Fly V Australia gets dunked in the name of team-work

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For some it’s a simple training ride, while others take part in some beach volleyball, but Fly V Australia’s riders were intrigued when they showed up at the local swimming pool on the Gold Coast, Australia for their team building exercise. The Australian Continental team recruited the help of Careflight, a helicopter rescue service, to train its riders and staff to work well together under pressure during its team camp this week.

The team took part in a simulated helicopter rollover, in which they had to pull one another out of the helicopter while upside down, and underwater. Making matters even more challenging, once they had successfully completed the exercise it had to be completed again, only this time blindfolded.

It wasn’t only the riders that took part in the teamwork under pressure training; team owner Chris White was joined by sport director Henk Vogels and other staff members during the session. White expects the exercise will help the riders communicate easier and more accurately in races where they’re not allowed to use race radios this year.

“The aim of the day was to develop team work further and see how the boys operated under increasing pressure,” said White. “The day was a huge success and is a further step forward for us as we head towards a world that does not include race radios and will place heightened pressure on communications and team work.”

The team has been training on the Gold Coast all week, with the riders getting out on the bike on both Wednesday and Thursday. In addition to planning individual racing rosters and team building exercises, the riders have been briefed on performance monitoring by Training Peaks’ Dirk Friel.