Kyle Hoskin has been placing in the top 10 all over New Zealand and will try to do so again in Taupo and Ngaruawahia in November. Photo / Supplied
Kyle Hoskin hopped on a mountain bike at the age of 10 and has never looked back.
The Wanganui Collegiate School student is now 16 and pedals around New Zealand competing in all sorts of cycle races.
"The most recent was one of the Dynamo series up in Tokoroa which is a series of six races as a team," Hoskin said.
"I got away in the breakaway of seven riders and we stayed away until the finish. That was in a field of about 70 riders so I was really happy with that."
CNZ (Cycling New Zealand) Junior Men, who Hoskin is riding for, finished ninth of 11 teams competing in Dynamo Events' The Team Championship at Tokoroa.
Hoskin finished 6th out of 62 riders at the event that works on a points-based system. He will try to better that at the next round in Ngaruawahia on November 18.
The life of a competitive cycle racer is a busy one. The day before Hoskin competed in Dynamo, he won the 90km race at the Feilding Festival of Cycling.
The result meant back-to-back wins for Hoskin at that event, but it might not have been as sweet as his 7th place in the Novice Tour of Manawatū.
"I got some broken spokes in the first two or three kilometres of that race and had to stop and get a wheel change," Hoskin said.
"The peleton took off pretty quickly and I had to chase for about 10 minutes to get back on the bunch, which was hard. You've done all this work to get there and you don't want to lose it like that."
The peleton is the main group of cyclists within a race and Hoskin estimates when you're travelling in it, you're using 30% to 40% less energy than you would racing on your own.
Hoskin's best result this year was in the Yunca Junior Tour of Southland where he finished 3rd out of 35 riders aged under 17.
His passion for riding began while he was at Huntley School in Marton, which had a bike available for students to use.
"I just thought I'd try it out one day and went out for a ride with some of the students there and really enjoyed it.
"It's not just like a running race where you only have to be fit. You have to be really smart to be a bike rider. There are so many tactics involved in the sport.
"You don't want to do too much work within the race. You've got to use the other riders wisely and you've got to save your energy until a crucial climb or something like that."
As well as the next round of Dynamo, Hoskin is looking forward to the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge and then preparing for the track riding national's in February.
"Track riding requires quite a different fitness to road cycling. There's a lot more speed involved," Hoskin said.
"You need to do a little bit more gym work to get your strength. I'll be at the Velodrome in Whanganui a couple of nights a week and then racing in Feilding on a Sunday."
Riders and spectators in Whanganui are anticipating the start of the last race.