Cycling: Whanganui road racer overcomes Covid-19 scare to win age group national time trial

Glenn Haden en route to posting the fastest overall time in the long time trial at Cycling New Zealand's Age Group Road Nationals. Photo / Supplied

Whanganui's Glenn Haden managed to overcome a Covid-19 scare to win the senior men's long time trial at the Cycling New Zealand Age Group Road Nationals.

The nationals took place in Hokitika on April 22-24 with New Zealand's fastest road cyclists competing in lap racing and time trial disciplines.

However, Haden nearly didn't make it to the event as weeks out from the nationals, his wife and children tested positive for Covid-19.

This put Haden's participation in the event in jeopardy, because if he also caught the virus he would be unable to compete.

It also affected his training as Haden said he preferred to run a compressed buildup to a competition, which meant his six-week training schedule was reduced due to the week he spent in isolation as a close contact.

Haden said it was a small victory in itself that he remained free of Covid-19 and made it to Hokitika at all.

"It's pretty amazing that it all went so well."

The long time trial course started at Cass Square in Hokitika, with competitors riding beside the Hokitika River for 12.6km before turning around and returning to Cass Square.

Haden completed the 25.2km course in 31 minutes 40 seconds.

This time was not only good enough to win the senior men's category that Haden, 39, was entered in, but was the fastest time posted by anyone on the course.

He said that had always been his goal going into the event.

"Even though I'm certainly no young buck, my goal is always to get the outright quickest time so that was certainly the plan."

Haden's win this year was extra-sweet because in the same event last year, his strong ride ended when he hit a small pothole and punctured his front tyre.

This year's run still had its challenges, the biggest of which was the windy conditions on the course, he said.

On the day of the time trial, there was a strong wind down the length of the course from the Tasman Sea.

There was an assisting tailwind for the first leg of the route, but riders had to deal with a headwind for the return leg.

Haden said he had to pace himself over the first half of the course because he knew the second half would be more taxing.

"If you've blown yourself up when you hit a headwind, the penalty is huge," he said.

A long-time member of the Whanganui cycling community, Haden began initially in downhill mountain biking and won the men's national championships in 2009.

He transitioned to road cycling in 2017, and said since then the competition in road cycling had changed a lot.

"The beauty of cycling these days is that it's not 100 per cent about your fitness, it's about your equipment, your position on the bike and clothing choices, it's the whole package now," he said.

Haden spent a lot of time in his buildup adjusting his position on the bike to improve his aerodynamics.

His next big event will be the Tour of Southland from October 30 to November 5 as a member of the Couplands Bakery racing team, which he has been part of for years.