"You have to maintain a standard so it's hard to get up there and, once you do, you don't get paid much, especially the women.
"Most of them go to university, get a degree or a job and stuff."
The teenager is in a gap year, working at a Waipuk supermarket to fund an "expensive sport", but she has psychologically bought into the insurance policy of joining the varsity chain gang with a paper or two in the event of things turning to custard in her pursuit of professionalism by next year.
From tomorrow, Jamieson will be part of the collective who will work hard for world champion Villumsen and Olympian Kiesanowski although she won't know exactly what her dossier will be until the grind begins tomorrow, with the 95km stage one road race offering a five-lap circuit at Mt Torrens.
The riders will tackle two king of the mountain climbs at Burford's Hill Road, Kenton Valley and two sprints at Main Street, Mount Torrens.
A criterium follows on Sunday afternoon, comprising 12 laps of an inner-city circuit totalling 20.4km, including three sprints at laps 4, 8 and 12.
Stage three on Monday morning takes the riders back to the sweatshop of the famous wine-growing Barossa Valley area that beckons with two king-of-the-mountain climbs along the 100.8km route.
The final instalment comes on Tuesday with a relatively docile 1.2km circuit at Victoria Park, skirting the Adelaide CBD, incorporating two sprints in the 15-lap affair.
The national development squad member enjoys criterium, finishing in the top 10 at the nationals last November in Auckland but doesn't expect it to be a cruise in Adelaide.
"It's going to be really hard with lots of pros from overseas but it'll be quite amazing to be working with Jo, Emily, Grace and Madi," she says, blissfully aware someone will be left out near the finish line.
It was Jamieson's first time at the senior level when she finished eighth overall at the Big Save National Road Race Championship in Napier last week, coming in with the second group as the top Bay finisher.
"It's a pity they did not have an under-23 grade like the men because I would have won a national title."
She relished knowing the routes here like the back of her hand but what lifted her spirit most was the vociferous parochial fans perched on the hill.
"The wind was what broke the field as we were coming back from Bay View so I had to work for 10km to catch up.
"It didn't ruin my race but I could have done better than that," she says after making up a 45s gap from the leading bunch.
The New Zealand-based Black Magic team member last year competed in the Calder-Stewart Elite Series "every other month" to finish second overall among elite riders but first as an under-19, over six races.
Black Magic won the overall series of the nine-team competition.
Dylan Stewart, of Napier, has been coaching her since she was 15.
The Cycling CHB member is immensely indebted to her club as well as The Hub Cycle Centre, in Hastings, for their support.
It goes without saying that she couldn't have done any of it without parents Glennis and Wayne Jamieson as well as grandmother Peggy Sullivan, also of Waipuk.
Roxsolt is the other Kiwi outfit in the 17-team women's competition with Hannah Gumbley, Georgia Catterick and Ruby Livingstone forging ties with three other New South Wales women.
Australian teams dominate but there are also one team each from the United Sates, the United Kingdom and from Norway.
