Joe Martin Stage Race – Fayetteville, Arkansas – May 2004 After a 2 hour car drive, we arrived in Fayetteville and settled in with my host family from last year, the Dickenson family.  With heavy rain that I am sure exceeded Australia’s annual rainfall, we decided to turn the legs over on wind trainers in Chip’s garage.  After dinner, Andrea […]

Milan, Italy, April 25, 2004 Team Rona flew from Belgium to Milan the day after the Fleche Wallonne World Cup.  Alessandro Colnago was at the airport to meet us and took us to our hotel right by the Colnago office and factory.  We spent the next 4 days training, eating pizza and visiting the many wonderful villages and sites around […]

Fitchburg-longsjo Classic 2004 The Rona team stayed with two amazing host families, Paul and Dawn Piccolomini and Barbara and Ed Mazzaferro, in Leominster, Massachusetts.  Their fridge and pantry were loaded with food whilst the basement was stocked with cool drinks.  They welcomed us into their homes, cooked and fussed over us and really just totally spoilt us during our stay. […]

Stage 5 – North Boulder Park Criterium With only a 45 minute criterium remaining, we were confident we were able to defend the yellow jersey.  was technical with 9 corners, hilly and in the end, unfairly I took over the lead towards the end of the 2nd lap and strung it out through the start/finish line.  On the gradual incline […]

Stage 4 – Horse Tooth Road Race – 4 laps x 25km Today’s stage was only 10 minutes from Katrina’s house in Fort Collins so it was great not to have to drive an hour up to

Stage 2 – Drake Road Race – 55 miles I still wasn’t adjusted to the altitude and awoke to the familiar headache I’d had yesterday.  Just walking around, my legs felt like I had already 100 miles. Today’s stage, starting and finishing in Estes Parks, consisted of xxxxxft of climbing.  I enjoyed the first 2km’s that was flat and then […]

Colorado Cyclist Classic 2004 I had mixed emotions as I flew into Denver for my last race of the season.  I was part of a composite team sponsored by Rio Grande, a Mexican restaurant chain in Colorado, which naturally offered us free burrito’s and margarita’s for every stage win – I couldn’t wait to start racing!  The 5 riders on […]

Tour de White Rock – 23 – 24 July 2004 Stage 1 was a 900m hillclimb with gradients of up to 18%.  It was a short tough stage that killed the legs and lungs.  My tactic was to climb seated for the first half and then stand and nail it over the last steeper section.  I finished the climb in […]

Gastown Criterium – 21 July 2004 The Gastown criterium was held in down town Vancouver with over 20,000 spectators lining the circuit.  The tight corners, cobble stoned sections and gradual climb to the finish line made this a challenging course.  Typically I do well in these criteriums, however tonight my legs felt like heavy bricks and I had no energy […]

This was my third year, riding BC Superweek. As I exited the International Vancouver Airport, I spotted a convertible driving slowly by, with a 4ft Aussie flag waving from a pole – my billet family and great friends since 2001, knew how to pick me up in style. BC Superweek is made up of 3 events, the Tour de Delta, […]