Ian Seddon and coach Ivar Hopman won't mind picking up the rainbow bands at the UCI Masters World Championship in Trento, Italy, next month.
Okay so Ian Seddon is chasing rainbows - but not, as one is inclined to suspect, idiomatically speaking.
At the age of 55, the task at hand in Trento, Italy, may be daunting or even gut-busting but impractical or impossible it certainly isn't.
"They present the rainbow jersey there in any age or grade. It's the holy grail of racing," says the Napier architect before jetting off with coach Ivar Hopman to the UCI World Masters Cycling Championship in a thriving city north of Milan, flirting with the Swiss border and hugging the Dolomites mountain range.
In cycling parlance, the rainbow jersey is a distinctive top the reigning world champion wears in a racing discipline. The garment is predominantly white with five horizontal bands in the UCI colours around the chest.
The bands start from the bottom with green, yellow, black, red and blue to resembles the colours of the rings on an Olympic flag.
The rainbow jersey offers a peacock persona, making it easier for spectators to spot the reigning world champion but with that comes the curse of making him or her stick out like a sore thumb to the peloton, especially in road races.
Launching an attack becomes too obvious for the champion. He also becomes conspicuous to other riders on crashing or when grappling with a mechanical problem.
Something Seddon may never potentially fully realise is the retrenched space for sponsors' logos, although media coverage can often offset that.
All that, though, doesn't bother the Ramblers Cycling Club member of more than two decades, who will jostle with 24 others in his preferred time-trial event on September 19 and the 120km-plus road race that boasts a field of 150-plus riders.
"You are on top of the world so you're always going to be a marked and identified person," he says, believing a puffed chest at a world championship overshadows any other ensuing disadvantages.
The twists and turns of the Poraite Hills is a far cry from the 3000m of hill climbing he expects in total in Trento, including the last 20km stretch of the road race.
The time-trial will be around a lake but, needless to say, he won't have much time to take in the breathtaking scenery.
In 2011 he and wife Jillene Seddon were tourists in a bus to Venice, although Ian snapped up the opportunity to ride about 110km a day in a 3000km stretch across Spain (Tour of Vuelta) and France (Tour of France), mirroring the professionals' route to finish in Switzerland.
The pristine roads of Trento means Seddon will be riding between 6km and 8km an hour faster. Hopman, setting the pace on a motor scooter, has put him through the spin-dry cycle of 70km/h for that much-needed leg speed from "specific training" for the 55-59 age-group event that will include former European-based professionals.
Seddon is among only nine select Kiwis who have earned the right to compete at the worlds, after winning the national time-trials for his age group in Arrowtown by a whopping 30 seconds in April.
Hopman says it was the accumulation of a rigorous 18-month training regime that got his protege to the worlds.
"His form is well above and we've finished training so it's a step up from the nationals but he's not a spent force," the coach says, aiming for a top-five finish while chasing the rainbow.
Says Seddon: "I've won every coloured medal from gold to bronze at nationals so obviously this will be the highlight of my experiences."
His bronze in Waipawa last year was the catalyst for deriving some sort of incremental sense of satisfaction.
Biting his bottom lip over winter for a 500km-plus weekly grind to tame a springy world champs hasn't been easy.
Having Hopman on his case and fellow cycling mates has helped immensely.
Of course, with Jillene fulfilling her New Year's resolution of a remarkable body transformation culminating with the loss of 20kg for the National Amateur Body Builders Association's annual Hawke's Bay competitions last month, Seddon was in good company at home, too.
"I could eat a muffin and she couldn't so it wasn't too bad for me but I've probably had only two [alcoholic] drinks in the past year," he says after pursing his lips following a sip of a long black at a Napier cafe.
With two daughters having left home, the couple have shared many jocular challenges with two dogs and cats as their only distraction.
Seddon's no stranger to finding that competitive edge, getting his adrenalin fix as a motocross, go kart and jetboat racer.
Needing $12,000 for his campaign with Hopman, Seddon is organising a sports quiz night at Speight's Ale House on Thursday at 6.30pm to raise funds. A ride class at the City Fitness gym in Ahuriri on September 4 will also help with the fundraising.