From mid-level mediocrity, few expected Goddard’s career to go far. Today he’s known as the guy who loves to perform in big famous environments; however, back in seasons 35-38, he was the guy who filled up the numbers in the mid-division circuit. After a few unimpressive results with Starlynk Bermuda, he was quickly disposed to Tommy Teleshopping PCT, where he would remain for three unremarkable seasons. In that time, he amassed sixty six races, with a top result a lowly 13th in Division 4. Things weren’t looking good for the Bermudan cyclist.
Finally Tommy Teleshopping had enough, and got rid of him. And Goddard landed inside 1st Division powerhouse Hog Bay CT. People were asking, “did Hog Bay need a new bus driver”, but then the results started rolling in. 4th in Germany Heidelberg - Freiburg, 5th in Div 1.1 Sweden Lofsdalen GP, 5th in Cape Verde Grande Prémio do Barla...
Read moreFrom mid-level mediocrity, few expected Goddard’s career to go far. Today he’s known as the guy who loves to perform in big famous environments; however, back in seasons 35-38, he was the guy who filled up the numbers in the mid-division circuit. After a few unimpressive results with Starlynk Bermuda, he was quickly disposed to Tommy Teleshopping PCT, where he would remain for three unremarkable seasons. In that time, he amassed sixty six races, with a top result a lowly 13th in Division 4. Things weren’t looking good for the Bermudan cyclist.
Finally Tommy Teleshopping had enough, and got rid of him. And Goddard landed inside 1st Division powerhouse Hog Bay CT. People were asking, “did Hog Bay need a new bus driver”, but then the results started rolling in. 4th in Germany Heidelberg - Freiburg, 5th in Div 1.1 Sweden Lofsdalen GP, 5th in Cape Verde Grande Prémio do Barlavento, 6th in the Div A World Tour Nations race Spain Barcelona - Quanca (WT), more 6th, 7th, 8th place finishes; and then in season 40, 2nd in USA Salt Lake City GP (Div 2), 3rd in Div 1 Uruguay Elias Márquez Invitational, 4th in Scotland Highlander´s Race to Aberdeen, 5th in Circuit d´Andorra. Goddard had found life, right at the top of Division 1 racing. For three seasons, he & Hog Bay CT were loving life and racing hard at the top of the OCM world.
Then Hog Bay dropped out of top division racing to hunt tour racing, and Goddard's inspiration died. In season 42, except for a single result in the Div 4 Critérium la Grasse, his only top 20 finishes were in Div A World Tour Nations races. The rest of the time, he struggled to push himself into the top 100.
The following season, Hog Bay CT climbed back into 1st Division, and Goddard's results did improve, but then as Hog Bay dropped out of top tier racing, Goddard's racing freefell. In season 44, Goddard didn't finish a single race in the top 100, with a lowly 143rd in the Div 4 Orel-Kursk Classic , and possibly even more depressing, a 105th in Div 7's Anderberg Special Nybro. Season 45 continued the mediocrity as Hog Bay bounced the divisions to enter various tours.
For Goddard, you either race at the top, or why bother.
Hog Bay CT finally offloaded Goddard to DeRodeLantaarn for season 46, who handed him to Division 1 team Rantanplan, however approaching his 36th birthday, his career was behind him.
At 36 years of age and ready to retire, Goddard then made the shocking decision to join the infamous outfit, Australian Warlord. This news was greeted with dismay by Goddard’s many fans. Even though AW’s premises had been completely vacant for 24+ seasons, with only minimal activity in recent times, everybody still knew, ageing cyclists going into AW’s headquarters was bad news. And sure enough, boxes of “training” equipment started arriving. And the whisperings of “chopshop” were being uttered for the first time since AW’s closure back in season 19.
A group of dedicated fans attempted to rescue Goddard, but they were quickly escorted off the premises by goons, with AW manager Rustgold walking behind the fracas. We at Chat Tabloids were able to shout out a couple of questions to the elusive manager.
Q: “What do you intend to do with Goddard?”
A: “Retire him of course.”
Q: “People are talking chopshopping—”
A: (laughs) “Oh no, not these days” (smirk). “He’s going to help Grant Cook become great.”
With that, manager Rustgold gave us his insidious smile, and re-entered the AW lair. What Rustgold didn’t mention, which we’ve discovered, is that Cook’s cycling potential hasn’t been maxed. What this means for Goddard we didn’t know, however given AW’s history, we’re certain none of it is good.
Update: We’ve found out that Rustgold has officially “retired” Goddard, and put him to work “officially” as a trainer for Grant Cook just after day 60 of season 47. For the star cyclist who gave everything for Bermuda & Division 1 cycling, we can only pray for him in retirement.
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