Matt Neumann has a tough cycle of training ahead of him over the next few weeks.
Before the end of the month, and before he gets out his roller skis to prepare for another season in biathlon, Neumann's Rocky Mountain Racers coach John Jacques wants him to ride his bike at least 2,500 kilometres.
The 21-year-old from Prince George is totally prepared to put in the hours grinding gears on mountain roads if that's what it takes to climb to a position on Canada's junior development biathlon team.
"Cycling gets a base going and it's also low impact, so it's a smooth transition from the winter, when you're basically only skiing," said Neumann, who has been invited to be part of the national biathlon team development team. "During the summer I'll start to do more specific roller skiing and shooting."
To reach 2,500 kilometres by the end of the month he's riding five hours per day, which doesn't leave much time for other activities, including snow skiing and disc golf at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
"There's still good skiing in Canmore, we were crust skiing Saturday morning, but I think skiing is over," said Neumann. "The trails are pretty much done. They store snow for the fall, under sawdust, and they use it on a one-kilometre loop. That adds a couple weeks to the season."
Neumann's primary goal in biathlon this year is to qualify for national team funding. To be eligible for full carding ($18,000 per year) he would need a top-30 finish at an World Cup-level race. Half-carding ($9,000 per year) would require a top-30 result in an International Biathlon Union (IBU) Cup race.
He purposely limited his biathlon races last season and stuck more to cross-country and that strategy paid off in a Canada Winter Games medal in the cross-country team relay. He also racked up an impressive fifth-place result in the 10-kilometre freestyle race against a tough Canada Games field stacked with members of the national under-23 team.
Neumann went on to post four top-10 finishes at the national biathlon championships in Charlo, N.B., where he won bronze in the team relay.
This year, he plans to put cross-country racing aside to will race a full biathlon schedule as he takes aim a IBU Cup biathlon tour berth.
"Last year, after the first IBU Cup I wasn't quite sure, but I definitely made a lot of progress and by the end of the winter I was still improving and kind where where I wanted to be," he said. "I didn't want the season to end."
Neumann qualified for the third IBU Cup tour in Europe but was unable to go due to a lack of funding. He's been working out terms of a sponsorship arrangement in Prince George with the Ramada Hotel Downtown, which would help take some of the worry out of not being able to afford travel to international races.
As one of the Hometown Heroes picked by Pacific Western Brewery, he received $3,309.50, which was presented to him two weekends ago at the Fan the Flame dinner in recognition of the city's 2011 Canada Winter Games participants.
Neumann is hoping his schedule will allow him to compete in a triathlon or two this summer and has tentative plans to return to Prince George next February to compete in the Prince George Iceman.
