Team Cyclingnews.com - 2005

Team Journal Entry - October 30, 2005, by Glen Chadwick

Australia, October 30, 2005

2005 - A season in review

Hi Everyone,

The squad for 2005
Photo ©: Team CN

I thought I'd better check in one more time this year, and as Cam has already updated you all racing wise, I shall look back at the year that was!!!

I'm currently kicking back in Adelaide with my bro Mark and his fiancée Anna till my little wife arrives on Monday! Can't wait, it's been a month too long! It's been good down here as the Aussie track sprint squad lives here and the enduro troops are down this way training and gearing up for their assault on the latest world cup in Russia. So a few training runs around Adelaide with them and a bit of catching up, a few BBQs and getting used to the Aussie lifestyle has pretty much been my schedule since the Suntour...nice.

So let's rewind to what seems oh so long ago and look at the lineup once more,

The Squad

So that was the Cyclingnews 13 slipping down to 12 after Chris bailed out early on with a banged up knee! The weather early on was never in our favour either, with some nasty cold days mixed with a few rainy ones, a drop of snow and some wild spills! But never the less we battled on.

February-March

A sweet looking package
Photo ©: Team CN

After a few team hiccups early on with equipment it wasn't long before we were decked out in our new racing strip and lots of it, then the steeds turned up as well, much to the boys' happiness - the trusty old Fondriest. Never ridden one before then and can't fault it now; we all gave them a good thrashing over roads and goat tracks around the globe and not one of them let us down! A good reliable bike that shone out in the peloton. Love ya work!

These couple of months were basically trying to get some good results early and get used to each other's styles and habits. I finally found a teammate in the bunch that was always close by - Good ol' Munge! Wherever I was he was always close by; not always on purpose of course, but if I was on the right of the bunch I could look over and he'd be on the left. By the end of the season the Don had decided that he was my shadow and had to keep an eye on me (sorry mate for all that extra work ya did for me!) We picked up a couple of wins early, which is always good for a team; some teams can go a season without anything, which can't be good for the morale at all!

April-May

Belle carves up the dance floor
Photo ©: Team CN

I had 2 objectives in these months - find some form and have a good race or two. But the main one was marrying my little missus Isabelle which was the highlight of my season, I reckon! Races come and go but at the end of ya day or career she will be the one to get me through! So the 13th of May was the day and a few local Hoegaerdens were downed followed by a three-day stint in Disneyland to finish the great time off! We also tackled a few big road trips around Europe; one to Switzerland followed by an epic to Denmark (two more countries off the checklist). By the way - did you know that once your passport pages are loaded with stamps and there's no more room, immigration doesn't rate it? Although my passport was due to expire this year anyway as all the pages were covered and you have to get a newy even though you might have years left on it? Anyway, one standout race during these months was Tryptique Ardennes, where we enjoyed a bit of sun in the hills of Belgium. I ended up with the climbers jersey and fourth overall, while Cam also got stuck into them and picked up a shiny watch! Cha Ching!

June-July

Look out Canada!
Photo ©: Team CN

These months were also a busy time for travel indeed! With the troops being shipped off to Canada for a tour of duty (Beauce) and a Tour in China (Quighai Lake). Both trips were successful enough to ensure an invite back again next year, and both helped fill our wallets for a little while! Not to mention the cheap bling the lads picked up while they were cruising the markets in Beijing (travel tip for Beijing; The Silk Markets, where all your dreams come true). On the home front the remaining lads were flying the flag successfully in the kermesses, picking up wins and keeping the 'Johnnies' honest (Johnnies honest? Yeah, right!) One highlight that I can remember was getting a nice shiny pair of Corima tubs (wheels) - bloody fast and looked good on the already pimped-up Fondriest! June was also where I found my legs for a week, running second in a 1.2 cobbled classic and first in a 1.2 amongst the hills of Switzerland!

August-September

Cam gets fired up
Photo ©: Team CN

The closing months of the season, but not to be underestimated! One last trip out of Belgium to Hungary where we saw Tank take his third big fall for the season; his second broken collar bone, which just so happened to be his first season-ender for a while! Poor bugger, I take my hat off to him though; always looking on the brighter side of life but bitterly disappointed that he was missing a night out in Hungary and a missed rendezvous with a local lass! Back on the front line in Belgium we rejoined the troops into the heart of the end of season thrash fest. The country is not that big but man did we do some travelling in it! We started in pretty much every race from 1.2s to 1.1s with a couple of exceptions, and rode pretty well together. The sun shone through for most of them and even the wind was non existent for a couple (strange, I know). The team house occupants got fewer and fewer as the weeks passed, and Belgium slowly lost its Aussie cycling inhabitants. I'm sure we're missed!

