A LOCAL cyclist is taking his riding adventures to the next level as he prepares for the Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic in mid-February.

Euroa’s Dan Johnson has only started riding with the elite Cycle House team for ahead of Victoria’s most iconic long-distance cycling event. Before joining them, he regularly cycled with the Seymour Cycling Club.

“Growing up in Euroa, I found cycling to be so, so good to train. It’s in all honesty the best place to cycle in the whole state and that really drew me in,” Dan said.

“There’s great flexibility to do all kinds of distances, there are great loops around too with flats, hills with various steepness all over the place.”

Dan said his training sessions up through the Strathbogie Ranges were the best preparation a cyclist could ever have for a long-distance event, and the views aren’t that bad either.

“Heading out through to Ruffy, and via the back to Longwood is a pretty good route to go at times, but I live in Brunswick now at the moment and that gives me a bit of flexibility on city and country routes.”

Much of Dan’s 2020 was spent in his home town where he honed his cycling craft, with the Euroa and Strathbogie roads providing some good groundwork for his rise in competing in long-distance events with the 262km Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic being the pinnacle.

Dan will also compete in Ballarat’s Road Nationals in the Club Team Time Trial for the Seymour Cycling Club competition over a 32.4km course on February 4.

“I’ve been doing at least 500km’s a week in preparation for a course that is fairly flat, but there are a few hills here and there,” Dan said.

However, the ultimate goal is to compete at a National Road Series (NRS) - the country’s premier domestic road racing series.

“I am part of a NRS squad but not part of a team yet,” Dan said.

“I really hope I can train enough to get to a level where I am competing at the NRS level regularly, that’d be a big achievement for me.”

When he is not on the bike, he also enjoys watching races on TV and prefers watching the Giro D’Italia over the mega-popular Tour de France.

But could the extraordinary happen and one day we see him one day on our TV screens travelling through the European Alps and the streets of Paris on one of those tours?

Dan chuckles at the prospect but admits there is much work to be done to get there.

“Oh, that would be really something that I’d love to do, but I can tell you that now that I don’t see myself there soon – I enjoy racing at for local national level now.”

The Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic begins at Avalon Airport and travels to Warrnambool and runs on February 13.