GOING into the 2013 season, Footscray Cycling Club’s Dom Dudkiewicz made some changes. Having always been a gun on the local scene, the Melton resident wanted to see how far he could push his talents.
Since then he has been almost perfect, collecting eight in a row to start the 2013 season.
However, the good results don’t finish there with the rising star pushing some of the elite riders in the country when he came 15th at the Australian National Criterium Championships.
All 14 riders who finished ahead of Dudkiewicz were racing as part of professional teams.
“It has been a great start to the season for me,” Dudkiewicz said.
“I decided I didn’t want to look back and think that I didn’t actually achieve enough to make me happy. I did a good six weeks of training and the last eight wins in a row (at Footscray) have been a result of that.
“I guess more of a surprise is the fact that I competed in the National Championships and finished 15th which was a good result for me. It was a tough course and I didn’t think I would ever finish that high when you’ve got national and international riders taking part.”
Known as being an outstanding sprinter, a greater focus on endurance training has allowed Dudkiewicz to test himself against high calibre competition.
Between balancing work and family commitments, he is getting the miles into his legs any way possible, including riding to and from his home in Melton to compete at Footscray on a Saturday.
“To get enough k’s in, there are only so many hours in the day so riding out to the race and racing and then riding home and things like that just sort of have to be done,” Dudkiewicz said.
“I have always been a strong sprinter and that is what has won me races in the past. I had never really done a lot of training so maybe my aerobic base and my ability to go harder for longer wasn’t there.
“I have done more kilometres and more training than I have ever done before and I think that part of my cycling has made the difference.”
Dudkiewicz also thanked Salter Cycles in Altona and Adrian Salter for his continual support which he said had helped enormously.
While he is set to continue dominating the West, Dom is hoping to be picked up by a cycling team in the future.
“My goals are to try and get some good results at the Victorian Level Opens and National Series races,” he said.
“I think if I can get some good results and maybe get picked up by a team that would definitely be great.”
