... Probably branded "Sky" also...

emadden

i.e. the bed mattresses that team Sky bring with them to each hotel they stay in.... getting a bit OTT in my opinion... :shock: :shock:

http://teamsky.cyclingnews.com/tech-fea ... -the-giro/


(BTW Im not a Sky basher...)

afx237vi

Wait a minute... Sky were in the Giro?!

ermintrude

Have you not heard of 'Marginal Gains' !!

RichN95.

Sky aren't the only ones who do this. Quick Step and Rabobank certainly do too.

Rest and a good night's sleep is important and some of the hotels they stay in can be pretty ropey.

bazbadger

Sounds extreme, but makes sense really. A good nights sleep is vital.

dougzz

I'd take my own mattress if I had a truck full of flunkies working for me, have you never read or seen of of those pieces about hotel bedding?

LangerDan

dougzz wrote:

I'd take my own mattress if I had a truck full of flunkies working for me, have you never read or seen of of those pieces about hotel bedding?

As opposed to the state of the Sky mattresses after a season of sweat, embrocation, flatus and who knows what else from months of living a "monastic" life?

dougzz

LangerDan wrote:

dougzz wrote:

I'd take my own mattress if I had a truck full of flunkies working for me, have you never read or seen of of those pieces about hotel bedding?

As opposed to the state of the Sky mattresses after a season of sweat, embrocation, flatus and who knows what else from months of living a "monastic" life?

Get a giant black marker and write your name on it, your own sweat and filth is so much nicer

edhornby

all the jerseys have their name down the side, I'd bet the matresses do as well :-)

MrTapir

RichN95 wrote:

Sky aren't the only ones who do this. Quick Step and Rabobank certainly do too.

Rest and a good night's sleep is important and some of the hotels they stay in can be pretty ropey.

When I was in Brugge I saw a big poster advert for Innergetic where a few oif the quickstep riders were lying on each other pretending to sleep, it was quite funny and a bit surreal. It was like this one but i think they were actually lying down on a mattress

rick_chasey

Quick-Step Innergetic:

DavMartinR

ermintrude wrote:

Have you not heard of 'Marginal Gains' !!

Is that a skin disease caught from dirty mattresses??

afx237vi

Another Innergetic ad - the mattress makes the difference!

Pross

It's not new, they did it last season and I think a few others followed suit. It takes me days to get used to sleeping on a different mattress and I reckon it is one of the marginal gain things that really was sensible.

Tom Butcher

I can't help but think this kind of thing is at best a waste of money - if the hotels are that ropey then spend a bit more on booking a decent one. Marginal gains my ar se - given the money they have they've underperformed even with the Dauphine.

andyp

The race organisers book and assign the hotels, not the teams.

Tom Butcher

Well I'm sure they can't be that bad - next you'll be telling me they don't have to wash their own kit out in the sink of an evening.

RichN95.

Tom Butcher wrote:

Well I'm sure they can't be that bad - next you'll be telling me they don't have to wash their own kit out in the sink of an evening.

They don't even repair their punctures. A new tube - everytime. Can you believe the decadence?

dougzz

I think they are quite often Camponile type quality. Don't forget that often the Tour is in a fairly small place, and can you imagine how many rooms they need for all the teams, and all the race staff. It must be several hundred.

I think the team trucks they have include washing machines, I'm sure I saw that on a documentary, I don't think they have much reliance on the hotels at all.

cogidubnus

From what I have heard they allocate 1 hotel to a couple of teams. One night you might get a nice one and the next a **** tip so I don't blame them for taking their own beds and creature comforts

Gingerflash

A waste of money? One matress per rider isn't a lot really and I agree that teams do often have to stay in grotty hotels, not because the teams choose 1 star over 5, but because they're in a remote place without much in the way of swanky hotels.

A bad night in an uincomfortable bed wouldn't be conducive to a top performance in a 6 hour bike race the next day.

I love that photo of Pineau and Chavannel.

symo

Tom Butcher wrote:

I can't help but think this kind of thing is at best a waste of money - if the hotels are that ropey then spend a bit more on booking a decent one. Marginal gains my ar se - given the money they have they've underperformed even with the Dauphine.

What by winning it? They screwed up there for sure.

gsk82

bazbadger wrote:

Sounds extreme, but makes sense really. A good nights sleep is vital.

it doesn't sound extreme. what it did sound liek though was a lame excuse for some anti british team brit to slag off sky.

smithy21

I hear the matresses are being painted green for the Tour.

JamieRa

smithy21 wrote:

I hear the matresses are being painted green for the Tour.

me too!

RichN95.

Talking of pokey, rubbish hotels. This is Sky's designated hotel for the first few days (via Inner Ring twitter):

http://twitpic.com/5fjr7h/full

That's not a Travel Lodge

Monty Zoncolan

Gingerflash wrote:

A waste of money? One matress per rider isn't a lot really and I agree that teams do often have to stay in grotty hotels, not because the teams choose 1 star over 5, but because they're in a remote place without much in the way of swanky hotels.

A bad night in an uincomfortable bed wouldn't be conducive to a top performance in a 6 hour bike race the next day.

I love that photo of Pineau and Chavannel.

Don't the teams get allocated hotels by the organisers as well - so they get what they're given in that respect.

cougie

They were definitely doing this last year too. Makes sense to me - cost is minimal and as has been said - the tour organisers allocate their lodgings. Some will be lovely - and others a bit crap.
Paris has the worst hotels of all the places I've been to anyway.

dulldave

It's not about the quality of beds in hotels it's about getting to sleep on the same mattress every night. Even a good bed takes me a bit of getting used to. If that means you get to sleep 30 minutes quicker every night then that's over 10 hours more sleep than you would have otherwise gotten over the course of the Tour.

I'm not one for Sky's PowerPoint briefings before stages and whatnot but this makes total sense to me.

jibberjim

Where better to hide the blood bags?