Elite mountain bike rider Luke Brame has spent the month of June testing out the Canadian trails.
Competing in the Canada Cup, which is a series of four races, the Glenbrook resident was hoping to accumulate as many points as possible to qualify for the world championships in Canada in August. The Australian team will be announced on July 24.
Facing a competitive international field, Brame finished between 19th and 23rd in each of the lap-based races of around 1.5 hours, held in Bae Saint Paul, Sherbrooke, Whistler and Canmore.
His favourite race was at Whistler, which included 1000m of elevation.
"The descents were a lot of fun and the trails were all built with cool features like a rock face and drop-off down on to a ramp," the 21-year-old said.
Brame, who is a member of Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club, started racing locally at 13, and has represented Australia in four world championships.
At the Oceania championships and national championships held in April at Bright in Victoria, he finished seventh.
He spends 2-3 hours a week at the gym and 15-20 hours on the bike, often at Knapsack Reserve or in the national park at Glenbrook, and is studying accounting part-time at the University of Western Sydney. He did think about becoming a tradie like his dad Mark, but decided against it due to the physicality of his mountain bike training.
"I spend a lot of time training and to be able to sit at a desk to type ... And accounting is something that everybody would need," Brame said.
"The racing is my favourite thing about it. Competing and putting in the effort and seeing the results and doing it with mates. One of the biggest rewards is being in the moment - you don't have to think about uni or work."