Team Cyclingnews.com - 2005

Team Journal Entry - July 5, 2005, by Cody Stevenson

Back in the saddle big style

After spending what seemed like an eternity...eight hours actually...in the team van on the way home from Tour du Jura in Switzerland, my mind is still buzzing and I can still see the lights of oncoming cars as I close my eyes to sleep!

Well, what a trip! Firstly, it was supposed to be a five or six hour trip in the car, which actually turned into about seven hours after stops and traffic. We arrived at our little hotel in a picturesque valley in the Jura region of Suisse just over the French border.

When we headed out for a little training to loosen up the legs we decided to ride to where the race started.....up out of the Valley to 1000m above! Nice road, nice scenery, nice climb! (cough, cough)

That night we had a great feed, and a good night's sleep. I woke feeling ok, but knowing that my condition was not super as I am still rebuilding form; I knew that my job would be to get the bottles, take the jackets, and try to hang on over as many hills as possible!
After about 120km - returning from the car loaded up with bidons, we hit a nasty climb. I had managed to get over the rest of the climbs on the lumpy parcours, but the combination of my domestique duties, and the climbs, led to one thing...my condition needs a little bit of tweaking! (cough, cough)

I managed to rid myself of most of the bidons, (sorry about the funny tasting bottle you got, Glen), and got myself to the finish circuit in a small group. I had done my duties for the day, and hoped that it had helped conserve the energy of our top riders Glen "chady" Chadwick and Cam "wormy" Jennings.

Chady and Wormy have had some good form after coming back from Canada, and used it to their advantage. Chady managed to win the race and Cam took seventh. All the guys worked well together and it was good to see that everyone's selfless team work helped pave the way for a victory!
The race was incredibly fast - 190km in four hours! Including some decent climbing!

The boys are now preparing to go to China for a Tour, up in the Qinhai Lake region, at 3000m above sea level! It'll be like breathing through a straw!

I am staying put in Belgium for a few weeks now, preparing for the Tour of Hungary and the end of season races. It is absolutely p***ing down with rain at the moment...so it looks like I am in for some long wet days!

I have just come off seven days of racing in the past 13 days, and now I need to spend a week putting some k's together and then get stuck back into the racing starting on the 10th at Willebroek. After Willebroek it will be flat out for the next eight weeks, racing every third day or so - fitting in a one week tour, followed by a four day tour!

I'll be flying.....or in the box! Nah.....I'll be flyin'!

Cody