGGEST possible change and transformation to triathlon in Asia that we could have ever dreamed of.

We always talked about the impact the world cup soccer in Japan/Korea in 2002 had on the development of the sport across Asia and suddenly from that tournament onwards Japanese and Korean soccer players reached the English Premier League.

Well girls, the simple fact you have all been training in Asia (Thailand) in our camp teamTBB will change the face and mindset of triathlon on a global level but even in a bigger way in Asia.

Big words?

Yes, but this is the truth!

Just imagine this:

We have about 8 boys and girls of the national squad of the Philippines training in our teamTBB camp right now to prepare for the upcoming Sea games.

How will your results impact these youngsters? Trust me, in a BIG way: emotionally, physically, spiritually and athletically.

Finally, these young Asian athletes now realize some of the world’s best tri athletes are not some magazine pin-ups in some US based tri magazines. No, these world class athletes are Chrissie, Rebecca, Belinda and Hillary who train in the same camp as they do. And guess what? They met some of you in the Philippines and other countries across Asia earlier this year and they were touched the very first time by you when they met you!

You have all have become their role model and ‘their’ Tri-hero’s, you have inspired and touched these and many other young kids in a way you might not be able to understand to the fullest yet. You girls gave millions of Asian girls the BELIEVE today that they count, they too can dream and they do not have to settle for a thought that tri champions are only born in California or Boulder. No, they live and train in Thailand and are normal people who eat, drink, train and train. Their hero’s are real and why can these Pilipino girls one day not be the Asian version of one of you?

If we dare to believe and feel inspired by what you achieved today and every one else that is involved in teamTBB, than our dreams will simply become a reality. I know our dreams are a size too big, so we can grow into them. And the 4 of you showed the world today that this statement is not some fluffy positive thinking statement, but a simple truth!

Our team can now invite other national federations for training camps in 2008 with the world’s leading tri team in…. Yes Asia!

This allows us to put in place a well organized and funded teamTBB Athlete Development Program under the world’s most amazing coach, which can inspire millions of children in Asia.

Having lived in Asia for >12 years, this day will make sometimes shy or modest Asia so proud and I’m certain will instill a BELIEVE SYSTEM that teamTBB does indeed deliver HOPE and OPPORTUNITY to young kids in Asia.

Chrissie, congrats on a stunning opening season and a win today that not many could have described or dared to predict, except two people: You and Brett. You rock girl and the start of sport careers of Tiger Woods or F1 racer Hamilton are fair comparisons… But your heart speaks to the world in a way that has touched millions around the globe who saw you finish a few hours ago.

Rebecca, what a wonderful year for you with defending your title successfully in IM Switzerland and what a finish of this epic race in Hawaii, you are amazing and have still not tapped into your fullest potential!

Belinda, you delivered simply an unbelievable and inspiring result today which can only be seen as the amazing completion of a super season. You have inspired so many in the sport to date and we know you are far from done yet!

Hillary, again no words for your performance: top 20 in this super field. I know you are dammed proud of what you did out there and rightfully so!! Please continue to inspire so many age groupers around the world…

To rap up, I thank the 4 of you for making a 9 months old baby called “teamTBB” not only grow up very fast, but to show us the way in the development of our sport and kids in a part of the world that so desperately wants to be part of this global excitement called triathlon.

THANK YOU!

Alex

“Dreams come one size too big, so we can grow into them” is one of my firm beliefs in life.

It’s less then 16 months ago while working as a Managing Director at South East Asia’s largest bank that I started to dream about a bike lifestyle franchise concept. I knew the world has a huge amount of bike shops, but not many in Asia (and other pars of the world) truly integrate a concept across all parts of the bike lifestyle such as promoting people to ride their bike to work, provide a place to park a bike near the office, provide unique bike lifestyle concept stores in many cities, integrate a professional triathlon team with the business and being involved in social projects to provide hope and opportunity for children in Asia. As I said at the start, my dreams always come a few sizes too big.

But last weekend, I had a quiet little moment for myself along the road of Desaru in Malaysia while supporting age groupers finishing their half Ironman distance. It was a bitter sweet moment as I realized that some of those ‘way too big dreams’ were becoming some sort of reality here in front of my own eyes.

