Cycling: Hamish Bond has sights set on Commonwealth Games selection

Hamish Bond. Photo / Photosport.

Switching codes is a challenging prospect for any athlete.

It is a process of continual learning, and for two-time Olympic champion rower Hamish Bond, it is particularly daunting given how quickly he has to learn the nuances of his new sport of cycling.

Bond, who claimed 22 national titles throughout his esteemed rowing career, won the time trial at the BDO Road National Championship in Napier on Friday in convincing fashion with a time of 50:48.90.

The 31-year-old's first major cycling title of 2018 in his new sport comes three months out from the Commonwealth Games, a tournament of which Bond has his sights set on.

Speaking to Radio Sport's Mark Watson, Bond highlighted the difficulties of training and racing at an elite level in a sport that he is very much still a rookie in.

"People don't see the work that goes in for months, or in my case a little over 12 months since the Olympics that I've been seriously pursuing cycling," said Bond.

"There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to come out and perform on race day, and that's the balance. You have to perform on race day and back up your training, but if you don't do the training, then there's no way you're going to perform on race day, so it takes both aspects.

"There's sort of been learnings that I've just stumbled across, and the odd forced learning.

"I had the K2 cycle race around the Coromandel about a month ago, and I just made some poor decisions around tyres and tyre pressures, and I ended up falling off a couple of times, so that was a painful learning experience.

"Just little things like that perhaps you pick up along the way if you have a 10 year development career, whereas I'm trying to condense everything into a short period of time and there's been the odd thing that I've missed or overlooked, but I'm starting to feel as though I'm more of a cyclist as opposed to a rower on a bike."

What Bond has learned in his training since ditching his boat for the bike more than a year ago is beginning to show in his results.

His national success in the time trial event two days ago has put him in a good position for national selection for the Commonwealth Games, which is set to take place on the Gold Coast in April.

"I've had discussions with Cycling New Zealand, and they've sort of told me where they think I can make improvements," he said.

"It will be a great opportunity for me to get back on the international stage, perhaps not as the world champs or the Olympic Games, but quality competition and the chance to measure myself.

"Given my particular approach to the sport or the way that I'm trying to just focus on the time trial, there's actually limited opportunities to perform on the international stage. If I can get the opportunity to perform at the Commonwealth Games, then I'll take it with both hands."