The White stuff

BARRY HARCOURT/Southland Times

CITY TO CITY: Invercargill cyclist Michael White competes in a tour in Dunedin this year.

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Michael White has been close to greatness. He has a photo of himself cheering on seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong during this year's event.

In the photo he's close enough to reach out and touch the great man's shoulder, close enough to see the sweat roll out from under his helmet, and close enough to smell the determination as he cycles by.

For 36-year-old White, it's a moment in time that will live forever.

"It was my first glimpse of him and it was great because a mate that was with us just got the money shot right there and then," White recalls.

"He was really pissed off because when he looked at it he saw that I was in the photo with (Lance). It was good fun."

Following le Tour earlier this year was a trip of a lifetime for White and his wife Tania.

Too often reality does not do our perception justice, but that's not the case with the tour, White says.

"It was probably better (than I thought it would be). It was just awesome. You don't realise how big it is. We'd taken our mountainbikes over and we biked up a lot of the big climbs. The second-to-last day we went up a climb called Ventoux, which is a 22km climb and they reckon there were 700,000 people up that hill. It's not just the cycling you are there for, it's the whole atmosphere."

Cycling has been a big part of White's life.

He began on the track at Kew Bowl as a 13-year-old when his parents shifted into town from Hedgehope, and hasn't looked back.

He's ridden three Tours of Southland, with a best finish of 11th in his 1995 debut, which he considers his top achievement in the sport.

"It was one of my best ones. People think that you're (just) a trackie and it's pretty hard work when you are training before work, holding down an eight or nine-hour job and then training afterwards."

White's signwriting business, Vital Signs, sponsored last year's Tour de Lakes, which he also rode in. This year he won the category 2 section of the R&R Tour in Dunedin and at the Tour of Nelson last Christmas he won the sprint ace jersey.

White was selected in the Southland team for the national club road championships in Nelson at Labour Weekend but decided to ride the inaugural eight-hour mountainbike race at Jacks Point instead. He said cycling was an important part of his life.

"It's quite a good stress relief for me ..."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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