Team Culture

Having read the article of the new Team Sky, it seems to me that what we are missing in Team Grumpy is a team philosophy. But rather than the 'if you don't like it get off the ship' approach of Team Sky, I see ours as being something less imposed and more evolved organically - in other words a culture (oops, there's that word again).

Obviously, we have our team rules - a sort of 'six-fold path' to mediocrity - but there is a glaring omission from these because no mention is made of our heavy use of pop belge. This, I would suggest, is the focal point of the team culture and something around which we can build the team (where have I heard that expression before?).

Another "garage puncture"

Grumpy Bob just had an abortive turbo session. Regular readers (if there are such beasts out there) may remember a discussion of Grumpy Bob's work-life balance, which ended with the decision to focus training in the morning, prior to leaving for work. In keeping with this strategy, Grumpy Bob ventured out to the garage this morning to do an early morning interval session.

All was going nicely - good warm up to the appropriate HR, the first interval completed, into the second, when the dreaded flopping noise of a punctured rear tyre could be heard (and, what's more, felt since Grumpy Bob was listening to his iPod at the time). A quick repair was effected, but to no avail - the replacement tube had an unrepaired puncture.

At this point Grumpy Bob retired for breakfast and to repair the original tube. It's probably high time he set out to buy some new inner tubes.

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ScribeFire - Firefox add-on for blogging

Grumpy Bob has been rootling about seeking to simplify his blogging procedures. He's tried a nice-looking add-on called Deepest Sender, but finds it won't post to the Team Grumpy blog. The error message it throws isn't too helpful. Instead, he's pinning his hopes on ScribeFire, which seems to be pretty effective.

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Team Grumpy Management Style

Grumpy Bob noticed this story - Team Sky Reveals Recruiting, Management Methods over at cyclingnews.com. In it Dave Brailsford reveals the secrets behind the recruitment and management policies that are hoped to drive Team Sky forward through the coming seasons.

Oh, how different from Team Grumpy! No resume for our Team Manager-cum- Support Car driver: rather Mrs Grumpy was there, had car, no-brainer. No resumes for the two star riders (it's our team). No worries about communication (actually TG email quite a lot, even though the TG blog is quiet off-season).

On a more serious note, Grumpy Bob thinks it would have been wise for Team Sky to avoid trumpeting a successful management style before success!

Not the best winter training diet...

Grumpy Bob has found his winter training schedule has been back on track...until Sunday, when he left for a week-long work trip to the USA. This morning (Monday), he decided that if he was to pay $20 for breakfast, he'd eat a lot. Consquently he's in danger of acquiring a new soubriquet (Fatty Bob?), as he chomped his way through granola and fruit, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sausages and bacon, followed with a banana muffin. Grumpy Bob has also decided he's not keen on cream with his coffee.

He regrets this now, two hours later. But he'll go and explore Sarasota, Florida this afternoon, though the dietary onslaught looks set to continue: we have a dinner appointment this evening.