“I want a medal at the nationals,’’ the 41-year-old from Taree side.

“And I reckon I can win gold. That’s what I’m working towards.’’

He showed he's the real deal when winning the State event at the masters championships held at Orange last Saturday. Mathiske is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.

The State event was contested over 80km.

“I was pretty brave, I was in an early break of six riders after about 65km,’’ he explained.’’ 

The six battled for positions before Mathiske was one of three riders to again pull clear of the pack. From there it panned out perfectly for Mathiske as he was able to win the sprint and claim gold.

“I won by a bike length, which is not much after 80km,’’ he laughed.

Mathiske and fellow Manning Valley Cycle Club member Daniel Crossingham were riding for Team Ultra in the event. Crossingham was seventh while he was also fifth in the criterium. 

The national championships will be held at Griffith in August, with the road race expected to be over 120km. Mathiske has ridden the course before, describing as a ‘happy hunting ground,’ as he won gold in a State race there three years ago.

Mathiske’s next major assignment will be the gruelling Grafton to Inverell to be raced next month, where he’ll line up for Team Ultra.

“We’ll have three ex-Kiwi internationals in the team,’’ he explained.

“I’ll be their worker bee.’’

This will be his eighth campaign over the Gibraltar Range although he came to grief early in last year’s race.

“I’ll be looking for some redemption this year,’’ he said.

Mathiske expects to race in 10 to 15 road events with Team Ultra during the season. He played a leading role in Crossingham signing with the team. Mathiske predicts Crossingham will have a strong season going on the form he showed at Orange.

The team will also contest criterium events, although Mathiske is content to concentrate on the road races.

He’s currently training 400km a week over five sessions in training as he works towards the nationals.

“I limit it to five sessions because I have a young family I want to send time with,’’ he said.

Mathiske said road racing is a somewhat misunderstood sport.

“It's very tactical,’’ he assured.

“Some people thing you just hop on your bike and pedal as quickly as you can, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Tactics play a huge part in every race.’’