It has just been way too long, and it is going to take a big effort to dig my way out of this hole of bloglessness, and try to gain some of my once-loyal readers back! My plan is to be a consistent Missing Saddle blogger for the entirety of the season, and on through the Aussie Summer… BUT… First things first…

I am not exactly sure where to begin, because I have made three prior attempts to get back on track, with titles such as “Here I am”, “Back on Track”, and even “Back on Track… Again”, all without any success.

Just for a bit of background on me, computers are not my thing, neither is any form of technology, but I am trying my best to get better at both! I got a new computer, and am in the process of figuring it all out. One of the biggest problems I have had is that I can’t figure out how to put photos in my posts, and for me, that is what makes a post!

I have a stock-pile of about 90 photos that I would have been putting in various posts over the last, well, I lost track of how many months! These were going to be the back-bone of my posts, so I didn’t have to depend on writing skills, or a lack of!

Well, where to start… What I am going to do is start from NOW, and work backwards as the photos become a part of the story. I will have a bunch of photos, but they will have to be through an external website, so just click on the links and I hope it will direct you to the right thing! Thanks to Leigh for the advice there!

So right now I am sitting in Roeselare, Belgium. It is in between Brugge, and Kortrijk, and basically right in the middle of West Flanders, for anyone who is familiar with Belgium. I am this year racing for the French National Team, Dunkerque Opale Team Cycling, which is just over the border from Belgium, on the Opale Coast. The team website is in French, but most computers I think will give you the option to translate it, otherwise, go to Google.com, and go to the language tools, and translate the webpage… For the most part, it will just be results listed on the website, but I think they are going to give it a bit of a work-over soon…

The good thing about this team, is that I still have the opportunity to live in Belgium, and do a lot of kermesse races. Belgium is a great place for cyclists, because there are races 2-4 times per week, and also, the main thing, is that cycling is one of the most popular sports here, so all of the communities really get behind cycling. Also good with this team is that I will return to race with the best team director I have ever had, Nico Mattan, and also our friend Philippe is going to be involved again. The manager of the team is Laurent Thirionet, world and paralympic champion on the track and road.

So far we have done a few races, and I have had a very busy first month or two since I left Australia. First up, I went through Gig Harbor, which is in Seattle, WA, USA. I spent a week there with Keally and it was the first time I had seen Oldie Dave and Jean since I left in 2008. It was great to see them, and see their new place, as well as see how amazing Gig Harbor and the surrounding area is. We had a great time, and I am already looking forward to getting back there at the end of the year and spending a month more there! It was also great to take a step towards acclimatising to the Belgian winter, which I have to add, is not possible, except maybe in Antartica or something!

After the week, I headed off to Belgium, and have been lucky enough to be given a place to stay temporarily in Roeselare, with two friends, Tine and Eline. Tine and Eline are great supporters of cycling, and for the last three or four years, they had been housing my mate Logan Hutchings, from Cinelli last year. This year Logan is off to the USA to race for team Texas San Hose.

As soon as I got to Belgium, Nico and I went over to Dunkerque for a training weekend, and it was a quick welcome to the freezing cold weather! The two days were about 4-5 hours each, and the second half of the second day was done in the rain, and cold! Good combination that was! Welcome to Europe 2010!

Little did I know that after that weekend, the temperature continued to drop, and the next couple of days were done in sub-zero teperature. Followed by that, it snowed for the next three days! That is the first time I had really seen snow in a civilised area! I mean, I have seen snow before, but it has usually been at the top of mountains, and not in the street stopping traffic… and training!

At the end of that first week in Belgium, it was off to the coast of France, down near Bordeaux or something for the Plage de Vendee race. It was way too cold there for me! We were racing each day and the water in the guttering on the sides of the roads was all frozen, and I was just wearing all of the clothes that I had. That included 2-3 pairs of gloves, 2-3 pairs of shoe covers and socks, and the same for jackets and either knee and leg warmers, or two pairs of leg warmers! On top of that, I had a cold. Great start to the new season!!!!

I couldn’t get out of there soon enough, and the next part of the trip was the fun part, heading down on a drive to Sant Feliu de Guixols, for our training camp, at Eden Rock hotel. Now that was something! We got in a great week of training, lots of climbing, and nice weather. Apparently we got very lucky, because it rained all week before we arrived, then was glorious weather for us every day, and then after we got back to Belgium, I hear they are having snow storms in Girona, which was just 20km away!

There are a great bunch of photos of the training camp below. All you have to do is click on each of the different names and hopefully the photos will appear!

After a quick flight back to Belgium, we went to race Gent-Staden, which was on the same day as Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. It was in the middle of a massive storm that was big enough to be given a name; Xynthia or something. Apparently the storm killed around 60 people it was so bad, and we raced right in the middle of it! I have never seen anything like it, it was just ridiculous. Every 30 seconds to a minute, we would just see riders get blown off their bikes and into the grass or shrubs at the side of the road. It really was something, but not something I ever need to do again!

So since then, we have been doing a few more races in France and Belgium, just the usual, but no podiums or wins to speak of just yet. I will report in when something nice happens! I just want to get everyone back on track, and I didn’t even know where to begin. For now, consider yourselves up to date with now! There will be more to come shortly, after I get settled in, and once I get some photos figured out. I will be able to go back and cover the time in Australia, and have all of the photos and stuff on the website soon I hope!

