 Gord Fraser, is a renowned figure in the cycling world and currently serves as an Assistant Sports Director for Project Echelon Racing. With a career spanning over two decades, Fraser brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the team. As a former professional cyclist, he specialized in sprinting and amassed over 200 career wins, including the 2004 Canadian national road race championship. His role at Project Echelon involves mentoring and guiding the team's riders, leveraging his extensive knowledge to help them achieve their best performances. Fraser's illustrious career and his commitment to fostering new talent make him an invaluable asset to Project Echelon Racing. Our team’s Dave Barr sat with Fraser to get a download on the offseason and what he is looking forward to most in 2025. DB: Gord, we are a little more than a month away from heading to Spain and competing to begin the 2025 season. Talk about Project Echelon’s offseason. GF: Most part the guys are pretty much self-contained in terms of their preparation. They all source their own coaches. I know Isaiah's been coaching a few of the guys, and occasionally, Ethan Craine had some questions, and I was giving him advice on what direction he needed to focus on in the offseason, and I'm there for any of the guys that seek that alternative viewpoint. But no, we trust the riders are on their own getting the work done. Obviously, most of them have come off probably their biggest year in terms of race days, difficulty of races, that type of thing. Surely, they needed a fairly long adaptation period to recover and to set the course for their preparation. So, I'm sure they're all in a deep phase of preparation. And then of course as the season gets closer, a bit more specialization before Mallorca. DB: Last season, guys like Tyler Stites, Scott McGill and Sam Boardman to name a few, got a lot of the press because of winning stages, winning races, all those things lend themselves to being successful. But as a team, it takes more than one to win a race. Last season, this team really matured and really came together for that one push every single time out. GF: In the States, we’re a big team and the favorites in many of the races. Tyler kind cleaned up on the usual races, the Redlands and the Gila and those type of races, that's kind of to be expected and a lot of the resources from the guys have to go into that to effort. In Europe it's a little different because we're the smaller team and we're looking for more opportunities. I think the one thing that I think everybody can agree on is the level is quite high and everyone needs to up their game and to be very competitive in more selective races. What the team did really well last year was maximizing opportunities. We were probably in every day long break, and that's where the guys saw opportunity and for some it paid off like Hugo's (Scala) win in Portugal. DB: How does last season’s success translate to 2025? So many learnings from a historically successful campaign. GF: Absolutely. Not only just knowing the courses (in North America and Europe), the physical demands, but knowing the competition, the other teams and also understanding the demands off the bike, the type of travel, those kind of obscure kind of demands that we don't often think about. They're already prepared for that mentally. So yeah, I think there's a lot of things pointing in the direction of progression for us, but ultimately, it's up to the guys. We can provide them the opportunity, but they're the ones that have to put in the work and progress and seize more opportunities in the races themselves. DB: One of the really interesting storylines going into the 2025 cycling season is rider's weights and the speed in which cyclists are navigating the circuits, whether it's Europe or here domestically in the United States. It's really interesting how supermen have really developed and they're probably lighter in the saddle than they ever have been. GF: I think with the data and what's available online – there aren’t a lot of secrets anymore. I think everyone knows after five hours of racing they need to do X amount of watts per kilo to make selection in a hilly race. So, they have that advantage. It's right there in black and white and they just have to work hard until they approach that or even reach it and surpass it in their training. So, there's not that many excuses. I mean, it's literally the work that has to be done, and of course it needs a little bit of talent and a little bit of luck as well. So hopefully the guys have buckled down, they've charted a good pathway with their coaches, and we will show up ready to go. We expect them to make pretty big strides for next year. DB: You have raced at the highest levels that the sport gives. You have managed and coached and worked with equally as talented riders. Talk about your input and how you can positively affect a race. Is it in strategy? In advice? Is it mental counseling, physical counseling? There are a lot of things that go into what you do. GF: Oh, I don't know. I mean, I like to think that I'm super organized on the field of play, not only with the riders, but the staff with the mechanics and the therapists being orderly and having a good plan, both schedule and tactics-wise. Both are very important. Having high expectations and putting the right amount of pressure on the riders to perform and giving that along with accountability is essential. Then also giving them confidence and believe in them and having them want to perform. That's really, I think the keys of my style of directing and being passionate. I love what I do, and I remind the guys from time to time that I would do anything to turn back the clock 20 or 30 years and be in their shoes again and just how lucky they are to embark on a potential career in cycling. So yeah, I really enjoy the sport and I'm passionate about it and hopefully that rubs off on the riders. DB: The amazing part about Project Echelon and everything that they do, whether it's the veterans’ programs which are just as important as winning races, helping our veterans to either transition out of the military or physical fitness, mental fitness and health, all those of things - there's not one person from Eric Hill and Eric Beach (co-founders) all the way down to a guy like me that isn't passionate about everything. It's a really special culture, let's use that word, a special culture, a family culture that Project Echelon has developed. GF: It's easy as a professional athlete to recluse themselves into their own little silo, so to speak. It's nice just to be reminded from time to time that the team does have a greater mission statement, and that's to empower the vets and military members to try something new or to use cycling or sport to achieve a healthy lifestyle. It's just a good reminder for the guys that the world doesn't revolve around bike racing. Yes, it's what they're concentrating on and they're trying to further their career in the sport, but in the big picture, it's really just a drop in the ocean and we should be thankful for a lot of things. The guys really appreciate having an outside mission statement of why Project Echelon does what it does as an organization. It is not lost on them. Comments are closed.
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