602nds with Adam Hansen

Jun 27, 2010

602nds recently had the opportunity to chat with Adam Hansen from UCI Pro tour team, Team HTC-Columbia.

Born on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Adam was the Australian National Time Trial Champion in 2008. Adam is affectionally called “Croc Man”, a nickname he was given due to his racing in the tough outback Crocodile Trophy mountain bike race, which he has won two times.

Throughout the previous season, Adam has been dealing with injuries. It seems ‘Lady Luck’ has finally come his way with Adam recently winning the Ster Elektrotoer.

Team HTC-Columbia has very recently announced that he will be riding in his second Tour de France in 2010.

602nds: What is the one race you would like to win before you retire from cycling?
Adam: Australian Road Champs, I’d love to win that.

602nds: What is your personal cycling goal for 2010?
Adam: To be at a great level again, and to do what happened in every year improve. Didn’t really happen in 2009 thou….

602nds: What is your all time cycling moment? (Could be about you or something you have seen)
Adam: Just the feeling being at my best and being in a race and showing it.

602nds: Do you remember your first bike you ever road?
Adam: Yep, saw it 4 days ago in my garage It’s a GT.

602nds: What or who inspired you to get involved in cycling?
Adam: I was a runner and I wanted to do duathlons, so my mother bought me a bike

602nds: Is there a current rider in the peloton that you most respect and why?
Adam: Philippe Gilbert, love how he races. If you not a sprinter, climber or GC rider then you have to do what he does. It’s always exciting to watch.

602nds: Do you think you would be doing for a living if you hadn’t been a pro cyclist?
Adam: Writing software.

602nds: You have been unlucky with injuries the past twelve months, how hard is it to see your team racing at a race that was a major goal for you and   do you avoid watching the race?
Adam: It’s always hard I guess. I don’t avoid watching races. I don’t have a TV so I have no choice but I always see the results on the web.

602nds: Everyone has an opinion on the Footon-Servetto kit, what are your thoughts?   Would you be happy wearing it? (hehehe)
Adam: My thoughts “it would motivate you to try hard at your national championships”.

602nds: The World championships are in Geelong, Australia this year.  Have you looked at the time trial & road courses and who do you think they best suit?
Adam: Hard to say. I have not really looked at it but from what I hear it’s not going to be a pure sprint day.

602nds: During the off-season, what do you do for fun?
Adam: Why does fun only happen in the off season?

602nds: What is the craziest thing that a fan has done on the side of the road whilst racing?
Adam: Well not craziest but in 2008 at the tour, I was in the slow group up the climb and this one guy yelled out, “Hey Adam (while running full gas next to the bunch, so imagine him breathing hard and gasping for air between words) I chat with your sister on facebook”……. thanks mate! Hope that’s all you do!

602nds: If you could spend a week out camping in the Australian Outback, minimal camping gear, with five riders, who would it, be an why?
Adam: Hahaha, you know I could pick 5 guys I really didn’t like. They would just die out there in the OZ outback 52 degrees with minimal camping gear. I did the crocodile trophy a few times and they had trouble surviving that, Euros! After saying that I don’t think it would be right to name 5 riders…..

602nds: You have ridden and won twice the infamous “Crocodile Trophy”, that features 1,200km/12,000m of mountain bike racing over 10 days. How hard is the race and how does it compare to riding in the Tour de France?  Will you ride the race again?
Adam: You’re asking me as I sit in Belgium in the freezing cold raining country. The Croc Trophy is hot, sunny, dry…… very dry. I do hope to be back, I like that race a lot and it starts in my backyard. It is harder; when I was doing it it was much longer and harder. It was 14 days and the stages were also much longer. The TDF is hard in the sense the racing is hard, the Croc is also hard like that, but not so much, but it is far harder mentally. When I did it from Darwin to Cairns, it was really in the middle of nowhere and the heat and openness really brings the worse out in people.

Here are the questions from Nikki Cyp, an Adam Hansen fan from the USA:

Nikki: Do you have any idols that you look up to?  In cycling, or in life?
Adam: In cycling I like Philippe Gilbert, like how he races. In non-cycling life would be my si-fu Martin Cholevík.

Nikki: Many riders like to watch videos while training at home, do you watch any to get through a few hours on the trainer, and if so what are they?
Adam: I like my share of movies…. I watch anything. But I must be entertained by this, by story or special effects. Jumper, Matrix, IP-Man, The Die Hards, Ice age list goes on.

Nikki: Are there any races you likes to watch for motivation?
Adam: Not really, YouTube have some good things but I don’t have a TV.

Nikki: What do you do to unwind and chill out after races?  Music, TV, calls to friends?
Adam: Anything and everything, Movies, friends and making something exciting in my house I always must be busy

602nds would like to thank Adam Hansen for taking the time to chat with us. We are looking forward to seeing how the rest of the cycling season turns out for Adam.

If you would like to stay tuned on what Adam is up to you can checkout his website (currently closed, being updated) http://www.adamhansen.com/

Pictures courtesy of http://www.jxpphotography.com.au/ & Elmar Krings