Kerby on a ride to glory

Gold lies at end of cyclist’s road to redemption

ON a normal Friday morning Jordan Kerby would be up before dawn and off to work to open his bike shop in Milton in inner city Brisbane. But not today.

Kerby is in Brisbane but going to work means riding for Commonwealth Games gold in the individual pursuit at the Anna Meares Velodrome.

Regardless of the result, just being there is reason enough to celebrate as it caps a fairytale comeback to the sport that was triggered by watching the Rio Olympics on TV.

It was in August 2016 when Kerby realised his professional road cycling career was at the crossroads and in the weeks of uncertainty that followed his team’s decision not to renew his contract, he knew he wasn’t ready to retire.

So Kerby went back to his first true love – the velodrome – and inspired by the new track being built across town at Chandler, he plotted his path to this week’s Games.

The 25-year-old, who runs a cycling coaching business from bike and podiatry shop The Pedaler, started training on the track for the first time since 2011 and within six months won the individual pursuit national title.

But that was just the entree. The main course was a shock world title in 2017 before working his way into Australia’s team pursuit squad that opened the Games on the Gold Coast yesterday.

Kerby rode qualifying as Australia broke the Games record in 3:52.041 before sitting out last night’s final.

Today he will be one of three starters in the individual pursuit along with Sam Welsford and Kelland O’Brien.

Rebecca Wiasak, Annette Edmondson and Ashlee Ankudinoff fly the flag in the women’s individual pursuit.