CQ27_FINAL_SPREADS (1)

It was at this time Čestmír was
first selected for his national
team and raced at the elite level
in Montenegro. After completing
his military service, Čestmír
found his second love and soon
married, prompting his move to
Tábor. At that time, he was still
employed as an auto electrician
in České Budějovice and for a
while he commuted the daily
120km round trip by bicycle, all
year round, until he found a new
job closer to home in Tábor.
Coach
During this era there were two
strong cycling clubs in Tábor,
with several promising young
talents in their ranks. Kalaš
noticed this and began to offer
training advice to encourage
and nurture these young
athletes. At the age of 29 his
active racing career at the elite
level was drawing to a close as
he switched his main focus to
coaching. Taking this responsibility
seriously, he enrolled in
coaching courses in Prague and
quickly gained official qualifications.
Despite the commitment
of studying and coaching he
refused to hang up his racing
wheels and remained active as a
veteran racer, regularly participating
on the Masters circuit.
“When I started racing at the
Masters World Cups, I was
only finishing around the top
ten. But even for that I had to
be pretty damn pumped up!”
Throughout his years as a racer
and a coach, Kalaš remained
an employee of the transport
company ČSAD Tábor, who
were an active supporter of the
local cycling club. The company
donated a decommissioned bus
to enable the team to travel to
races and the club adopted the
company’s name as their own.
Ambitious and capable, Kalaš
worked his way up from auto
electrician to a role in the finance
department. Finding time
for the job, racing and coaching
was a huge commitment and
meant years of working long
days with late finishes.
“At work during the day, training
in the afternoon, shower,
dinner and then straight back
to work. I had to work hard to
get everything done.”
The hard work eventually paid
off. Kalaš’s bunch of rookies
from Tábor started to get
noticed with a series of wins on
the international stage. Recognising
his talents as a coach, the
management of the ČSAD Tábor
transport company decided to
appoint Kalaš as the team’s first
full-time coach. However the
team was short on the finances
required to pay for their
burgeoning race programme.
Ever resourceful, and never
shy of hard work himself, Kalaš
suggested all the riders get
themselves part-time jobs and
use the funds they earned to
contribute to the upkeep of the
team. The work they found was
mostly manual labour and the
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