The organizers of the race, Mr. Chan and his daughter Sam from Triathlon Malaysia invite us to all the races they organize across Malaysia. And we love helping them as they are people who demonstrate so much passion for the sport of triathlon!

teamTBB and The Bike Boutique came out to support Mr. Chan’s race with a team of 10 people. We first of all brought two of our teamTBB pro athletes (Luke Dragstra and Mat O’Halloran) to provide some spice to the pro race field. Then we had one of our teamTBB coaches Scott Penny and support staff Alice McClure and AJ Anderson. Terrence, a TBB sponsored age grouper who is deaf and promotes this sport to more people with similar physical challenges came out to perform his first half Ironman distance race. Last but not least we had The Bike Boutique crew with race mechanics Jason Tan and Peng Kah Lau and our TBB promo team with Grace Tow and me. Wow, 1 year ago we supported this same race with just 3 people, no pro team, no social development riders and a lot less TBB staff.

At the race EXPO we all worked on our TBB booth that provided free bike mechanic services to all the race participants. Coaches, pro athletes and TBB staff explained to interested people about our teamTBB training camps in Thailand, about bike fitting and advised on people’s current bike set up, provided nutrition tips for the race and sold last minute products. The booth was a place where the newbie’s, pros and many in between athletes came together and where people with a passion for triathlon were connected to each other. Hmm, I started to think, this starts to look quite close to what one of my dreams I had 16 months ago… “Connecting like minded people to a healthy life style and each other”…

The race was on and with some great results all around for our team, with Luke finishing in 2nd place and Mat in 6th part of the pro race field.

In the age group results our folks dominated with 1st place for Scott in the male 40 – 49 age group, AJ finishing 1st in the male 19 – 29 category and Alice who finished women overall 1st position. Not to forget our Grace putting in a PB for her 21km run and Peng Kah having a great race.

Terrence did a great race and while being a little tired at the end of it, he finished it!! Meeting him a couple of hundred meters away from the finish on the run, to support this last stretch to the finish line is something I treasure very much.

My dream has never been to just build a big business or saving the environment or to run a team of wonderful pros. No, my dream would never be complete without the involvement of people such as Terrence a fully hearing impaired person showing so much will
Power and Passion to perform in triathlon races and overcome the challenges that life provides us. Terrence, you did a great job and you are an inspiration to me and many other people around you!

I hope teamTBB and The Bike Boutique can help many more children and kids in Asia to be able to live their dream in sports and to provide hope and opportunity to those in need.

Finishing it off with serving hundred’s of race participants with ice and sport beans to help them finish the race and their personal challenge, was again amazing. It’s a blessing to be able to see the gratitude people show for a little support while they are suffering in their own race.

Along that little road in Malaysia in the late afternoon of the 18th of August I experienced a moment of total happiness. Many little pieces of a dream started to flash by and suddenly I realized a dream, that some people told me was not realistic and way too big, was happening in front of my own eyes…

Life is beautiful!

Thank you Terrence, Scott, Alice, AJ, Grace, Jason, Peng Kah, Luke and Mat for your great support!!

PS. While the above beautiful experience was happing in Malaysia, at the other end of the world, teamTBB athletes won the IM UK (Bella), Stephen and Hillary finished 2nd in IM UK, and AJ and Nicola finished both 2nd in the Geneva International Triathlon.

Can one ask for more in one weekend? I don’t think so!

After a few months of discussing details, a great bike partnership has been formed between Cervélo and teamTBB in July. A signing ceremony and photo shoot was being planned in our Europe training camp Leysin, so that was a good reason to catch a plane and fly to Europe. Hereby my Europe summer report.

Ironman Austria
To take the full benefit from this trip to Europe, I decided to join our teamTBB athletes Rebecca Preston and Hillary Biscay to visit the Ironman Austria in Klagenfurt.

Having lived in Asia for more then 12 years, I have to admit it was going to be my first time to watch an Ironman race in Europe and boy was I impressed! In many ways this was a wonderful race to watch with >2,200 participants, a great EXPO with many retailers, a wide variety of sponsors, huge amounts of passionate volunteers, massive media coverage with at least 4 choppers in the air and a big TV crew on the ground. After this race experience I can only say “Asia as quite some catching up to do, but the beauty of it is we are in an area of the world where triathlon still has so much growth potential and space to become more professional.” The fact there were more then 10,000 spectators out there in the small town of Klagenfurt to support the participants all day long shows this sport has so much potential for both participants and sponsors!

The finish line was a great party with probably 3,000 spectators screaming the athletes across the finish line. What a passion, what a support in the heath and sun, a wonderful experience.

After defending her title successfully for the Ironman Switzerland 2 weeks prior to thia race, our teamTBB Rebecca Preston was impressive again to finish this race in 3rd position. She looked great and strong all day long, had some mechanical problems during the bike ride with one of her brake shoes touching the wheel which she only found that out after 90km. Hillary was having more of a training session, but doing a training session and still coming in 6th position, amazing!

