Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Paul Davi estimates he drove about 27,000 miles in 2007.
Along I-70, Outside of Las Vegas — The races may blend together for Toyota-United Bus Driver Paul Davi. But one thing sticks out from driving mile after mile, week after week, from one end of the country to the other.

“I’ll remember all the times I got to listen to the guys while I was driving and I’d be just laughing my head off,” he said. “That was really the rewarding intangible that I will miss.”

In between the time he spent behind the wheel, cleaning the bus and pumping gas, Davi was living out his dream. He grew up watching the Coors Classic in his hometown of Boulder and followed the Tour de France religiously – even to the point of watching videotapes of the race over and over.

“Even before I got this job, I was a bit of a pro cycling junkie,” Davi said.

So it was quite a “rookie moment” when the team’s riders first stepped on board the bus in February, all decked out in their uniforms and headed for a photo shoot during training camp.

“Not long after we got going, Chris Wherry said, ‘I think you’ve got a bit of a problem.’ I was so new to the bus that I didn’t realize our tanks were full. Some of the gray water tank (the non-waste water) had started coming back up through the shower drain. It was a pretty horrible ride.”

Perhaps less memorable was his task of keeping the 48-foot red, white and blue motor coach clean – inside and out.

“Cleaning was the least glamorous part of the job,” Davi said, “Sometimes I’d be detailing the thing at 11 o’clock at night because that was the only time it was not being used.”

But perhaps his most important task was keeping the refrigerator stocked.

“Ivan Dominguez loves mayo but doesn’t like mustard,” Davi said, recanting a list from memory. “Chris Baldwin has to have the right stuff for his oatmeal and his late-night snacks. And you can’t forget our owner, Sean Tucker. He absolutely has to have regular bread. The rest of the guys prefer baguettes and big crusty loafs. But to keep Sean happy, you had to have sliced, white sandwich bread.”

Davi’s routine was like a lot of the team’s support staff – late to bed, early to rise.

“I’m not really a morning person, but the sport of bike racing seems to be,” he said. “I’d set my alarm to wake up and unlock the door and then try to go back to sleep. But every time someone gets on board, the bus tends to lean a little to one side, so I was pretty much up after that.”

Davi will close out the season the same way it began – tooling down the freeway. Only this time, look for him behind the wheel of a rental car and not the Toyota-United bus.