FOR Josh Cooke, the opening leg of the Fairfax Media Evocities MTB Series is about more than just riding a bike - it’s about taking a chance some fathers never get to compete with their son.
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Josh, 41, will be joined in this year’s Ginja Ninja 250 by his 14-year-old son and now teammate Lukas.
“We’re just going to see how it goes, it’s our first one together so we’ll just give it a crack. Neither of us are feeling super fit, well, at least I’m not,” Josh laughed.
The father-son duo will compete in the men’s pairs at this weekend’s Ginja Ninja, which will kick off the evocities series, the richest mountain biking competition in the nation.
Lukas is also a keen downhill rider, and Josh said being able to compete with his son had given him a new-found motivation for the sport.
“I did the Ginja Ninja a few years ago, and I'm kind of keen on it,” Josh said.
“Now [Lukas] is big enough and keen on the mountain biking scene, so now he’s getting involved.
“We won’t be winning anything, just having some fun and doing it together.
“Having Lukas around motivates me to keep going.
“He wanted to do it, so I said I would too,”
“Yeah, I love it,” Lukas said.
Results don't matter for the pair, but Josh admitted they would have a set amount of laps they wanted to finish in the allotted 250 minutes of the Orange race.
“I think we’ll be looking at around seven or eight laps,” he said.
“Will we?” Lukas questioned.
“Maybe we’ll get three each rather than four,” Josh laughed.
“Yeah, maybe,” Lukas said.
There is over $80,000 in prizemoney on offer for the entire series, and the Orange leg will be followed by races at Wylde (western Sydney), Bathurst, Albury, Dubbo, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.
matt.findlay@fairfaxmedia.com.au
