WHEN a cricketer or a rugby player’s career winds down there is normally a fairly steady succession into golf, and then maybe lawn bowls.
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Not for brothers-in-law Paul Flitcroft and Chris Doyle, with mountain biking their new sport of choice.
Flitcroft, a former Orange City Cricket Club star who still fills in occasionally, and Doyle, a former Orange Emu, will compete in the men’s pairs category in this weekend’s Ginja Ninja 250 in Orange, the first leg of the rich Fairfax Media Evocities MTB Series.
“Mountain biking is very different,” Flitcroft laughed.
“The muscle groups you use are completely different, it's pretty much the complete opposite [to both sports] really."
The pair have been avid mountain bikers for “quite a while” but only began competing about four years ago. Since then, Flitcroft and Doyle have contested two Ginja Ninja 250s, in 2012 and 2013.
“We missed last year but rode the two years before that,” Doyle said.
“And now that there is plenty of buzz around this competition we've upgraded our bikes and that sort of thing. We’re really looking forward to it,” Flitcroft added.
Despite both having an undeniable competitive streak after years of sporting experience, Flitcroft said he and his brother-in-law were under no illusions as to where they stood as mountain bikers.
“We certainly aren’t in it to win,” he laughed.
“We're amateurs, we’ll just be trying to beat our last effort [in the Ginja Ninja].
“I think in the 250 minutes we’ll try and jam about eight laps in, we tend to take around half an hour for a lap. It's incredible to think the elite riders are doing like 11 and 12 laps by themselves, we're trying for eight as a team so that's only four each.
“Obviously, even though we aren’t looking to win, that competitive nature takes over sometimes. If you see someone in front, you want to overtake them.”
The Fairfax Media Evocities MTB Series is the richest mountain biking series in Australia with more than $80,000 worth of prizemoney on offer.
The Orange leg in the Kinross State Forest will be followed by events at Wylde (western Sydney), Bathurst, Albury, Dubbo, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.
“[The series] is incredible,” Flitcroft said.
“The prizemoney on offer should make sure the standard is pretty high. There is so much potential in mountain biking around Orange, it’s good to see the sport being invested in.
“We’ll definitely look at doing the other reasonably local races. We’ll do Bathurst as well, and probably Dubbo. Tamworth might be a bit far, but we will follow the series for a little bit.
“I think a lot of people will follow the series around.”
