Jones to face testing time on technical course
Cameron Jones says he is relaxed and ready to take on the world.
The Waimea College student lines up at the UCI mountainbike world championships in Cairns, Australia, tomorrow afternoon.
He will compete in the under-19 men’s cross country alongside fellow Kiwis Eden Cruise and Taylor Johnston.
Jones did a recce on the race course on Monday and said the track was looking dry and technical, with a particularly challenging uphill section.
‘‘It’s got everything really. It starts off with a really fast loop, so there will be opportunities for passing, and then there’s one climb that is quite technical with quite a lot of A and B line options and heaps of rocks and logs,’’ said Jones, who won the two-day Coast to Coast earlier this year.
‘‘It’s quite a physical climb and there’s some step ups where you will have to lift your front wheel up and then your back wheel to get over it.
‘‘It is is nothing like I’ve ever done before.
‘‘In my experience climbs are made to get you to the top as fast or easy as possible, where this isn’t.’’
There are 78 riders entered in the under-19 grade, which is considerably more than what Jones is used to.
Starting from the back row, he said it was imperative to get off to a bright start.
‘‘I’ve been practising the starts because that’s going to be pretty important.
‘‘If you get clipped in first you can pass a dozen people pretty easy where half a dozen at the end of the race is going to be much harder.’’
The 16-year-old said he had received plenty of support in the lead up to his first international race, including one message from Jack Bauer, who represented New Zealand in mountainbiking before making the switch to road cycling.
‘‘During the Tour de France I had an email from Jack Bauer on the rest day, which was pretty awesome,’’ Jones said.
‘‘I was watching him on TV then I checked my inbox and there it was.
‘‘He just said he had been through a similar path as me and seeing as we are from the same area it was just a bit of a shout out.’’