Leysin Switzerland
On an altitude of 1,500 meters Leysin, a little town in the Swiss Alps, is an ideal training camp of teamTBB. It has a high number of average days of sun a year, a good indoor swimming pool, an amazing amount of running trails across the mountains, a 400 meter running track at just 12km away and of course the hundred ways’s of inflicting pain on your own legs and body in riding your bike across mountains. Very little flat roads available and I now start to understand so much better when Reinaldo asked for much more hills during last December’s race in Phuket. Where most age groupers find the first 15km of that bike ride pretty tough, he had hoped for similar ‘little hills’ for another 40km. He had just trained for 3 months in Leysin, so that explains.

If the USA has Boulder, then Europe has Leysin as a great base for triathlon training. TeamTBB will be working together with Alain Caclard, Director of the Sport Centres of Leysin to develop Leysin into a great destination for triathlon in Europe. teamTBB will definitely provide an amazing array of training camps, cycling tours and race tours for both age groupers and pro’s to its training base in Leysin from June till September 2008. Check out our website for more details over the coming months.

Partnership deal between Cervelo and teamTBB
After the idea was launched of a partnership between Cervelo and teamTBB during the Taipei Cycle show in April this year, things went pretty quickly to form a 2 year partnership. So once all details were agreed Gerard Vroomen of Cervelo and myself agreed it would be great to meet when the first framesets would have arrived in our training camp and to introduce our athletes to Gerard and vice versa.

Over a relaxed cup of coffee and sandwiches in the early morning the partnership agreement was signed and we had some good discussions among athletes and Gerard about the Cervelo bikes and industry developments. It was then of for a little photo shoot on the new bikes.

What is a good way for a photographer or film crew to perform this job from? Of course: the cute little Swatch car from Gerard who was quick enough to take half the roof of his car to enable the tall camera man to perform his duty.

This partnership deal has a great potential as its one of the first of its kind in the sport of triathlon. Normally triathletes themselves ask for sponsorships directly to the sports companies or other corporates to sponsor them on an individual basis. This partnership between teamTBB and Cervelo however is a ’team deal’. Every full time pro athlete of teamTBB receives 1 or 2 top-of-line frames (depending on type of race performed) from Cervelo during 2007 and 2008. With 14 full time pro athletes on the team at this moment, that is a significant deal for both athletes and Cervelo.

Just in the first 6 weeks alone after this partnership deal has been signed, teamTBB athlelets produced two Ironman wins (Switzerland and UK) and one IM 70.3 (Antwerp). Not a bad start and hopefully to be followed by many more great success in the near future.

We thank Gerard, Phil and the whole Cervelo crew for their support and trust in teamTBB!

Time flies when you are having fun and that’s certainly the case on teamTBB! Our team is now officially 6 months old (or young) and it’s been a great journey. I’m sitting here at home contemplating how much can happen in just 6 months in a world that has been fairly new to me personally.

With 15 years of corporate background I was always happy to put in my own 10 – 12 hours of sports a week and perform an Olympic Distance race every 2 or 3 months. I occasionally read a tri magazine and have always been interested to see how some of the world’s best triathletes eat, train, race and focus on their goals. But in the end I was more interested to use triathlon as a balance in my work life. Working weeks of 70-80 hours were normal, so triathlon provided some sanity.

Then in December 2006 I suddenly got myself and our bike boutique franchise involved in the start of a pro team. There were many good reasons to get involved in the sport of triathlon and a pro team for social reasons, to provide a structure to young people to live their triathlon dream, link the corporate world directly with a sport that needs more funding and finally to provide branding and marketing opportunities for The Bike Boutique franchise.

Now 6 months later I can only report that a lot of things have changed in my life with regards to triathlon.

First and foremost, I totally respect what all the pro tri-athletes out there in the world are doing. The passion for their sport, the will to achieve success or just make a living in this sport in each of these athletes is unbelievable strong, I love that! From just observing our own teamTBB athletes and other pro’s at races, one can quickly notice that if an athlete does not have that 150% commitment every day of the week and focus their mind and body on training, quality eating and full out racing, you are just finished in a matter of months.

