Team Cyclingnews.com - Down Under - 2004

Rockhampton, Queensland, October 5, 2004

"Welcome to Rockhampton. Enjoy your stay."

By Cameron Jennings

Hi all,

Well I am back home after another year. Flew into Rockhampton on Friday night and looking over the dry brown land, land that has not seen decent rain in quite some time. And as the flight attendant announced that it was a glorious 32 degrees, I quietly chuckled to myself and finally knew I was home. A far cry from the average weather I had experienced in Belgium the last week of September.

After the last report containing a pro kermis in Victhe, I dodged rain and puddles for another 10 days. There was another pro kermis on the following Tuesday, but awoke to a very average day and my head wasn't screwed on and decided to miss that one, although I did go training. Hilton braved the condtions and had a great ride to finish third.

More storm dodging lead me up to Saturday where Hilton and I lined up for a pro kermis in Tienen. We were active from the start and at the end of the second lap Hilton attacked and I followed a another attack and got up to Hilton and co. Two more joined us and we set about trying to build a lead. We got out to about 2min, both of us had picked up a 25 Euro prime before the 15 guys caught back up. It was on for one and all and got caught out in the splits but Hilton made the next move but unfortunately he had a mechanical and was forced to pull out. Pulled out a lap early by the jury for 22nd while Hilton was a little better and was classified 13th.

Another race was planned later in the week but due to snowballing jobs and loose ends to tie up, again I was forced to miss it. Having said this again, I still managed a good 4hrs early that morning and spent the rest of day running around. Said goodbye to all the staff and friends, old and new, and flew out of Brussels at 7:30pm Friday night.

So here I am in Rocky, 9pm on a Tuesday night, tired and ready to go to bed as I PLAN to do the 5am bunch ride tomorrow morning. Shall see how that goes. Spent the last day fixing my bike after seven months of neglect and a few rides from Warren (my brother). It took a little longer than I hoped. Still waiting on a Sun Tour berth although the motivation to do it is now dwindling as I wait and wait for a yes/no answer. It has come to the stage where flights will be very expensive to get down there and possibly not even available. So, if I do get a no, I will have a break and get going again, hopefully the Tour of Qld and then next year. Next year... still not 100 percent sure, but things look promising. Shall keep you posted.

To all those who read my reports, and the other guys' reports through the year, thanks for the support. Hope you enjoyed them.

Cheers,
Cameron