Perm Tour has yet to begin but, the nineteenth episode of this illustorious tour already begins with a controversy.
  Many teams signed in again to ride this tour from Ochjor to Perm. This four day tour will again pass through the
  western slopes of the middle Ural Mountains.
  But nothing about the beauty of the Ural this season. We are here in Perm where we thought all the riders would stay.
  We are highly surprised that in Perm, in the best hotel in town, we only find one team.
  It is local and, favourite, team of NightmareChaos.
  Manager Finz has put his riders in six suites on a rented floor of the hotel to prepare themselves for this tour.
  As we approach him and ask where the other teams are, he mumbles something about Ochjor and leaves again, followed by his trusted PR manager
  Nikita Kaverin, the former tabletennis champion of the Moscow University. When we try to ask her she replies with a ferm: "No comment."
  
  Ochjor, the town where this tour starts. A town of fourteen thousand souls. This is the town where the other nineteen teams have their residence.
  They are all together in the only building Ochjor has that can hold so many people. The local youth building on the scouting ground.
  Barracks in the style of the famous Soviet Gulag's. This type of buildings made boys into men.
  
  We enter and immediatly we see three managers on the bench infront of the entrance. The two Finnish managers from Faustus and Proxemix are there with
  Sebastian Acosta from Zero Tolerance. When we greet them we notice they do not look happy.
  We ask them why they picked this spot. Faustus manager Mefistophulus bursts out that he did not pick this spot. This spot was assigned to him by the Perm organisation
  to weaken Jaakko Viren, the defending champion. Ash of Proxemix was even harder in his comments. But they were in Finnish and we could only hear: Jelle van Bets cries in his bed every night.
  Zero Tolerance manager said he was after some stage wins. But with this abnormal behaviour he was afraid he would not end the tour with six riders.
  
  When we enter the biggest barrack we are certain to find some of the riders and/or managers that are sheltered here by the organisation.
  What we see surprises us. There are bunkbeds on the side and in the middle there is a big row of wooden benches and tables.
  There we see one of the hot favourites of the race. Dutch superstar Freek van der Werff of Burren Connemara. He is crying and his manager Cillian Cassidy is supporting him.
  His teammates are standing around him and only look and say nothing. They look tired. We think Freek van der Werff will not do good here, and his manager urges us to move away.
  While we turn around we bump into a Fool of The Doomsday Bunnies. Damario Crusellas is furious like a bull from Barcelona that is not allowed into the arena anymore due to the
  banning of any bullfighting. All his life he waited for this chance and then this. Damario has to be calmed down by the Fool we bumped into and he apologized to us about Damario's behaviour
  but blammed it on the way they where treated here and cursed someone we could not understand.
  Ocana manager

Hur heard Damario's screams and rushed over to sing some Spanish lullaby. When he calmed him down he turned around to us and pointed towards Noe Garate.
  Noe Garate, the Spanish tourrider that is always a thread. He was laying there, a sleep, with a red face. Hur explained, Noe is crying for the past three days now.
  His teddybear was taken away from him, the organisation claimed it was not allowed. We wonder if he will perform this tour.
  
  More in the back, where the sunlight has trouble to enter and where your clothes get filled with your own moist and sticks to your body we find the four Dutch teams.
  In this damp environment, next to the latrines, they have their headquarters. Hard Gaat Ie and Oekiewakkie are the teams that we meet first. They look beaten already before the start.
  Hard Gaat Ie manager coldasice stares into the distance thinking, if thinking at all, of better times to come. Zef Sanders is nowhere to be found, we can count him out for this tour.
  Danenberg of Oekiewakkie is furious and he only speaks about Raposo winning every stage and proves the organisation wrong, and winning this tour would be his ultimate revenge.
  Ludovico Raposo however can only speaks Portuguese at the moment despite the fact he is in Dutch duty six seasons and should speak Dutch fluently. We hear the word mamae multiple times.
  
