Riding fast and beating his opponents is something Ben Anderson has gotten used to in recent years.
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But over the weekend, the Orange cyclist faced one of the biggest tests of his career so far as he competed against himself.
On Saturday, Anderson took part in the first round of the National Junior Track Series.
But instead of the normal format in which he would compete head to head against other riders on the same track, he and all the other riders were forced to compete virtually.
This essentially meant that Anderson would have to ride time trial after time trial.
"Racing against yourself you have to give it your best because you don't know how fast the other person is riding," he said.
"It's hard to get into the right mindset.
"When you're racing against someone, you know you have to beat them to the finish line.
"It gets in your head a little bit."
A sprint specialist, Anderson won 200m fly and the 500m time trial event in the under 17 division.
To cap off a successful Saturday, he even managed a third place finish in the 2km individual pursuit.
"The 2km result was just a bonus," Anderson added.
Then came Sunday and the Country Championships where he was back to racing against in-person competition.
He made light work of the field as he rode out the winner in all three formats.
"Going into the event I was looking win," he said.
"It was easier having someone to race against as I was able to push myself."
Now he will look to carry that good run of form with him into the State Sprint Championships, an event Ben's dad John described as "a biggy."
This will be taking place in Tamworth on Saturday.
But even further on from that is the nationals in March, where Anderson is hoping to peak.
"I'm looking to go into the season just to get as many wins as possible," Anderson said.
"It is still a pretty intense training block at the moment. I'm doing double days on the bike with some gym sessions as well.
"At the moment it's quite a far way away, so I'm going to look to race where I can and when I can and closer to nationals I'll start to taper off a bit."
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