After 26 years of competing at the Christmas Carnival series, you could forgive Aaron Jones for being sick of cycling.
But after being attending his first carnival at only a month old, the love for the sport is still there for the man born and bred in Burnie.
"Yesterday [at the Burnie carnival] we were joking about it at the start of one of the races that most of the guys I was racing with were younger than the years I've been racing, which is funny seeing as I'm only 32 - it's not like I'm a veteran or anything," he said on Friday.
"Dad used to ride when I was a kid and I was just going and watching him from a young age.
"I just always wanted to do it so as soon as I was big enough to get on a bike - well I wasn't even big enough, I was still too small when I wanted to start - so Dad modified an old road bike frame with smaller cranks and everything else on it so I could get out there."
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
Despite representing the Tasmanian Institute of Sport in the National Road Series 10 years ago, Jones said he didn't really do anything major as junior and was fueled by the passion and enjoyment of riding - something that still stays with him to this day.
"My parents never made it anything about winning or anything else - go out there, have fun and enjoy yourself - which is pretty much what I've always and is probably part of the reason why I've continued for so long.
"I've always just enjoyed it, like it doesn't really matter where I come in the bike race.
"It might matter for like a minute after I finish but then you look back on it and remember all the fun times you had more than the bad ones.
"That's probably the difference between me and a lot of the other guys I've come up with, they were brought up to make sure that they were winning races and competing well, whereas especially when I was seven through to about 13, I was always the little pipsqueak out the front that never won anything."
The genuine love for cycling is something that looks set to live on through sons Levi (4) and Jaxon (2), as the duo produced one of the more wholesome moments of the carnivals series this season.
During a break in action at the George Town carnival, Jones and Jaxon rode around the track for several laps, with the two-year-old even causing his dad to stagger after cutting him off.
"They love everything about it. Especially carnivals like George Town, we had that lunch break in the middle and I went and asked the commissaire if I could take the boys out for a couple of laps and they were like, 'yeah as long as there's no one out on the track go for it'.
"My eldest one Levi, the four-year-old, he is wrapped in cycling, he loves just watching it.
"But as soon as he gets a go on his bike, he just enjoys it and his eyes just light up as soon as we get to a bike race and he can get on his bike."
The 2020 Christmas Carnival series, which featured two debuting locations, wrapped up on Thursday in Burnie with home-town young gun Campbell Palmer taking out the men's wheel, while Georgia Baker went back-to-back following her win in George Town.
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
