So much so that he had returned to Hastings from a five-year stint based with the Bissell Pro team in Santa Rosa, California, and eased into the humdrum of everyday life.
If you are a Ramblers Cycling Club member and followed his blog you would have had an inkling.
It almost seems like his recent retirement barely warrants a mention, but because he raced overseas for so long he had become the forgotten man of cycling.
"I thought I'd walk away from the sport and have nothing to do with it again. I was wrong," says the 34-year-old who has settled here with his wife, Anita, and their two children, Charlotte, 3, and 6-month-old Fletcher.
A plasterer's labourer, Vennell has thrown himself into coaching Bay cyclists from the age of 15 to 60.
"I have a real job [labourer] now and it's quite a shock to the system," he says, revealing he had last got a mainstream job at a Havelock North petrol station when he was 21.
He does enjoy his newfound trade although he would rather be at a beach on sweltering summer days.
"Other than that I don't have to think much [as a labourer]."
Despite the glamour of working outdoors in some of the exotic spots in the world as a cyclist, "I never felt like I wanted any of them".
The simplicity of the Bay beckoned amid appreciation one can easily forget what they are blessed with.
"The world is an exciting place with a lot happening. Not much is going on here but that's okay, you know."
As a location for bringing up children, he believes the Bay is second to none.
With Anita giving up her Central Hawke's Bay teaching job five years ago to support him was commendable enough but to leave her with the children in Santa Rosa to catch flights around the world with his teammates for a lion's share of the year was "pretty tough".
No doubt, quitting was a tough decision.
"The kids would have grown up with an American accent so that would have been tough, too."
Longevity was the essence of his cycling career, so he'll be lying if he didn't go cold turkey on quitting.
And no, Anita didn't put the hard word in.
"She is really supportive and is happy to go back if I wanted to."
He misses his friends, the good races and victories. He even yearns for a hard day's training.
"I've been doing it for so long so I'm very lucky, too."
Conversely he is happy to be rid of the early morning workouts in crappy weather or jetting off with the team.
"I raced against the best in the world and got some good results," he says, emphasising he was up against Tour de France-calibre riders just about every week.
Vennell realises the sponsorship market for cycling is drying up.
On the flip side, it was equally trying for him and his peers in an era when American Lance Armstrong cast a shadow over everyone.
"We were up against a lot of cheaters but that goes with every sports and business nowadays."
Almost subconsciously, Vennell had immersed himself in coaching in his twilight years.
"I always helped out mentoring Fraser Gough," he says of the CHB youngster, who finished third in U23 men's 40km time trial at the Christchurch nationals yesterday.
With the positive feedback on his coaching came the reinforcement of Gough's victory as the country's best U23 elite rider at the nationals in Christchurch.
"It was quite exciting for me and I really enjoyed it," he says, mindful the nationals are on this weekend in Christchurch but next year it'll be in the Bay after the province secured the hosting rights for the next three years.
Vennell is, after all, a protege of Prof Carl Patton, a sport psychologist at the Eastern Institute of Technology, who coached him for six years.
Every year in a pro team Vennell got a glimpse of some of the best riders in the world, whether it was bike fittings or nutrition it was exposure to the "cutting-edge stuff".
"For me it's easy stuff. I know what works. I see a problem on a bike and fix it."
When Vennell first got into the professional circuit, he didn't think he was going to make it. He was one of many pedigree riders.
"How many All Blacks do you have - about 1000 - and yet so many kids grow up wanting to be one."
Professional sport has its share of rewards, particularly monetary-wise.
"I would have been wealthy if I didn't have a wife," he says jovially, before saying a balance in social life also was a priority for them abroad.
