Mountain biking: Price keen to get back into racing

Justin Price in action. Photo: Greg Bowker

When Justin Price flew to Malaysia last October to compete in the Langwaki International Mountain Bike Challenge, he had high hopes for a top-20 finish in the marathon race. By the time he returned home to New Zealand, he feared he might never ride again.

The Rotorua Mountain Bike Club member had battled his way to the finish line in the suffocating heat of the jungle, even dusting himself off after a mid-race collison with a wayward scooter. But days later, he was bedridden with a mystery illness that left him unable to walk.

Now, after a nightmarish five months of uncertainty and painful recovery, Price is back on the bike and training for the mountain bike World XCM championships in Italy this June.

"It's been quite an ordeal," he told the Rotorua Daily Post.

When Price, 38, got back from Malaysia he spent three weeks in and out of Tauranga Hospital. Tests were required to diagnose his illness - eventually, Price was told he was suffering from reactive arthritis, brought on by salmonella poisoning.

Price thinks he caught the bug from street food on his travels; he's since discovered he carries a gene that makes him vulnerable to the inflammatory condition.

After spending two weeks in a wheelchair and another five on crutches, Price said he had been "hobbling around" for the past couple of months.

How did he cope with the fear he may never be able to bike again?

"It was really hard when I couldn't walk, I was really worried. I even got on a stationary bike before I could walk, and spent the next couple of days in a lot of pain," he said.

"But honestly, I tried not to think too much about it, because I was pretty depressed about the whole thing."

After responding well to treatment, Price resumed training this month, in between shifts as a massage therapist at Touch Massage on Eruera St.

He was enthusiastic about Rotorua's mountain bike scene. "Just about everyone here rides, and that's why it's such a cool place to be."

Admitting that he wasn't "very good at slowing down", Price said his condition still caused him a lot of discomfort. "I'm still quite reliant on medication, and I get a lot of pain - it has a little party round my body, and it's always in my shoulders and my feet," he said.

But doctors have signed off on him competing at Selva Val Gardena in the Dolomites, Italy, on June 26 - and after everything he's been through, Price is eager to get back out racing.

"I feel like there is unfinished business. I still haven't reached my potential."