Road to London Olympics: Sam Bewley

Today The Daily Post continues its series profiling local Olympians preparing for the London Games.

Rotorua cyclist Sam Bewley is in no great hurry to get to London.

It's the second Olympics for the 24-year-old, who won bronze in the team pursuit in Beijing, and this time he doesn't want any distractions.

"I'm not a big believer in needing to go into the [athletes'] village early," he said.

Bewley and teammates Jesse Sergent, Marc Ryan, Aaron Gate and Westley Gough will stay in France until three or four days before the Games, completing their preparation well away from the spotlight.

"Going later on will help us stay away from the hype and publicity at the village," he said.

"We are there to win a medal."

His motivation is high and with less than three months to go, he's excited, although it's a different sort of excitement from his Olympic debut.

"At Beijing, it was an anxious excited. You wanted to see what it was all about, see what the village was all about.

"I've never been the kind of guy to get star-struck but of course it was huge for a 21-year-old from little old Rotorua," he said.

"But I've done that now and this time it's just excitement about what we can do on the track."

In Beijing, Bewley's pursuit team went into the competition as underdogs and came away believing there was no reason why they couldn't take the gold in London.

Gold remains the goal, although Bewley admits the British and Australian teams are a step above the rest, the two teams dominating last month's world championships in Melbourne where the Kiwis finished third.

"If [the gold] doesn't happen, then I want a medal. If I walked away from this Olympics without a medal, I would be pretty disappointed."

Bewley spoke to The Daily Post from his home in Girona, Spain, where he has been based for the past three years.

It's a town not much bigger than Rotorua, home to about 100 professional cyclists who hang out and train together in the nearby Pyrenees mountains.

While he enjoyed his trips back to Rotorua, Bewley said he was well settled in Spain.

"I have to be here for my career." he said.

"Cycling here [in Europe] is bigger than rugby."

Rotorua born and bred, Bewley, like many local kids, started out mountainbiking as a teenager, competing at national level. He was "pushed" on to the track at the age of 17, taking to the new discipline immediately.

After London, his career will enter another phase when he quits the track to focus on professional road racing - he's rumoured to be joining Australian team Green Edge.

"I've had a pretty good run at the track but there comes a time when you have to think about your future," he said.

"My future is on the road and I can see myself being based in Europe for the next 10 years."

But for now, Bewley's focus is purely on August 2, when the team pursuit gets under way in London.

He's hoping parents Ken and Sue will be there to support him but with velodrome tickets almost impossible to come by, the rest of his family and friends will have to join his hometown in cheering him on from their living rooms.