Aussie Meat pie - The Wedding!
No racing to report on so here's a quick report on another big event that went down in Belgie!
Belle and I got married on Friday the 13th of May. Crazy date you say? Well we've had a lot of bad luck over the past 12 months we were willing to run the gauntlet! It was the perfect outing with no more than 50 guests and easily a third of that consisting of Team Cyclingnews all dressed in their Sunday best.
It was a small ceremony, conducted by the assistant mayor who had a few problems with a few names - especially my witness Cameroon Yennings! About 10 minutes later, that was it - Belle and I were finally married! After a bit of an applause I looked around and saw my team mates heading out the door rather quickly. I thought 'Oh man what are they gonna throw over us?" To my surprise, nothing, only a lovely arch of Gipiemme wheels! They tried to get hold of a dozen or so swords but it wasn't possible at such short notice.
We did the official photos at an old church. Well, not that old by Euro standards: built in the 14th century then bombed to crap in the 20th during World War II. Makes for great pics though - and you don't get places like this in Australia!
After the pics, we headed of to the reception where we could all let our hair down. Except my hair wasn't going anywhere. Belle normally does my hair, but didn't want to do it for the wedding. Steven, the dude that cut it, put some serious super strength gel in my hair and like a true Belgie it wasn't going anywhere!
After a big feed it was time for a speech from yours truly. I mixed it up with a bit of Flemish and English just to work the crowd a bit, then after that it was time to hit the Hoegarden and start kicking our heels! DJ Rudy and his side kick Big Tony started to pump out some tunes which was a signal for the older ladies to grab the young lads and carve it up! Kane was the crowd favorite; I heard it was the snow white hair that made the ladies all think that he's the stereo typical Aussie beach bum type. I guess we could blame Vinnie and Home and Away for that!
Most of the lads got roped in for a bit of dancing which made for some good laughs. Towards the end of the night the party wasn't dieing down and someone (Kane or Leigh - I can't remember for sure, which proves I must have had a good time...) came up with a good old party game: trying to bounce a coin off the table into a glass of beer. The rules got changed a bit as normally if you get it in someone else must scull the drink. Ahh well! Even Daniel Willems our director thought he'd give it a go and showed us all how quick a drink should be drunk.
About midnight Belle and I decided to head home. We had an early start in the morning as Belle had planned a little honeymoon to Disneyland for three days. We couldn't have a longer one, unfortunately, as I had a big race coming up the following weekend. But we will have a longer one later on - I promise, Belle. Disneyland rocked! I have been once before and rated it highly, so had no problems heading back!
Cam Jennings busts a move.
A romantic venue for the official photos from the Cyclingnews team wedding of the year.
Their first 'Aw mum!' moment.
Don't let anything come between you that you can't walk round.
Bell and Glen - married at last!
Kane Oakley's tie - at last a use for all those old toe straps.
Team CN directeur sportif Daniel Willems gets stuck into the festivities.
Cam finds another partner - couldn't get him off the dance floor!