Cycling: Buchanan's not done just yet

SILVER FERN: It's jersey No 3 for Rushlee Buchanan after she added the road race crown in Napier yesterday. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

It's a scary thought to hear Rushlee Buchanan casually talk about "obviously I have a lot more to do".

The Waikato rider, who turns 28 on January 20, made the remark not long after returning home last night with a memorable double at the Big Save New Zealand Road Cycling Championship in Napier.

The frightening thing is she and a few of her fellow elite track riders didn't come here with any preconceived ideas about winning.

No, they simply wanted to add the national road race champs to their rigorous build up to the ultimate goal of nailing a berth at the Rio Olympics later this year.

"We didn't want to peak for the nationals," said the United Healthcare professional who now holds all three New Zealand road titles after adding the elite women's time-trial and road race titles to the criterium one in Auckland last November.

The three-time road race champ, who is equal on most wins with fellow Waikato rider Melissa Holt, played down pre-race any talk of winning because the field of 30 would have had fresh legs after only 10 of them did the 23.2km time trial on Friday.

But Buchanan held off fellow NZ reps Georgia Williams and Jo Kiesanowski in a sprint finish of the 117km race in 3:35.44, after they rode the final two laps together on Saturday.

She saluted national track coach Brendon Cameron, of Cambridge, for letting them compete at the nationals.

"What Brendon is giving us at training is paying off and he knows what's best for us," she said, emphasising the 3.5-hour on the road now has to be condensed into a 4.5-minute track gut buster.

As the only child in the family, she was delighted to have her parents, Viv and Don, and husband Adrian Hegyvary (pronounced "hisvie") cheer her on here.