The 48-year-old would love to better the efforts of his teenage son, Lance, who finished the race in second last year and is away for this year's instalment.

"He's a slightly better cyclist than I am now," McBride said with a laugh.

"It only took him 18 years to get better than me.

"If I can go one up on him that would be great. I'm a few years older than he was."

McBride competed in the 2021 edition of the race but admitted he hadn't prepared adequately.

This time around he is in better condition.

"I found it good but I hadn't trained enough for it at the time," he said.

"The first 50 kilometres were good but I suffered in the last 20. Just hadn't had that distance in my legs at the time.

"Hopefully this year I've got a little bit more behind me and hopefully I can do the full distance.

"I'm hoping to stay with the front groups all the way to the end hopefully and contest the win will be the goal."

The Warrnambool Cycling Club member started the sport as a kid and went on to race in his teens before a long hiatus without touching a bike until he was 35.

"(I) gave up (cycling) when I got a driver's licence and started meeting girls," he said.

"I've been riding for the last 13 years pretty much consistently. Since moving to Warrnambool a couple of years ago I've probably amped up again."

McBride hails from South Africa and lived in the UK for a while before moving with his family to Nhill in the Wimmera region about seven years ago.

He has lived in Warrnambool for more than two years and has been impressed with cycling's popularity in the region.

"I was up in the Wimmera, I think our peloton consisted of about four people if everyone got out," he said. "Coming down here I think this morning (Tuesday) we had about 50."

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