Jack Carruthers doesn't hold back. Photo / Warren Buckland
At times the magnetic lure of friends can prove to be an escape from reality for many youngsters approaching the crossroads of life.
In the case of Jack Carruthers, it appears to be the scratchings of a rash that can flare into a career-defining journey.
The 17-year-old from Waipukurau isn't pedalling too furiously to get too far ahead of himself just yet but his "absolute goal" is to ride professionally for a cycling team and, no doubt, it will "be a privilege" to represent New Zealand along the way.
For now, there's the small matter of learning the intricacies of what it takes to become a cyclist on his Merida 11-speed machine.
The annual Three-Day Hub Tour in the backyard of Hastings and Napier is the ideal platform to graft those skills.
"I don't hold back and I enjoy getting stuck in," Carruthers says as the tour starts tomorrow from 5.30pm with the 6.7km Green Services Centre prologue in Puketapu.
The Ramblers Cycling Club-hosted tour has four stages and offers $10,000 in prize money to grades from open men and women to under-17 riders.
"I usually do well in the prologue," the Central Hawke's Bay College pupil says.
The Bike HB stage 1 will be raced on Saturday at the Crownthorpe Settlement circuit based at Pukehamoamoa School from 9am, offering elite men a three-lap 99km ride.
The Mudgeway Enterprises stage 2 will be held at the three-lap 84km Ohiti circuit (anti-clockwise) for elite men at the same venue as stage 1 from 2pm on Saturday.
The tour concludes on Sunday with the Ngatarawa Wines stage 3, to be held along the four-lap 104km Apley circuit (clockwise) from Puketapu School, for thebig boys.
B grade men and elite women to U17 men will cover two-three-lap 66km to 78km distances while the U17 women will focus on 33km to 58km stretches.
For Carruthers, the time trial is the bee's knees and he's done his dash in the sultry summer to prepare for the second Hub tour after finishing in the middle of the U17 pack last year.
The Cycling CHB member, who also belongs to Ramblers, gravitated towards the sport in his final year at Waipukurau Primary School.
"I had some mates doing it so I joined them," he says of Ryan Hulena and Noah Mason-Smith.
Last year he started taking it seriously but the catalyst was finding a suitable coach, Jeremy Vennell.
"It's gone uphill from there," the teenager says of retired professional rider Vennell.
"He's an awesome coach. I did some research on his background and knowledge and found out he had been around the world."
Interaction with the 34-year-old from Hastings has led to changes on how he rides, his nutrition and the amount of time he puts into training - from 10 hours a week to up to 18.
"Jeremy says it's as much about resting as training."
Fast foods and bread are things of the past.
In come lots of rice, vegetables and meat with gluten-free bread.
"It's all about who you know and Jeremy is one of the best in the country," he says.
Vennell hails Carruthers as "an up-and-coming talent in Hawke's Bay".
"He has a lot of tenacity which is a good trait. He likes to be an aggressive rider," he says, believing it is too easy to typecast him but he should be a good allrounder, equally versatile as a one-day or multi-day campaigner.
Carruthers, who Bike 'n' Mow, of Waipawa, sponsor, doesn't go into races half-hearted. "I don't hold back. I enjoy getting stuck in."
Like any peloton, there's a fair bit of banter from the blokes trying to mess with someone's head.
"If someone tries to get into you, you have to give it back to them or they'll pick on you all the time.
"It's something Jeremy taught me because they'll try to put you off your ride."
Regan Gough, a Halberg Award emerging talent of the year nominee and Hawke's Bay Today 2014 personality of the year finalist, set the pace in the U19s last year but has since ventured outside to ply his trade as others jostle for position of heir apparent in the Bay.