The fact he’s become the 2013 Warrnambool Cycling Club (WCC) champion is a bonus.

“I just enjoy getting out and the health and fitness side of things, and I enjoy the people, getting out and socialising with everybody,” Collins said.

“It’s a bit of a release to get out and do some cycling, especially when the weather is a bit better. 

“With the racing, it’s always good to push yourself.”

Collins, 41, finished the WCC season on top of the aggregate points tally with 120, having missed just one race during the year.

The scratchman edged out vice-president Barry Warren (115) for the top honour, with Justin Vincent (85) taking third. Riders earned 10 points for starting and finishing each race, 10 for a victory, seven for placing second and five for third.

Collins said he had been “pretty consistent for most of the year”, through being able to train and race regularly.

He clocks up between 200 and 300 kilometres a week, finding time to train and compete between work shifts.

His efforts helped the scratch group chase down the outmarkers in a host of races, particularly early in the season.

“Definitely early on in the year we managed to have a couple of races that went scratch’s way. We were handicapped pretty well,” he said.

“It got us off to a good start. Generally it evens out in the end, which it did.

“We had trouble getting up towards the end of the year.”

Warren, who won the last race of the season on Saturday, said Collins was deserving of the title.

“He’s been really consistent, not only in our races but right across the south-west racing calendar for the year,” he said.

“The majority of the season, he was the in-form rider of the south-west.”

Collins was one of two WCC members to receive recognition on Saturday.

Brian McNamara earned life membership, reward for his decades of service to the club and regional cycling.