Press officer Sean Weide is an integral part of the BMC Racing Team’s operations. In addition to speaking with the media, one of his duties is to lead the team riders through the crowds between the team bus and the start line.
During Saturday’s stage from Livermore to Mount Diablo, Weide was on his official BMC team lifestyle bike, the BMC urbanchallenge with Gates Carbon Drive. The start of a pro race is a mad house. Weide weaved through the crowd, parting the spectators to give his racers a path to the start. Then he raced back to the team car and threw his bike on the roof for the drive to Mount Diablo to await the torturous uphill finish, where he would again jump on the bike to gather his riders for post-race interviews.
Weide loves his bike because it is virtually maintenance free, allowing him to get his important work done without worry or delay. Gates is a proud sponsor of the BMC Racing Team, and we are pleased to provide Weide and other integral staff and management with the fastest belt drive commuter bikes.
Congratulations to BMC and rider Tejay van Garderen for their victories in the Team and Overall categories in the Amgen Tour of California.
The Amgen Tour of California is in full swing and Gates Carbon Drive is in the house and behind the scenes as the official Lifestyle Bike provider for BMC Racing Team. In the video below, BMC Racing press officer Sean Weide poses for race photographers with his BMC urbanchallenge before leading out the team before a training ride.
Weide, below, says he needs the Carbon Drive to keep up with his team! We’re not sure about that but the bike is certainly one of the fastest commuter bikes around.
Check out more images in the team’s photo gallery from the Tour of California.
Bella is an Italian greyhound who likes to go for bike rides. Her favorite bike is the BMC masschallenge owned by Jim Ochowicz, the president and general manager of BMC Racing Team. Jim’s daughter Elli is pictured above taking Bella for a spin. Elli, Bella and the Ochowicz family members all use the bike for running errands and pedaling to their favorite lunch spots. House guests also use it to get in a workout while visiting. But the favorite use is for taking Bella out for some fresh air.
Gates Carbon Drive is an official supplier of the BMC Racing Team and provides the squad with BMC Lifestyle bikes featuring Gates Carbon Drive. The BMC Racing Team is the only UCI pro tour team with an official lifestyle/commuter bike. Bella is the only dog with an official lifestyle bike.
If you’ve got a little pooch you’d like to put in the panniers, check out the BMC urbanchallenge below. This is the same bike that the BMC Racing Team has on all its team trucks. Bella says you’ll love it.
BMC Racing Team riders and staff members have a secret weapon for quickly navigating race venues and running errands while on the UCI WorldTour: BMC urbanchallenge commuter bikes. These speedy and practical bikes are ideal for a busy race team because they feature a low-maintenance belt drive instead of a chain.
“The BMC urbanchallenges are fantastic because you can just hop on and go without having to worry about cleaning or lubing a chain,” says Kate Ochowicz, marketing director for the BMC Racing Team.
The BMC Racing Team rides these fashionable and speedy belt drive bikes thanks to a partnership with Gates Corporation, maker of the Gates Carbon Drive system for bicycles. Gates is an official supplier of the BMC Racing Team and supplies the squad with BMC Lifestyle bikes featuring Gates Carbon Drive. The BMC Racing Team is the only UCI pro tour team with an official lifestyle/commuter bike.
BMC urbanchallenges will be on BMC Racing Team trucks in Europe and the United States for the second straight season. Team racers getting new bikes in 2013 include Tejay van Garderen and Marco Pinotti, along with staff members including mechanics, communications and marketing and management executives.
“This partnership with BMC Racing Team is great for Gates Carbon Drive because it exposes our technology to a large audience of racing fans who may be seeking commuter bikes for their daily life,” says Greg Vigil, VP of Marketing for Gates. “We hope that when race fans and road cyclists shop for a commuter bike they will consider the low-maintenance and clean advantages of Carbon Drive and purchase a BMC urbanchallenge.”
“We ride the fastest racing bikes, so it is appropriate that we also have the coolest commuter bikes on the UCI WorldTour,” says BMC Racing Team President/General Manager Jim Ochowicz. “Gates Carbon Drive fits perfectly with BMC’s image of precision Swiss engineering and high performance.”
Attractive, fast and light, the BMC urbanchallenge, also known as the UC01, features a lightweight iSC alloy frame, carbon fork, disc brakes, internally geared hub, fenders, lights and Gates Carbon Drive. The bike comes in an 11-speed and eight-speed version. The BMC urbanchallenge is the showpiece of BMC’s Lifestyle line, launched with the goal of producing the most advanced and appealing transportation bikes. For more information visit www.bmc-switzerland.com and click on “Lifestyle” under the bikes icon.
When the editors at Road Bike Action Magazine spotted the new BMC MC01 at the Sea Otter Classic earlier this year, they instantly recognized that it was a special bike. We got ‘em one to test ride and the result is a story in the September issue, which features the Masschallenge as the magazine’s Bike of the Month. The Masschallenge, one of the new BMC urban bikes that features Gates Carbon Drive, is a “halo” bike intended for serious cyclists and roadies who want the fastest, coolest singlespeed for tooling around on city streets when not training on their BMC road bike.
The bike’s cockpit is all Easton–EC90SL stem, EC90XC flat bars, and EC90 Offset seatpost, along with feather-light EC90XC 29-inch wheels. Pictured below, the Masschallenge is part of Gates Corporation’s sponsorship of the BMC Racing Team. Cadel Evans, George Hincapie and other members of the team have this same bike for use at home. A limited quantity of these bikes is available for sale in North America. If you’re a serious BMC fan who wants the lightest, raciest city bike out there, you’ve got to get one. For cyclists who want a more affordable commuter option with gears, check out the Urbanchallenge UC01 Alfine 11, which Wired called “a bike for Ninjas.”
Pick up a copy of the new issue of Road Bike Action to learn more
