THE rain and hail of a south-west winter might make some cyclists think twice, but for Koroit mountain biker James Coomber, there’s nothing more enthralling.
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In the warmer months, the Hawkesdale P-12 student often gears up for a 31.8km ride from his house to school.
But for now, with winter still firmly upon the region, he settles for daily training on the roads of Koroit.
“I generally pick up a bit of time when the weather is wet in races,” he said.
“When it starts raining, I put the hammer down and start to do my best to open gaps and I just prefer to race in the wet.”
While the mountain bike is his bike of choice, road cycling is not an uncommon practice for Coomber.
He spends the majority of his school week training on his road bike, while his true passion, trail riding, takes prime position on the weekends.
“Once the weather picks up again I will definitely start to head out to Hawkesdale on the bike again. I usually beat the bus as well.”
Coomber, who finished with the fastest overall time in the dirt crips at the Warrnambool Mountain Bike Club’s Winter Series event on Sunday, said he was now eyeing a spot at the Forrest Festival.
The Forrest Festival will challenge Coomber with a five stage course, testing his sprints, climbs and distance racing.
He said he would vie for first place in the under 19 division at the nationally renowned event, a feat which he achieved last year in a blistering time of 3:50.16.
“We’ll see how it goes, but there will be tougher competition this year than last year,” he said.
“I’ll give that a crack though. After that, I’m looking at the Otway Odyssey and I’ll hopefully have a real go at it. I didn’t go to well last year, but the year before I came second.
“The courses up there are a little more flowy, not as tight and technical as the course up here. The courses are awesome there and there are a lot of good riders.”
Ultimately, the 16-year-old dreams of competing on the national and international stage.
His expectations, however, remain firmly set on the ground.
“I’m enjoying just getting out there and riding at the moment. If I follow a plan, it gets a bit boring after a while,” he said.
“It becomes a chore if you do that. I just ride for the fun of it and try not to take it too seriously.
“When I first got on the mountain bike and went down to thunder point, everything looked so hard. I just started riding it all, and then it didn’t look as hard.
“It takes a bit to adjust, if you’re just riding on rail trails or roads or whatever.
“You gradually get confidence levels up when you’re riding.”
