Lester off to China to ride Poyang Lake tour
He’s only had eight days of eventspecific training, but Taranaki cyclist Jakob Lester knows he’s going into the Tour of Poyang Lake ready to ride.
The 17-year-old New Plymouth Boys’ High School student travels to China this weekend for the 1300km-plus event, which is run over 12 days, beginning on Tuesday.
While excited about the opportunity, Lester said he’s only known he’d be riding in it since Thursday last week.
‘‘My coach Grant [Wilson] got in contact with a guy who was needing an extra rider because someone had dropped out,’’ Lester said. ‘‘He put my name forward and said ‘I’ve got a rider here who’s really keen to do it. Would you consider him?’
‘‘That was on Thursday last week. That night I was on the team.’’
Despite having only known he’d be going on the tour for a week, the opportunity came at a perfect time for Lester, who recently won an 80km race in Matamata.
He said he’d been doing long rides for training anyway, so he felt ready for the tour in China.
Wilson said Lester was a quality finisher and climber who was carrying good form into the race which he hoped would translate to 12 days of good performances.
‘‘It’s going to be a great experience for him,’’ Wilson said.
‘‘He’ll probably be one of the youngest guys to compete there. They have a criteria of birth year - they youngest they take is born in 1999 so Jake just scrapes in.
Currently in his final year at high school, Lester had to get permission from the school to compete, as well as organise a lastminute visa.
‘‘My mum had to make a quick dash to Wellington on Monday to get my visa sorted and went down there expecting to get it that day and ended up having to stay overnight and get it in the morning. So big props to her,’’ Lester said.
Lester will ride with the City of Perth cycling six-strong team during the tour, which will be his first time competing overseas. The tour generally attracts high-level riders from around the world.
‘‘I’m expecting some very hard racing, but it’ll be a really good experience. It’ll be a different type of racing than I’m used to with the amount of riders in the race and the level of the riders.’’