Cycling: Avery helps out old club on the road

Rotorua pro-elite cyclist Clinton Avery has taken time out from riding in Europe to help his home club win a Bay of Plenty winter series.

The Rotorua Cycling Club won the inaugural Central North Island Interclub/CRI Road Distance Championships by accruing the most points in three road races held between May and July in Rotorua, Tokoroa and Taupo.

More than 30 riders from Rotorua and Taupo took part in the three-race event.

Rotorua Cycle Club secretary and cyclist Kevin Prosser said it felt good to bring home the club shield with the help of Avery.

"It was great to have Clinton ride with us for the Tokoroa race. It helped boost our points and it was just neat to have a pro-elite cyclist and our own homeboy biking with us," he said.

Avery, 24, who has been living in Belgium and racing in America before returning home, said he had been a part of the Rotorua club since he was 16.

"Racing at home is always fun and a good laugh. I like to give back to the club after all the support they have given me to get to where I am now," he said.

The cyclist returned to Europe at the weekend and would be away until the end of the European season in mid-October.

"My plan is to finish off my first season as a professional with hopefully a few more podiums. I've had two already with a win in the Basking Ridge Criterium in New Jersey, USA, and came second in the Tallinn-Tartu Grand Prix in Estonia," he said.

Avery said it had been a rough road to get to where he was now but like the boxer from the movie Rocky, he believed it was not about how hard you could hit but how hard you could get hit and keep moving forward.

"When things get hard in the middle of a race and I feel like I have nothing left, I tell myself I believe I can. Unless you have dropped dead, you will always have something left," he said.

Avery rides for pro-cycling team Champion System based in China, competing in the UCI Professional Continental and UCI World Tour races.

The former Rotorua Lakes student was the New Zealand national mountain bike champ in 2007 and won the Tour of the South Island in 2011. He is also the older brother of Monique Avery a former Xterra world champion.