KIRKSTALL rider Mic Williams believes he is better prepared for a second tilt at the BMX world championships.
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Williams, 21, will don national colours when the cream of the international BMX community converges on Zolder, Belgium from July 21 to 25.
The Geelong-based Deakin University student departs Australia on Thursday. He will compete in the 17-to-24 years Challenge 20-inch and 24-inch classes.
Williams reached quarter-finals – the last 32 riders – in both classes at his debut world championships at Rotterdam last year.
He said he was confident he could improve on the mark, having performed better at nationals in Brisbane, where he booked his ticket for Zolder.
“If that’s anything to go off, I feel I’m in a lot better form than I was last year. In saying that, it’s the world titles, anything can happen,” he said.
“But physically and mentally I’m feeling a lot better than last year. I put it down to riding a lot more.
“When I went over last year I was training heavily as far as in the gym and sprints. Obviously there’s a limit to what you can do. Last year I probably trained too much. This year I’ve been balancing it out.
“Of course you do the gym and do the sprints but the most important thing if you’re going to go over and ride is to ride BMX. I’ve been to the track six days a week, I ride pretty much every day.”
Williams said his major focus at Zolder was the more competitive 20-inch class – “I feel really good on the cruiser, I’m pretty competitive, but the 20-inch is what I ride every day”.
He took lessons out of his debut last year which had him in better stead for a second campaign.
“The biggest thing which I say to everybody who asks the question (about lessons) is the hype of the event is massive,” he said.
“For me going last year, first one, I got caught up in all of that...last year I over-thought it and over-planned it. I know guys who had been multiple times rocked up with a clear head and said ‘let’s go racing and not worry about anything else’. That’s the biggest lesson as far as going again.”
Williams honed his BMX skills growing up at Warrnambool’s former Queens Road track. His passion came thanks to his father Ian, who took up the sport as part of his recovery from a knee injury.
Civil engineering studies took him to Geelong, where he trains under Tony Harvey, a three-decade competitor with multiple national championships to his name.
Williams said he was appreciative of the support from his parents, who encouraged him to commit to the titles.
“I was talking to Mum and Dad about that the other day. For a while I was debating whether to go, do I spend the money and do the training. I was debating what to do with my riding,” he said.
“The response from them was ‘this is the world titles’. It’s a pretty big opportunity that 20 years down the track I can look back on and think that was a pretty big deal. They’ve always been supportive of everything.”