Cycling: Pedal power prevails priorities later

MASTER CLASS: Mike Annand in the silver fern kit he wore in Denmark after finishing 22nd at the world masters. PHOTO/Warren Buckland

MOST people will be able to relate to Mike Annand's particular predicament in some shape or form in life.

You enjoy your sports - but wonder how far you can take it to.

However, with a healthy dose of realism comes the coffee-smelling realisation that other meaningful things in life tend to require more immediate attention.

In Annand's case, it was his passion for a career in orcharding as well as the inevitable demands of raising a young family that saw him put cycling on the backburner for almost a decade.

"I was never going to make it as a top athlete so I left my run too late and enjoyed orcharding," he says.

But Annand is a testimony to not having to abolish one's big-stage dreams.

The 37-year-old Hastings orchard manager this month took his code to another level when he finished 22nd at the UCI World Cycling Tour finals at Aalborg, in northern Denmark.

"It was a great opportunity to have a crack at wearing the silver fern with a very supportive wife and kids," says Annand of wife Mel and their children, Tyler, 11, and 8-year-old Sophie.

The Hawke's Bay Ramblers Cycling Club member got on the saddle of a bike competitively in his early teens because fellow St John's College mates were into it.

"In 2003, I stopped to have a family and only decided to go back to it three years ago."

Annand qualified for the 35-39 age group category of the world masters on September 6 after receiving an invitation at the club nationals at Puketapu, Napier, in May this year.

He clocked 4h 15m in 164km of undulating terrain on a fine but windy day similar to the buffeting Bay easterlies in the spring.

"I was pretty rapt considering racing was pretty fast - a lot faster than what I'm used to here and we were exposed to cross winds."

He had set a goal of finishing in the top 50 so he was delighted to finish in 22nd place.

Competition aside, Annand also soaked up the atmosphere of an international event and has caught the bug, as it were.

"The masters has become quite big now so I'm planning to go to Perth in mid-March to qualify for the next masters also in Perth," he says of the tour that the Australian city will host on September 4 next year.

Before Annand jetted off to Denmark, he had upped his training to 3.5 hours a night, averaging 20 to 25 hours a week under champion cyclist Josh Page, of Hastings.

"There was a certain call to get me fit and it was only 12 weeks to do that," he says with a grin, emphasising Page is now his full-time coach.

Annand also is indebted to his employers, Freshco, as well as AvantiPlus Hastings, Stephen Hill Motors and Tumu Timbers for their sponsorship for the day-long tour that cost him close to $10,000.

During his trip, Annand mixed business with pleasure, stopping for two days in Hong Kong to talk shop.