Lindup lining up for solo bid

Thomas Lindup is a tiger for punishment.

Next month, the 24-year-old is heading to Australia to compete in the world 24-hour solo mountainbike championships held at Mt Strongbow, Canberra.

It's the third crack at the worlds for the New Plymouth rider who moved to Wellington earlier this year in search of work.

He won the under-25 category at his first attempt finishing seventh overall in Canmore, Alberta, Canada in 2008. Last year at the same venue, things didn't go quite so well – he was pulled out of the race by medical personnel after 18 hours.

"I stopped at a checkpoint and a medical guy took my temperature and he put me in a ute and that was it," he said. "Hopefully it's a different case this year. My buildup has been good."

That buildup involves a lot of time on the bike for the former Spotswood College student.

"I'm training seven days a week. I've been racing for 11 years and my focus now is on speed work," he said. "In the past, I've been training up to 40 hours a week. I'm doing about 20 hours a week at present, sometimes a bit more."

Lindup said a lot of his training now was repetitive sets.

"I might head up a hill eight times. You get to see the same piece of tarmac eight times, it gets steeper as the sets roll on."

It's all about building his stamina, whether the hill climb takes one minute or 20 minutes.

Lindup said he took up mountainbiking as a teenager.

"I did my first 12-hour solo ride when I was 15, a year later I did my first 24-hour race," he said. "It's different from mountainbiking, There's more of a challenge. I did a couple and got a taste for it."

While the move to Wellington had been good – he has secured a part-time job as a bike mechanic in Porirua – he missed New Plymouth.

"I miss the mountain and the sea. It doesn't blow half as bad in New Plymouth as it does here," he said. "It's so much easier to train in New Plymouth. The roads aren't as busy."

With a new bike due to arrive shortly, Lindup said he was looking forward to the trip. "There's a few Kiwi riders going over for the champs. I know a couple and I'm confident of performing well."

He will also have family close at hand.

"My parents (Raewyn Gainsford and Graeme Lindup) are coming over. I'll have dad as my pit manager. He can supply me with the food and drinks and give me my lap times," he said.

"I'm hoping to get a mechanic over there."

- © Fairfax NZ News