Rising mountain-bike star Conor Flett trains six days a week in his pursuit of being a world class mountain bike racer.
The 17-year-old Ocean Grover and Torquay’s Cooper Jessen are climbing the ranks to both be in the top 10 in the Under 19 age group category.
Flett competed at the National and Oceania MTB Championships in Bright and hopes to one day get selected for the World Cup.
He will compete in South Africa and Mackay later in the year.
“If I’m good enough I will get selected for the World Cup which is in Canada,” he said.
“I want to go over to Europe and race over there to build some more muscle and race against faster people.”
Mountain biking obviously involves racing in high terrain so Flett’s training involves regular trips to the You Yangs.
“If I’ve got hill training I try and go up to the You Yangs, but generally it’s not long enough,” he said.
“The longest hill there is six to seven minutes, but it doesn’t bother me because we are not doing 10 to 15 minute climbs in a race anyway just yet.”
Flett has been racing for three years and the travel, and its associated costs, are immense.
But the Geelong Mountain Bike Club member is focussed.
“It started off with local club racing and realised I was pretty fast and winning A Grade races,” he said.
“Cooper (Jessen) and I were around the 18 to 30 rank last year and now we’re in the top 10.
“It’s (the sport) has gone from nobody knowing about it to being on TV.”
