Serious cycler Cyrus

125905_16

By JARROD POTTER

A SWITCH to road cycling is starting to pay off for Drouin’s Cyrus Monk.
Monk, 17, has flourished with his road cycling in recent years as the high-ranking results are starting to pile up. His recent accomplishments include a regional victory at the Victorian Schools Cycling Championships, held at Casey Fields last Friday,
“I’ve been cycling probably about nine years now – just stated when I was really little on the track at the velodrome and that’s how I got into it and learned all the skills that I’ve taken into road cycling,” Monk said.
“Only started racing seriously about five years ago against others at state level and that was in the schools championships.
“In the last year I’ve started taking it a bit further – going to the A Grade road racing series level and hope to keep improving from now.”
Riding for the Park Trent Properties Team, Monk managed to earn a few career highlights this year including a win at the C-Grade Tour of Bright, top 10 in the National Hillclimb Championships and winning the Gippsland Three Day Tour over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
“Won the Gippsland three-day tour – 50th edition of the race – A-Grade win – it’s just against people from Gippsland, but there are plenty of good cyclists from Gippsland,” Monk said.
“The last day was really tight, as I only won by 11 seconds in the end I knew there were about four of us within that time and there were time bonuses as well – I was just trying to make sure I didn’t give anyone any chances.
“I was basically worn out by the sprint – was just trying to get across the finish line I couldn’t even tell what was going on – looked around and saw I’d beaten most of the guys that I had to and it was relief that I was able to finish it off and win the race.”
His win in the junior-19 male racing category at the VSCC regional last week helped round out his time in school cycling, but he still has one main ambition left representing Drouin Secondary College as he heads off to the Bendigo state championship later this year.
“I’m pretty hopeful as I got fourth at the state level last year and kept improving towards the level of the guys I was racing against,” Monk said.
“It will come down to who is the better rider on the day as we race against each other all year at the Victorian Road Series and it’s a really good test against those guys again.”
Monk will head off to the San Miranda Road Race this weekend before competing in the Tour of Gippsland NRS series – his first race at the national level.
Cyrus Monk wanted to thank Park Trent Properties Team and its coaches Bob and Helen Kelly for the opportunity and development with his cycling, also his parents, Warragul Cycling Club and Drouin Cycles for their support.