CYCLING: Hopes riding high for Neave | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

Ashleigh Neave is a rare species.

She can be a pretty down-to-earth person even if you dredge up that Te Awamutu National Road Cycling Championship saga from 2008.

Catapulting over her handlebar, the Napier cyclist succumbed to gravity, finding herself in a ditch while competing in the under-17 girls' 60km event.

"I was too short to get out of the ditch," the petite 18-year-old Eastern Institute of Technology's sport and recreation degree student tells SportToday before competing in this year's weeklong nationals starting in Hawke's Bay from tomorrow with the time-trial event.

It was a sharp plunge along a stretch of road with spectators sparsely dotting the route.

"I had road rash down my legs, I was covered in prickles and I had cut my knee in the ditch from broken glass."

Fortunately, a spectator from West Coast had noticed her bike lying on the roadside a few minutes after her calls for help went unchallenged.

"He went down on his knee and got me out," says Neave, who bit her bottom lip, fought back the pain and tears, straddled her saddle again to finish sixth in the race. A few days earlier, she had won the under-17 girls' time-trial title.

Amid the gritty exterior, Neave's atypical demeanour doesn't care much for material things.

Well, yes, it would be great to be on the top perch of the podium during the medal ceremonies in the next few days at the nationals and, yes, it would be nice to have a sponsor or two by the end of next month for an overseas stint.

But that's not what drives the former Sacred Heart College pupil.

"I don't race for money. I do it for the love.

"You can have all the money in the world and yet not be able to ride."

Almost instantaneously, she checks herself on the course of life, as a rider would by squeezing the handlebar brakes while negotiating a tight corner to find a sense of balance while blissfully aware of the consequences of losing traction with the gravel road.

"Some money would be nice," says the Ramblers Cycling Club member, throwing her head back in laughter while fidgeting with the contents of her lecture notes in a folder.

She's convinced her parents, Trevor Neave, a driving instructor, and mother Debbie Neave, who runs a pet shop, would like her to have more money but she believes they understand what she's about.

"They are my primary sponsors," she says, adding Pedal Power, in Taradale, and Usana Health Sciences are her key providers outside of home.

Neaves will compete in the under-19 women's time-trial and two-lap 60km road race events at the nationals.

It boggles her why the under-19s, who will graduate to Open women's events by the end of this year, race over 60km instead of the senior 120km distance over four laps.

"If it's up to me it would be much longer. That's the only way to get better if you want to make that step up to the next level."

Her training with her coach for the past three years, Ivar Hopman, is on track. It started with a base of "long, slow Ks" over Christmas before progressing to the next phase of speed and power.

Hopman rides a scooter while his stable of riders sit behind him before breaking into shuttles of sprints ahead of him, as in rugby and soccer training.

The riders are now in the "taper" stage of not doing much.

"You sort of get fitter from doing nothing. Less is more and rest is more," she reveals, after not competing in last year's nationals because of glandular fever that kept her off the road for six months.

It's hard to believe, judging by her waif-like physique, but she "got pretty fat".

Neave is happy with her legs after months of training which will stand the litmus test during the 20-minute time-trial event tomorrow.

With the advent of new faces in the grade, she's adamant not to single out faces who pose a threat to her goal of winning medals for the Ramblers club.

"My focus is on the process, not the outcome because I don't know what people will pull out on the day," says Neave, satisfied with the ground she's made since going to Hopman, who has modified her technique and posture.

SNAPSHOT:

• What do you love about cycling?

Pain because there's nothing better than the tired-legs feeling after a hard workout.

• What do you dislike about it?

Sprinting because I'm not very good at it.

• Favourite food: Mum's roast Yorkshire pudding.
• Drink: Pineapple juice or coconut smoothie.
• TV Show: South Park because it's so un-PC and anything goes.
• Music: Anything that appeals or has a beat.
• Who would you not like to sit next to on a flight?

My twin sister, Abbi, 18, who's studying engineering at Canterbury University. She sleeps on the shoulder of others, has travel sickness and has a pretty crappy choice of music.

• What would you be professionally if you weren't playing your sport?

A helicopter pilot because it's most rewarding to be able to be involved in search and rescue.

• Least favourite household chore: Cleaning up after cooking because I'm the messiest cook ever.
• If you could have anything for you next birthday, what would it be?

For people to care about other people in this very materialistic world.