Another observation has been that while the sport of triathlon is gaining great popularity around the world, the level of professionalism of the sport itself, sponsors and organizations involved still has a long way to go. Race organizers who stop pro athletes from ‘their’ race because of competitive business motives are of course unbelievable to comprehend. Athlete managers who, against knowing what would be the absolute best for their athlete, still push through their own commercial agenda’s. Race organizers who nicely advertise what prize money the pro’s can win at their races but in the end just don’t pay the money to those athletes who did win. Examples enough which show that this sport is still in a “cowboy stage” where both athletes, race organizers, sponsors are trying to get what’s best for them. In a few years time I hope that teamTBB can proof that a well organized team can deliver sustainable results and more important establish a unique culture that supports the athletes and the next generation of athletes.

After 6 months teamTBB is about to announce (July 2007) some great new sponsorships for our team. Sponsorships are of course crucial to ensure that a team like this is financially viable and more important that we can hopefull increase the income of our pro athletes to a level where there are some savings at the end of each year. We have found some great companies that totally believe in the mission that teamTBB is out to achieve and they are providing the team with great products and performance bonusses. Triathlon compared to other sports such as golf, tennis, soccer or even road cycling hardly provides a stable and reasonable income for the pro tri-athletes. With all the travel and accommodation cost that is involved my guess is that 90% of all pro tri-athletes will just or not even cover all their cost at the end of the year let alone keep some savings for the future. That measured against the effort and very long hours that goes into being a pro tri-athlete is of course a harsh reality. Salaries or prize money for pro tri-athletes will only go up if the sport gains increased TV and media coverage, obtains higher sponsor income and governments who start taking this sport more serious. If a golf tournament where 50 pro’s attend and 800 people visit and watch the game without any TV coverage can obtain a US$1.5 million dollar budget, then there should be so much more opportunities for triathlon! This requires of course an integrated effort from many parties and that is not one of the strong points I have seen so far in this sport.

So for now, as teamTBB management, we are trying to bridge that gap by getting more of the corporate world and media directly involved in the sport of triathlon and involve young children in the sport and show them a way to live there passion to the fullest. There must be a way to make life better and decrease the income gap with other sports a little…

Now six month into the year, teamTBB athletes have delivered some fantastic athletic results over the past 6 months. This is not the right place to repeat all of those great results, but if last weekend (23/24 June) was anything to go by then we are in for a lot more great stuff later this year and during 2008. Belinda’s Granger 3rd place in Ironman Roth with her best ever time of 9hrs and 07mins was an unbelievable achievement. Luke Dragstra slashed 13 mins of his best time and completed Roth in 8hrs 24mins and that time ‘only’ gives you an 8th placing.… Rebecca’s win in Switzerland was teamTBB’s first WTC Ironman win of the season and she delivered such a great fight out there! Stephen Bayliss’s 3rd place and bronze medal in the ITU European Long Course Championship was another great display of the form that he is in. Reinaldo Colucci’s 5th place in the ITU world cup in Edmonton was again a great display of the Lion heart this young fellow has. With this great achievement, he moved to the 13th place in the ITU World Ranking. Our new team member Chrissie Wellington who turned pro only a few months ago won the VW-Circuit Olympic Distance Triathlon in Switzerland. She keeps winning nearly every race she enters and is an athlete to watch for the near future! And last but not least a great performance from Ben Sanson in San Sebastian with a 3rd place. Ben will for sure surprise some of the younger athletes in 2nd half of this year.

I thank all of our teamTBB athletes for these great results, because let’s be honest as a professional team these results will impress the sponsors we have found so far and the many that are still to come. And that in return will make teamTBB a very desirable team to be part of.

Our squad currently trains in Leysin Switzerland to prepare for part II of 2007 with many more exciting races to come. From August onwards Thailand will then again become our home until early December when we break for Christmas. The first 6 months of 2007 was the time to build the foundation of our team, the next 6 months should show us the results in terms of sponsorships, new young and high potential athletes joining our team, an increased activity in our social projects. All this will enable us to enter very strong into 2008 and keep expanding the structure and impact of teamTBB in the world of triathlon.

Life is beautiful and I thank every person, company and organization that has been involved in our team’s success to date!

Alex

The first tests were performed by teamTBB pro athletes Lizzy Hessing and Sam Renouf on the beach of Bintan (Indonesia). The look and feel was quite stunning from the very first moment. The actual suit design has worked out well and from these first couple of photos’ we think you will probably agree these suits are difficult to miss in the pack….

Lizzy Hessing happy with her new racekit!

Sam and Lizzy giving the suits there first water test

There were of course the little things like loose stitches, slightly too tight fit here and too loose there, so these things will be addressed by the design team over the next few weeks.