  Cider Riders manager CiderJ was very confident when he brought his team to the Ural. They even supplied their team with matching pink bikes that should fit the jersey he was aiming for.
  When Gervaso Samper saw the pink bikes standing infront of the barracks he wanted to return to his South Spain beach villa. Suddenly he felt cold, lonely, mistaken and judged.
  Pink was his colour but not here, not now, not yet.
  Lots o Huggin Bear is in the complete back. The Libyan team is sitting in the dark and, we only see the pale face of their manager ichti. Mosbah is their man, he finally won his first race,
  but any morale he gained from that was gone when they arrived here. Mosbah will probably finish every stage crying and with saddlepain, supported by his fellow teammates. No chance what so ever.
  Lots o Huggin is needed to forget this misery we believe.
  
  Cremtec moved from Belgium all the way to the Ural with one goal. To show Jude Evans, the rainbow kid. Jude Evans is willing to shine in Perm as never before.
  But Perm is known for the fact there are not many rainbows there. Perm is known for its winds and rain, not for its sun or rainbows. Evans will not shine in this tour. His preparation is not good.
  And his fellow Scandinavian teammates have stomachflu due to the typical Ural diet. Manager Cremtec could not talk to us because he was busy arranging enough toiletpaper for them.
  Kaizzee and Rigana, two English speaking non English teams, where talking to eachother. Kaizzee, the tourvirgin of the two, was praying to what ever god he could think of to keep his starrider safe.
  Pascal Parcalab was sitting in a plastic bubble which reminded us of the great movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble starring John Travolta. No, this weird guy would never be allowed to win in Perm.
  Only real men are allowed to win here. Rigana had other problems. He entered this

tour with Douglas Crawford. The South African sprinting king. But he was gone, this morning his bed was found empty
  and they think he tried to walk home. A local group is out into the forrest to search for him and try to find him before darkness.
  
  Lusitano was also present. The Portuguese outfit was not allowed in the main barrack but was situated next to the outhouse.
  Because it was a bit cold they could stay in the main barrack for a while. Elvio Aguiar is the captain of this team and a great contender in any race he enters.
  Tiago Grego however thinks now, he is punished for a crime he already payed for. The outhouse is a very bad place to stay next to and he fears that this will not only cost his tour but also his season.
  He starts crying when he thinks about what he just said. We slowly walk away when we see Elvio supporting his manager. Poor fellow.
  
  gronalund of Nobeltorget Spinners is surprisingly happy. How can he be happy we wonder. He explains that he is from Sweden and that his team is living in the same environment with the difference
  that the Swedes must build their own furniture and here everything is already made. His rider Raoul Hamel agrees with this and he expects something very big this tour.
  For the first time he is relaxed and not stressed that he has to build his own bed again, and missing a few screws to finish it properly.
  
  When we finally escaped the damp, dark hideous place they call home for the next few days we bump into adamborch of Team Albatros. His team is not a real favourite and we ask him what he thinks of this situation.
  adamborch speaks freely because there are no organisation employees nearby. He explains that there is a rumour going around why all the teams are situated in Ochjor, all but one. And we have seen that one.
  In Perm, in a great hotel with all the luxery you can imagine.
  When we wander around the compound we see the managers of Wizzyweb and Team AEK. Wizzyweb's captain Rafael Boezeman is trying to train on his bike. But the grounds here are not suitable for training. Dirt and mud
  everywhere. He tries anyway, despite the fact that Wizzy explains to him it is useless. Team Aek with Adilson Silva expected so much from this. But Filip Boswijk has no chance, he was born with the right colours but in the wrong order. He could have won it, if only.
  Last but not least, but very close, is Italian outfit Tesico. They won a starting spot at the local fancyfair. They love to be here and they have sent their best riders to Siberia. Their riders are all thrilled to be here. But the entrance ticket is all they will win in Perm.
  
  When we return to Perm we get a phonecall. It is Finz from NightmareChaos and he invites us for a 'Welcome Home' party organised by the Perm Organisation for him and his team in the Perm Hilton.
  Offcourse we agree to come. After so much misery, a man has to do all the things possible to forget.
  We look at each other and agree. We know who will win this years Perm Tour and it is not one of the riders we saw in Ochjor. It is one of the riders we will see in Perm.
  
  
  
  Written by pundit Finz from
  NightmareChaos to OCM Magazine