Delicately navigating initiation at Astana - Premier Tech
At the Astana - Premier Tech team training camp this past January, Benjamin Perry got a costume. He described it, as best as he could, as that of a priest or religious figure. It was part of an initiation. It came, inappropriately, with dark face paint. “I’m just going to throw this part of the outfit in the garbage,” Perry said to his new team about the blackface makeup, and then added a very Canadian apology. “I’m sorry, but if you are going to make me drink something or jump in the pool, I’m down. I’ll do it. I want to be all-in for the initiation, but I’m not going to put that makeup on.”
Near the end of 2020, Perry, who’s from St. Catharine’s, Ont., and lives in Girona, announced that he was joining Astana - Premier Tech. He only really knew two people on the Kazakhstan-based squad: Hugo Houle and Steve Bauer. Meeting his new teammates was a challenge at the camp in Benidorm, Spain, as members had to adhere to strict rules to limit contact. Perry had to ride and eat with the same small group throughout the duration of the camp. Still, the team did what it could to make new members feel welcome.
So Perry wore the costume that evening, sans makeup. At the team dinner, he got called up by fellow Canadian Houle for another part of the fun. The more senior rider gave Perry a belt with butter knife dangling from it. Perry had to stand on a chair and lower the knife into the mouth of a wine bottle. To do so, Perry had to make some pretty suggestive moves. He got the knife in the hole easily. “I thought, what does this say about me that I’m good at squatting and getting a knife into a wine bottle?” he said.— MP