Kiwi riders take a back seat
Hamish Bond says cycling has proved tougher than rowing.
The dual-Olympic rowing gold medallist won a bronze medal in the cycling men’s individual time trial at the Commonwealth Games yesterday.
‘‘I thought it would be easier than rowing, but it’s so much harder.
‘‘In terms of keeping things all running sweetly, there’s so many things that can go wrong on a bike.’’
Bond raced over the 38.5km course at Currumbin in 48 minutes and 45.45 seconds, putting him in the lead after the first half of the field completed their rides.
Australian Cameron Meyer, the third-to-last rider to start, then blitzed his way to victory by 32.41 seconds over the Kiwi, with England’s Harry Tanfield 2.15 seconds ahead of Bond in the silver spot.
‘‘I’m pretty satisfied,’’ Bond said.
‘‘I said when I got off the bike, I was pleased. Inevitably when you’re sitting in the hot seat and you see the margins, only a couple of seconds to second place . . . you start thinking of all those things you could have done marginally a bit better.
‘‘Probably my best execution in
‘‘You don’t truly know what you’re made of until you put yourself under tests like that, and I seem to have a habit of picking some pretty big ones to chew up.’’ Hamish Bond
one of my bigger time trials.
‘‘That was something I always prided myself on in rowing was making it count on the big day, and I feel I did that pretty well.
‘‘Even when I won rowing races by seconds, within 10 minutes you’re dissecting it and trying to find ways to go faster. Unfortunately, I can’t switch that off.
‘‘I’m pleased with the decision to give this a go – life’s about challenges. You don’t truly know what you’re made of until you put yourself under tests like that, and I seem to have a habit of picking some pretty big ones to chew up.’’
Bond had a frustrating moment before the halfway stage when he was impeded by an official on a motorbike and then almost immediately after had to avoided a
road cone that had fallen into his path, but he wouldn’t attribute that as the difference between silver and bronze.
‘‘Potentially. But then I’m sure Harry, who got second, has got a number of things like that as well . . . he would have left seconds out there, Cam the same.
‘‘Unfortunate, but that’s racing and you have to take it on the chin.’’
The 32-year-old, who was unbeaten in rowing for eight years in the men’s pair with Eric Murray before making the switch with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind, said he was facing ‘‘continual evolution of small returns’’ as his experience on the bike grew.
‘‘The power I can put out, the position and aerodynamics I can hold and then how slippery and how quick you can get.’’
But he acknowledged he was making worthwhile progress.
‘‘There’s been ticked boxes along the way and this was one of them.
‘‘A medal was probably the requirement in terms of the ticked box to say ‘OK, that job done, we can reassess and move forward’. The world champs and Olympic Games is another level entirely – I’m realistic about that.
‘‘While it was a well-executed good performance, I don’t think it’s the ultimate that I can achieve on a time trial bike.’’