Besides our pro athletes, it’s also important to ensure these race kits fit age groupers very comfortably, so we had some of them test these race kits during the same weekend.

Agegrouper Jacqui Whyatte who was very happy with the fit and look of the new suit and was hoping not to return this suit, since it just fitted her great.

Happy camper and good friend John Murrel

Some of suits were then flown into Leysin (Switzerland) last week where a few more of our teamTBB pro athletes will put the suits through some last rigorous tests. All feedback from coaching staff and athletes will then be consolidated and discussed with the design team and manufacturer in Taiwan and the the final necessary changes will be made before we start a full production of this race kit.

The good news for age groupers is that exactly the same suits used by our teamTBB pro’s will also be available for sale in The Bike Boutique stores and online.

Finally a breath of fresh air at the start line of races on beaches across Asia. We no longer need to be afraid of this wonderful colour pink…

We welcome today a new member to the teamTBB squad, Maxine Seear.

Maxine is Australian and 22 years young and has already made quite an impact as a young athlete in the sport of triathlon with results such as her ITU World Cup win in Ishigaki in 2004, 3rd place in the ITU Mazatlan World Cup and she attended the Olypic games in Athens in 2004.

Maxine has always been involved in sports whether active horse riding in her earlier years after which she moved to swimming to finally start triathlon in 2002.

Maxine dreams of attending (and of course winning…) any of the Olympics taking place over the next 8 years. She will start training with the squad on the 1st of June in Leysin and we hope this team environment will suit Maxine and lead to achieving the athletic goals set together with coaching staff.

We wish Maxine a great time ahead part of teamTBB on behalf of the team management and all her fellow squad members!

On Monday night the 21st of May a small team of representatives of teamTBB management visited the public pool in Phang Nga (Thailand), close to our pro teamTBB camp accommodation. This is the same pool where our team trains while in Thailand.

The purpose of the trip was to kick start our first little social sport development project and present the local swim coach with a donation of new swimming gear for his club including swim fans, swim boards and buoys. The total donation was around US$350 worth of swimming equipment, but will enable quite a few kids to enjoy some new training gear.

From our own observations at our training sessions at the same pool, the existing gear was very old and in a bad state, so a little upgrade would not harm and provides that little extra inspiration.

The local swim school has around 50 – 60 kids in the age category of 6 to 15 years old and their swimming technique in general is of a very reasonable level. The group of kids in the age group of 6 – 12 years forms the biggest par (>80%) and definately shows some good potential future talents.

But with 80% of the kids in this lower age group, a challenge hides for Thai children who want to continue swimming on a competitive level beyond the age of 14 years. While some of these children definitely do have the ambition and dream to go to a national or even international level, but the call of duty to earn money for their families simply does not enable enough children to pursue their dream. As a result, the age group of 15 year olds swimmers contains no more than 5 – 6 children and this is probably some indication of the root cause of why we do not see more Thai national swimmers or triathletes breaking through at international levels. The lack of structure, talent identification process, support for the families and long term talent development programs simply provides no foundation for long term success.

The new swimming gear presented today is paid for by some of our team’s professional athletes who pay monthly coaching fees into a social fund. teamTBB’s Nicola Spirig training fees donated to the teamTBB social funds made it possible to present this useful donation today, thanks Nicola on behalf of many excited Thai kids!

But a donation only is not where this project will stop!

We have discussed with local community people and swim coaching staff that teamTBB coaches will start working with the local coaching staff from August 2007 onwards to start developing a simple talent development program. This would enable some of the talented local swimmers and triathletes in the age group of 14 – 16 year to become a sponsored teamTBB athlete but still continue to be trained by their own local coach. This local coach will be trained by our teamTBB world class coaching staff. This so called “train the trainer program” is all about knowledge transfer and empowering the local community. We also want to ensure we can break the current challenge where the children above 15 years old need to support their families financially. teamTBB will therefore start providing these young athletes with monthly support including accommodation, food, coaching, schooling and some cash to donate to their families for support in their living. These families in return can then allow their children to live their passion and potentially become a professional athlete.

Its just a small step in the right direction, but an extremely important one, as this is the essence of what the teamTBB vision is all about! teamTBB wants to become a magnet for rising talent in Asia and all first steps are small and tough, but they are worth it.

In August 2007 we will have selected a first group of 14 – 16 years old mainly with Thai nationality initially who want to (and are deemed suited) for the teamTBB development squad.

Life can be magical when one has the luxury to be part at grass root level of a small social program that can poentially make a huge difference in the live of young children.

Till next week!