Wanted: Swiss Nanny

Hup is desperately seeking a nanny to watch over our devo squadra this fall/winter. Job requirements include a fluency in either Flemish or French and the ability to teach said language to our young charges. You will need to be able to operate efficiently in the field, ie literally in the fields of Vt, NH, Mass and Rhode Island. Weekends are mandatory. Candidates with an aversion to mud, rain, snow, vomiting or crying need not apply. Knowledge of the Belgian handshake and/or the Belgian method of gluing expensive french tubulars onto carbon rims a plus.

Knowing the difference between chamois creme and desitin critical and having both in your messenger bag at all times a must. Responsibilities include maintaining a secure perimiter around the Hup tailgater. No one comes in or out without your knowledge. Use of the buddy system may be acceptable with our 9+ devo squad members assuming there is a secured playset or we are at Putney were all rules go out the window its Vermont for god sake nothing can go wrong up there they are a bunch of hippes. Gameboys, Iphones, google phones, paging, texting, tweeting and all other distractions including Vogue magazine, The Twilight series and Kindles are strictly forbidden. What you do monday-Friday is your concern. Sat am -Sunday evening all eyes and ears will need to be focused on our little darlings so we can race cross worry free.

All kidding aside Hup is in the midst of a baby boom! Congrats to all my brothers and sisters out there who are either pregnant or have recently given birth. I've been there. Times two. And it is an amazing time in your lives. Kids are the greatest gift in our lives. I know what most of you are thinking--the 2010 cross season is ovah! Kaput. Done. No my friends not at all. Cross is the perfect sport for a family. Seriously. Yes you may have to scrap your plans of Rapha style epics as that is decidedly not family friendly. Nor is road racing. Mtn bike racing probably isn't either. But your loss is crosses gain. Think about it. You'll be fresh. Sleep deprivation will build character. All the things you used to obsess about before a cross race will seem trivial. And frankly that hr you are racing you will bring some old man power to bear that people have never seen in you before.

Cross is all about being specific anyway. You don't need big miles and 20 hour weeks to be good at cross. I'll take 6 hrs of laser focused training over mega miles any day. All you need is short and sharp and some serious desire to bring the pain. I remember when we had our first daughter nine years ago. My Sycip teammates signed me up for 24 hrs of laguna seca as kind of a joke. The joke being I hadn't ridden with them all season and they assumed I would crack and be their support crew. Haha the joke was on them. I broke it down. Ok what do you need to be good at a 24 hr race? A total lack or need or a want of sleep. Check. I had that in spades. Once you have been woken up every two hours to feed an infant (or help feed an infant) it toughens you up.

Frankly you begin to realize maybe you didn't need all that sleep you were getting before. Ok so I had the ability to basically stay up for a solid 24 hrs. The next business was the riding. I knew long rides were out. But like cross a team 24 hr race is a sprint event. You do one 1 hour lap every 4 hours. Great Zoe became a bit of a kitchen timer to when I needed to ride. After helping out with Zoe I would hop on the trainer for an hour. Did that 4-5 times a day. It was hilarious. My teammates cracked so hard it was ridiculous. The wheels fell off the wagon around 2 am. They say that if you want to do a surprise attack in a war that is the time to do it. People's biorythyms just natural tap out at that time of night. Two teammates dropped out saying they were too tired. Too tired? Are you kidding me I thought I hadn't slept in about 3 weeks at that point.
By the morning it was down to three of us from the original 5. I had literally had no sleep the entire night helping our one solo rider with food and kit. I also helped Jay Sycip cook up his infamous tequila Chili! That experience was such a wake up call and an affirmation that you know what kids are awesome. They don't slow you down at all. You just have to train smart. Cross is all about training smart. But have no fear. Us old guys are plotting already. Yes I may have to cave and import a Swiss nanny, or in a bind maybe Dutch nanny but definitely not Austrian, Australian or French nanny that just never ends well....

Congrats to all my Hup teammates far and wide with new families! We've got you covered and are already plotting and scheming to make 2010 awesome. Bring the kids to the race, we'll set up shop in the tent or perhaps we'll get an airstream camper and have a traveling Hup daycare service for cross racers. Come to think of it we could make some serious cash money with this ponzi scheme. Forget the racing in 2010, next year we offer child care and Belgian waffles and coffee at all the Verge races we'll be rolling in cash money!