So, provided it is all going to work, just click on the following words, and you should have my photos. I think each one is going to have to be clicked on seperately, but I think it should be worth each click!

photo shoot!

gig harbor

training camp

gig harbor

training camp

descend faster like this!

ahhh!

training camp

Seattle

seattle

olympic mtn range

bridge with Mt Ranier in the distance

Bridge to Gig Harbor, WA

It is as cold as it looks!

team car

1st training in Belgium, weather check!

Do I have to train today?!

Welcome to Belgium!

Atlantic Ocean by the race hotel

chamon, vanhaecke, me, aziz

Mechanics wash bikes, then the water freeezes!

Atlantic Ocean

out the hotel window!

ME!

Corniche

team photo

Costa Brava coastline

me and Chamon

practise for the blog photo

Good spot for wireless

So I hope they will all work. There are plenty of different ones there, and I think they should all be worth clicking on to see what they are. I hope this is now the biginning of a new me!

By the way, for anyone who is still a reader, or a hopeful reader (ie. check the blog to see if it is updated), please make a comment and let me know of anything you would like me to write about. You can also use the comments section to give me a hard time and express your disappointment with my complete lack of posts, or entertainment, if you like!

I hope everyone is keeping well.

The word “queue” is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.

Click here!

A group of owls is called a “parliament”.

So anyway, the brief look at the last month has been a bit like this:
Start packing, head off to the 4-day Franco-Belge, come home, finish packing, go over to the Horse races at Nico’s place, race our final race for the season in Europe, WIN my final race for the season in Europe(!), do the last little bit of packing and head off to the airport, spend a ridiculous amount of time in transit, get home, see Keally, head off to Ballarat to do the Sun Tour, hear that my good friend Frank Vandenbroucke died, finish the Sun Tour, then finish the season off and head down to Phillip Island for a break and some relaxing!

Still, relaxing is not entirely possible when I am still looking for a team for next year… If anyone has any ideas, or wants to help me find a team, please contact me! huckfactor@hotmail.com/+61 432 213 590.

There was no mention of internet anywhere there, as I have not been on it for more than 2 minutes at a time, until today, Halloween! Funny that, because the original meaning for this post was to show how crazy-big the pumpkins were I saw on the side of the road while training in Belgium, and as it turns out, Halloween and pumpkins make an appropriate fit! What a day; luck is on my side!

So, I don’t really know where to start with all of this stuff. It will probably take me the wohle of the Aussie Summer to get through it all, and as the action is wearing down, maybe I can elaborate on more of the things I mentioned above…

Franco-Belge was the biggest race of the season for our team, so it was nice to finish the year off with a bang. We were very lucky to get the start, and it was great to race against some of the biggest names in the sport.
Two days after the race finished, we headed off to our final race for the year, the Zele Pro Kermesse. Somehow, the rain started to fall, and I couldn’t believe my luck! For some reason I like the rain, I don’t know why, but I think it might have something to do with when I used to play footy when I was younger; playing in the rain and the mud was the best thing ever – so much so that for my seventh birthday, I had a football party, and Mum and Dad had organised a trailer load of dirt, and hosed it to make mud!
Anyway, the course was technical, with some cobbles, lots of corners, and some wind too. I was on my game all day, and when the rain started, I knew I was going to win. As it turned out, I slipped off into a 12-man break with about 5-7km to go. Greg van Avermaet (Silence Lotto) was the home town star, and when I saw him in the group, I knew it would be promising. I was lucky enough to have my team mate Matt Green in the group too. He did an awesome amount of work, and led the group into the last 500m for me. Nick Nuyens hit out early, and I just kept sprinting past him like it was the last thing I would ever do… And no-one was able to pass me! It was the greatest win of my life, and in typical Tommy Nankervis style, I did it at the last possible minute!
So far, the only photo I have is this one from the Belgian Newspaper. I will try to get a copy from them at some point.

The next day, Frank VDB came and drove me to the airport. It was the last time I would ever see him. I feel so lucky to have seen him before I left, but at the same time, I can’t really see that, because it is just so sad that he is gone. Franky was such a nice guy, and he had such a good heart. I am very lucky that I got to race on a team with one of the great riders the sport has ever seen. Just to give everyone an idea of VDB, one race in May, the team was off at a race in Ireland I think. We only had 5 guys left at the house, and there was a 1.1 in Holland. For a 1.1 the team needs to have 6 starters. Frank was sick, and not wanting to race, but he drove up to the race, just so that the rest of the team could race, and he started with his Winter gear on, and a map in his pocket. The only reason for his trip to Holland was so that the rest of the team could still do a race.


I will write more about Frank at a later date…

I also got to race in my second Sun Tour once I got home, and in the National Team for my first ever time. I would have liked to go a bit better, but in the end, I was kind of happy just to limp through it… It is pretty disappointing to start to finish my season off so well, with a win in the bag and everything, then to arrive back in Australia and not give such a good showing. There are a number of reasons for it, but that is just the way it goes…

So anyway, that is a small update. Please do let me know if you can help me with a team in any way. I will be back at the computer later in the week for another post hopefully!

Here is the rest of my update:

Anyone for a pumpkin?! Check out the size of these things! These next four photos are the original thing I meant to have for this post:

I saw this orange blob up in the distance, and at a closer look, found it to be a pumpkin! Check it out!
Pretty scary that 280kg was only enough for 4th place in the contest!

Makes the bike look small!

Here is another crazy thing about Belgium; the road signs. In the lower half of Belgium the cities all have their French and Flemish names listed. Often the names are not even similar!

I hope everyone is well.

According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until the 1730’s, India was the only source for diamonds in the world.