At the team launch in February
oto ©: Gerard Knapp

Driving it home: The Team DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed diary, 2006

Cameron Jennings and some of the 2005 Team Cyclingnews riders made the move to the new DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed Continental team. Based in Belgium, they'll teach us about Belgian weather, beer and bike racing in 2006.

Check out the adventures of Cam and the crew - a group of Aussies, Brits (English, Welsh, Scottish), the odd New Zealander and remarkably, even a Belgian - as they tackle a hectic race schedule on three continents this year.

For further reading about the team, visit the DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed official site. To check out Team Cyclingnews during 2005 and earlier, visit the 2005 site.

• Index to all entries

Belgium, March 31, 2006

Back in Belge

By Kane Oakley

Hi

The lights are on and the DFL-Cyclingnews boys are home. The neighbours are well happy to see us back. Well Chuffed! Sorry, it must be the English talk rubbing off on me.

The house has a good mix this year, should be some interesting times to talk about. At the moment it is all about the Comm Games. "Yeah we smashed you in that" or "I think we kicked your royal butt in that." The two Downing Boys (Russell and Dean) have mixed in well with the Aussie punch. We are learning a lot from each other on the training rides, the way they say things/quotes and some of our own Aussie slang. It's a right mess.

The weather has not been too favourable for us. Most days have been pretty cold with snow and rain to contend with. So on one of these good days Bernie (Badger) and I built a snow man like no other. Most snow men around the area are built by putting three balls together to form a man, but ours were formed from the base and built up like a sand castle, with one messy ball for a head! Not bad for a couple of Aussie cyclists.

The team is starting to work well together during racing and after. We have had some great results early, but this has been without full team structure and tactics for the first couple of races. Some better results are on the way with the learning of each other's position in the team and riding characteristics.

Training from the house has increased for numbers. I think the English and Aussie guys just want to ride together to 'take the piss' out of each other. It's working well, and we're loving the training. One thing is, 'you must have fun and enjoy it.' Can't fault us there!

The race reporter "Worm" has filled you in on the races. I will fill in the missing areas as best can be. The news is that there is not much else to report. In the next report I'll bring you new nick names for the newcomers and some 'inside house' talk.

I'm looking forward to writing more about what goes on in the house and on the bike this year, but until then, 'keep ya socks high and ya gloves on'.

Kane "Munge" Oakley

P.S. Thanks to Euro Optics and Leader Nutrition for helping me over the last couple of years.