Five months travelling Europe and downhill mountainbike racing has been like sampling ‘‘the university of life’’, 17-year-old Oli Nicholls says.
The Ashburton teen has returned home after living his dream.
He was riding every day and competing among the top age group riders in the world after he qualified for the Under 19 UCI Mountainbiking Downhill World Series; and being selected to represent New Zealand in the world championships.
Nicholls said there were training sessions with his race idols, thrills and spills in adrenaline-filled racing, and equipment failures.
He was sight-seeing and flatting for two months with fellow Kiwi mountainbikers in France.
It was an opportunity too good not to jump at, and saw his riding progressed, he said.
He kept his audience back home up to date with Instagram messages and Facebook posts ‘‘for oldies’’.
‘‘It was bloody awesome, it was the university of life,’’ he said of the experience.
‘‘I ended up getting unlucky at a few … at Leogang, Austria, in the third round, I was doing a random ride about two days before race started with mates and had a silly fall and hurt the same shoulder again. It was the same sort of feeling.
‘‘But that sort of went away quite fast, I guess I was enjoying it too much to think about it,’’ he said with a smile.
It was the same shoulder where he had torn a tendon/ ligament after a fall training at Mt Hutt prior to leaving for overseas.
The programme break between races helped with healing, he said.
Nicholls said tracks overseas were similar to those in New Zealand, but resulted in a faster average speed.
They were also wider and had ‘‘more line choice’’, however it was the weather and sheer volume of riders which impacted Nicholls most.
‘‘It being world series, the track would develop and change so much.
‘‘It was sort of worse, that at each race it rained, so it was a bit softer to make more ruts and different lines, and just made it a lot more treacherous.’’
The schedule change also took a bit to get his head around after nine years racing in New Zealand, he said.
In New Zealand racing involved a seeding run, followed by a race.
Overseas with up to 200 riders set to compete at different levels, they all had practice runs.
There was a practice run on day one, for an hour or two, for junior men and women, and elite women. Then the elite men riders would have a run, he said.
The sessions were then repeated on day two, before a qualifying run on day three.
‘‘So the track has changed since your last practice – a lot. That’s kind of what I found hard.
‘‘Having that change, and that amount of traffic going down the track changing it, definitely affected me.’’
Nicholls, who is ranked as a top five age group rider in New Zealand, said his best result overseas was getting a top 50 placing out of about 130 riders.
‘‘Top 50 I’m still two seconds or a second off a qualifying time, which is top 25 – the 25th qualifier. It tells you how tight the times are,’’ he said.
During the trip, Nicholls was accompanied for two months by his dad, Anton.
They lived out of a campervan, before Nicholls moved in with other Kiwi riders in shared accommodation in Morzine, France.
Nicholls described Morzine as being ‘‘the bike park destination’’ with chair lifts in every direction.
Nicholls’ travels started in the United Kingdom, racing at Fort William in Scotland, which he likened to Mt Hutt.
‘‘It was awesome, and quite similar to up at Mt Hutt where I usually train,’’ he said, of Fort Williams.
‘‘I was on the qualifying pace, so that’s top 25 … it was really tight.’’ However about three quarters down the track, and on pace to qualify, he got a flat tyre.
Series racing then included events in Prague in the Czech Republic, Szczyrk in Poland, Austria and Val di Sole in Italy.
A head injury sustained during practice for the world champs, which were in late August in Andorra (a country between France and Spain), eventually saw Nicholls opt out of the event.
‘‘Well sh** – that’s World’s done,’’ he posted on Facebook at the time.
‘‘I hit my head hard in yesterday’s practice. Gave it a few minutes and rolled down slowly.
‘‘I can’t remember riding down any of the track and found myself with medics nearly at the bottom after crashing again.
‘‘I’ve made the decision not to race and rest the head for the next week. Let’s see how we go.’’
Despite the setback he got back on his bike.
He met up with professional riders, such as Scotsman Greg Williamson, who he had first met at Coronet Peak in Queenstown, and Red Bull athlete Brook McDonald of New Zealand and Aussie Sian A’hern, who he rode with in the Czech Republic.
‘‘It was in between the races and we were going through and (McDonald and A’hern) were there. We came across them and they said ‘hey let’s go riding’.
‘‘Sian asked me the next day to go riding but we were leaving.’’
While disappointed he did not get to show his true racing ability Nicholls had returned to work at Stoked Cycles in Ashburton and was back on the bike for club racing with Gravity Canterbury.
He was confident of showing some improved times due to the experience.
‘‘I had to take the opportunity because next year I’m in the elite category,’’ he said, which he advances to when he turns 18.
‘‘That’s racing against the professional (riders). It’s not saying I can’t do it but if makes it a lot harder.’’
He said he was grateful to those who had supported him especially his parents Anton and Tabitha, and grandparents, as well as Phat Bastards bike group, and Gravity Canterbury mountainbike club.
‘‘I’d like to thank all of the people who believed in me and helped make this opportunity happen,’’ he said.
‘‘It was an awesome experience meeting some new friends and visiting sweet places.’’
