A YACKANDANDAH rider will gain his first taste of overseas competition when he represents Australia in Europe over the next fortnight.
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Then I grew a lot more; getting a bit faster helped make it a lot more fun.
- Ben Zwar
Ben Zwar will be part of the junior national downhill team in the last World Cup round in Andorra and then contest the World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy.
When the World Cup came to Cairns in April Zwar placed eighth while his other achievements include second in the Victorian downhill series and sixth in the Australian equivalent.
He began his career after older brother Oliver, also a talented rider, got a mountain bike the boys shared at first and they both started racing.
But Zwar dropped the sport for a while when he stopped enjoying it.
“You’re still very young and it’s a lot harder for you,” he said. “Then I grew a lot more; getting a bit faster helped make it a lot more fun.”
A year 11 student at Wodonga Senior Secondary College, Zwar has been working with Lavington personal trainer Jon Styles for about six months.
“You need a lot of explosive power,” Zwar said. “We do a lot of leg work and quick interval stuff.”
As well, he gets out on his bike regularly, riding various routes around Yackandandah and further afield.
“In Bright they’ve got a really technical and steep track,” he said.
“I’m trying to ride that as much as I can to prepare myself. I train on motorbikes as well, that helps you because you go a lot faster, it all adds up.”
Zwar began his journey on Monday, feeling excited by the opportunity.
“I’m nervous for it, about the whole trip, but I feel good with my fitness and riding,” he said.
Along the steep, twisting and challenging downhill runs, the riders reach speeds of about 50km/h.
“The first run’s a bit scary, but once you get down and all, you feel pretty confident,” he said.
Zwar’s parents Wayne and Annika will be there to see him compete in Europe, with his father saying he loved watching his sons race, but was aware of the risks.
“I get a gauge of where they should be when I’m standing on the track and if they’re not there, my first thought it is, ‘I hope it’s mechanical’, then if it’s not, then yeah, you think the worst,” Wayne Zwar said.
“You’ve got to push the limit and then you’ve got to make sure that you just pull it back a little bit.
“And I see it, particularly his age group, these young kids have got a heap of testosterone and they just crash themselves out.
“He was doing that at the start of the year … he’s learning.”