October-November

The team with Boss Knapp
Photo ©: Team CN

After long trips and not much recovery we all meet up for a sold-out, one-performance-only Australian tour! The Suntour; totally writing us off before we even started, we were determined to show the rest of Australia that we are "alright". We didn't disgrace ourselves that's for sure and were all happy how things went. Everyone except my bro Mark, who was on the end of a shunt from a couple of loose cannons in the bunch and slid out on the coarse bitumen - he broke a few bits on his bike and showed his right cheek to the Australian public on TV! We all caught up with Gerard Knapp (the big man from Cyclingnews.com - without him we wouldn't be doing this; thanks Gerard, the boys rate you highly). We all said goodbye with minimal tears in our eyes and all went our separate ways till next season, where some of us may reunite and some may not - who knows? I guess that's where we'll leave you all in suspense for the arrival of season three of 'Cyclingnews.com - Euro pro or Bust!'

A big thankyou to everyone out there who visited our site throughout this year, to all those people who sent us mails to congratulate us or just to say hi! Its great hearing from and makes us feel good knowing that someone is reading our stories!

Yeeeah!
Photo ©: Team CN

Also a big thumbs up to the lads at Fondriest for giving us some rides that we could all rely on when in need of a good performance! I'm pretty sure that a bike that holds up to the Belgian roads will hold up anywhere in the world ( if ya didn't know, cobbles are rough!)

And "much appreciated" award goes to the troops at cyclingnews.com headquarters that spend god knows how long editing and fixing up our stories, scaling down and resizing our pictures that we send in and for all the help and support throughout the year!

Last but not least the Belgie connections,

Rudy Dubois (manager, money man )
Gilbert Deweerdt (manager, 'go to' guy)
Daniel Willems (Director and a frickin Legend)

Without these guys this team would die!!! They bust their butts all year trying to keep things going, constantly working to pull money together and find sponsors for the next season, which is a bloody tough job! There are a lot of promises in this sport which are never fulfilled! Also a big "Heel veel bedankt" to the mechanics and soingers that fed us, rubbed our legs and kept our race machines running! Another job not just anyone can do.

So till next time - stay vertical.
Chady

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Team Cyclingnews

• Ahh! a nice ride
• Cam gets fired up in August...as the amazing 'Hando'
• Belle carves up the dance floor as the wife of Mr Glen Chadwick
• Mark Chadwick (yes, he is a relation) gets into the BBQ
• The Domino's bottom bracket shell looks good and does the job
• A sweet looking package that any pro team would be proud of
• The Team Cyclingnews Fondriest in all its glory
• 'That's a pretty kit...' or something like that
• The cockpit of the Fondriest steered the boys to some good wins this season
• A hard-earned thirst needs a big cold beer, or...geez!
• Hutchy with Matt and Belinda Goss at Mark Chadwick's BBQ bash
• Pushing it in the break...with Davitamon-Lotto in front
• Banzai! Jugs gets into is at the Suntour
• Nice and wet in Canada for the Tour de Beauce Bell
• A win in the Tour de Jura felt gooood
• Kane drives the break which he did very well for most of the season
• Munge! Mr Oakley habging out at the Suntour
• A couple of princesses at Disneyland but only one princess for Mr Chadwick - Belle
• Oh yeah! Mr October (Kane) lookin' good, baby!
• Put that away before it hurts somebody
• The podium in Oetingen
• Ah, the rain makes riding so much fun!
• Sara Carrigna and Christine Bayley hang out down in Adelaide
• A colourful bunch heading into September
• Now that's a burger as Hutchy shows how it's done
• Look out Canada! Here come the Cyclingnews boys!
• The squad for 2005 looking very cool in some sweet kit
• The team with Boss Knapp at the Suntour
• Tom and Kane... hanging out in Canada
• Yeeeah! A win in the Tour of Jura for Chady
• Trackies unite! Ashley Hutchison, Anna Meares and Ryan Bayley in Adelaide
• Tryptique Ardennais was a good race for the Cyclingnews boys
• When was that rain coming again?
• Gotta love the rain especially in Canada
• What's that saying about 'too many cooks?'
• Worm and his hard-earned thirst
• Cam Jennings working hard which he managed to do a lot during the season

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