Team Cyclingnews.com - 2005

Team Journal Entry - April 6, 2005, by Kane Oakley

Hittin' the House

Kane Oakley is a new member of 'The Cyclingnews House' which is certainly an interesting experience for him, but without too much pain...here's his take on the house plus beer and eggs for Easter, with a bit of actual cycling talk thown in.

Hi All,

Well it is good to be back in Belgium; the weather has been great for the 18 days I have been here. This is my second year in Belgium - the year should be good with a new team and some big races to experience.

The Cyclingnews House - living with six other men/boys should make for an interesting year. So far I can relate it to a fairy tale; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (but their is no Snow White, and we're not that small). Each of the boys can be related to one of the Dwarfs - we have Sleepy, Lazy, Grumpy and so on. Each day this can change, as every dog has his day. We can't be perfect!!! I will fill you in on who is who later on, it's only early days.

Each day we pick on someone, even if they are Mr Grumpy; actually, even better when this is the case. But Chris "McFly" is the man of the house at the moment. The house computer is not working and McFly brought his own laptop. So everyone is extra nice to him, just to get some email time. I don't get much time on the computer because I only give him a carrot for a the use and others must be doing something right because they are on it all the time. Good for them!! For a house with seven blokes in it, it is pretty tidy, (all those Mums, you would be proud). But I think there is a Mr Tidy in the house. That's enough house stuff for a while.

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Lee and I experienced some Belgium Easter tradition while in a bar on Sunday Night. The bar men was walking around with a basket full of eggs, not chocolate but hard boiled eggs in their shell. What the?! People were eating the eggs and washing it down with a beer. We didn't want to be rude so we de-shelled the egg and ate it like it was chocolate - it wasn't the best. A hard boiled egg and a beer just doesn't blow my hair back. Best Easter ever.

On the racing side of things, I have had three races and performed OK. It will take a while to get my Belg racing legs back, but they will come soon, I can feel it. It is good to be back racing in the big peletons and everyone yelling abuse at each other for no reason at all. Look forward to some of the big races and tours that the team will be doing.

Well, McFly has finished his carrot and someone else is giving him some icecream, so I'm gone. If anyone wants to send us a new computer that would be great, I am running out of things to give McFly.

Till next time, keep it in the gutter (53-11) Belgium style.

Kane "Munge" Oakley