Hamish Bond takes a well-earned drink after completing the 40km time-trial at the road cycling nationals in Taradale, Napier, yesterday. PHOTO/Duncan Brown
IN the age of digital warriors it isn't peculiar to find someone from the cheap seats twittering "No corners in rowing" after double Olympic gold medallist Hamish Bond takes a tumble in Taradale on New Year's Day.
But when Bond steps up to the podium for a bronze in the New Zealand Road Cycling Championship in Napier yesterday it renders such remarks as ill-conceived notions.
The 30-year-old, in Waikato Bay of Plenty colours, clocked 53m 06s to finish behind winner Jack Bauer (Tasman, Quick-Step Floors) 51:54 and Jason Christie (Mid-South Canterbury) coming in at 52:15.
Put another way, it isn't impossible to find a happy medium between water and land, especially if you are a pedigree athlete, although Bond isn't about to lend any credence to social media provocations by responding to them.
In his own down-to-earth sort of way, Bond accepted it was nice to get on the rostrum and a good starting point in a code he has embraced after committing to a year-long hiatus from rowing since returning from the Rio Olympics with fellow Halberg winner and doubles rower Eric Murray.
"There are plenty of things I can improve on so it's obviously a steep learning curve being my first time," said Bond, the unmistakable seriousness edge to the tone of his voice.
For the record, the New Year's Day training accident, the result of his pedal clipping the ground, wasn't an issue yesterday, after he somersaulted and landed on his back.
He has simply taken the broken rib and a suspected fractured wrist in his stride, never mind any skin he left behind on the dirt from his well-greased elbows in the water.
His dexterity never in question in a sporting arena, Bond quickly learned how not to negotiate a corner when in the saddle of a bicycle.
It wasn't a problem but he is coming to terms with how the body and mind respond to an athlete who is pedalling furiously for close to an hour when the calf muscles are begging for mercy and the lungs are starved of oxygen.
"Obviously, physically it's very challenging so unless you're doing it you can't really comprehend what that is like."
Fortunately Bond doesn't find that aspect totally foreign to him because it's something he has been doing in the water for a good part of his life.
A bloke who isn't in the habit of romanticising matters following success, he once told Hawke's Bay Today it was always challenging to juggle education with rowing.
But going one way or other wasn't an option for fear of finishing average in both so, consequently, he put his sporting pursuits well in front of his education.
The former Otago Boys' High School pupil attended Otago University for two semesters before switching to Massey University, Cambridge, for extramural studies to graduate with a business studies degree and financial planning diploma while keeping rowing on the front burner.
That's the sort of passion with which he is embracing the physical and mental challenges of cycle-dom.
He is under no illusions that he has to go through the spin-dry cycle of high performance with training and progression to make that transition from lakes to land.
"Obviously it's a different sport and a different challenge with lots of things that I need to learn."
That's where former Kiwi professional rider Jesse Sergeant, a time-trial guru, and Ron Cheatley, of Velo Ronnys Bicycle Store as well as track cycling fame, help him get up to speed on the roads.
"At the end of the day they're both about pushing hard and pushing yourself hard physically."
That uncompromising self-analysis kicks in again when asked if he will take cycling seriously.
In his eyes, the Dunedin-born athlete never wades into anything in life with the mindset of doing it in halves.
"I'm taking it seriously at the moment and that's the way I approach things.
"In doing things and not doing it to your capabilities, to me, it just seems pointless so, largely, the challenges that go out with it are about discovering what I'm capable of."
Rowing is sitting on the back burner for now as he finds a new medium to keep himself motivated so right now he's simply satisfied with treating them as an event-by-event situation.
"You know, you've got to be fluid when things change so I'm just going to take it month by month and event by event."
A sucker when it comes to need for speed, Bond accepts he can easily fall head over heels for cycling.
He realises his potential in his new found sport is primarily untapped so he isn't going to curb his desires but, at the same time, also factor in that he has to do the hard yards to discover it.
He is, metaphorically speaking, at the base of a steep climb and he isn't necessarily wanting to conquer the peak right now. It's his analogy to turning professional but he never says never to anything.
It's difficult for him to place favourites tags on the disciplines of time-trial, criterium, track or road race because they are all so new to him but he does trust his instincts.
"I feel like the time-trial suits my approach, my mentality and my physicality better, perhaps."
Suffice it to say that when Bond finds himself on the start line tomorrow, he won't have any illusions about why he's here because it's ingrained in his competitive genetic make up.
"I'm always there to try to win because that's my approach to anything I do."
That's what he relishes about finding himself among individuals who give themselves the best chance of winning, which he believes is the gist of a sporting existence.
He realises he has the propensity to become the poster boy of any sport because as he forges into his ventures it's bound to create a bit of interest.
"No matter what sport I'm in, if you can promote good, healthy stories in sport and suit of excellence, it'll have a positive spin off.
"The expectation is always greater within me than what I feel externally. I feel more obligation, I guess, to myself and to do justice to my ability as opposed to doing it for anyone else."
Bond believes he is earning his stripes in cycling and his aim is to simply keep on improving.