Patrick Jones knows he is going to have to do a lot more if he is going to break into the New Zealand team.
The 21-year-old Otago rider has recently returned from a three-month stint at Trexlertown, in Pennsylvania.
He has been riding in the confusingly named world series of bicycling, where he finished third.
Although the event attracts some top international riders, it is a ''world series'' in name only.
That said, it was a marvellous experience for Jones and a fantastic achievement.
Fellow Otago rider Brad Evans won the series.
The pair have been rivals since their secondary school days. Jones got one up on his nemesis in the lower-profile Tuesday night event and Evans claimed second place.
But while Evans is ''definitely'' the enemy for Jones, in the sense they are competing against each other, in many ways the pair also help motivate one another.
Jones started riding as a 10-year-old and began taking it seriously at Taieri College, where there was a good group of talented young riders at the time, including Evans.
They are now both on the cusp of the New Zealand side but have not quite been able to make that next step.
Jones desperately wants to crack the squad and his stint in the United States was a valuable learning experience.
''Eventually, I want to be able to ride my bike at the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, and to be over in the States riding in pro races is a good stepping stone,'' he said.
''As a junior on the track, I was several times a national medallist, so I was right there. But I'm at the point now where I have to try to break through to the next level.
''Throughout my career, I'd kept stepping up but New Zealand cycling just kept getting stronger and stronger, so it is a hard one to break into.
''Even Brad is struggling. He is the national scratch race champion and he is not in the squad. But it was the same for me, two years ago. I was second in the elite national scratch race and it is very hard to break in ...
''I'm really happy with my form at the moment. I'm probably riding the best I have in a long time.
''But to make the New Zealand team you really have to put your hand up consistently.''
It was Jones' second trip to the United States and he plans to go over earlier next year to do more racing, including some criteriums and some road racing.
