He’s a world champion, but this Ancaster cyclist has much bigger goals — the 2024 Olympics

To those who have never been there, or anywhere near, it might seem like a paradox. That such a time-consuming commitment to punishing physical exertion is liberating, not restrictive.

But, it's no paradox to Ancaster's Carson Mattern, one of the best young cyclists in the world.

I've been on a bike since I was two years old and I associate riding with good times and fun," says the 17-year-old, who won the scratch race at the World Junior Track Championships four months ago in Cairo, Egypt.

It's adventurous and exploratory. It's really hard, and then when the hard part is over you find yourself in a really cool place."

A lot of cool places, actually. Quiet tree-lined rural routes far from home, after dozens of gruelling training kilometres on the road bike; on the podium after another success at a velodrome track; in Europe, this winter, riding with a prominent Belgian junior racing team.

Also, potentially, in Paris for the 2024 Olympics.

Paris is certainly in the cards right now. It's on the board if we can execute the plan in the next couple of years," Mattern says. The biggest thing is I have to start training with, and surpassing the people who are older than me and on track to go to the Olympics."

Yes, Mattern is still young. But he's inspired and he's focused. He accelerated his self-directed studies at Westmount Secondary School to weave around his heavy training and competitive schedule and so he can complete high school this month. He carries a mid-90s average, hoping eventually to attend medical school.

He enthusiastically embraces elite cycling's merciless training regimen of gym workouts, countless hours of road and cyclocross pedal pumping when the weather's good, pounding the stationary training bikes when it's not, and repetitive hard practice on the steep banks of Milton's Mattamy National Cycling Centre. Six to eight hours a day, most days.

And he wins.

It's been a gradual climb toward international success since he started competing at the age of 11 and became irrevocably motivated two years later while watching the 2017 World Cup events at the Milton velodrome. But Mattern was launched into cycling's public eye with his victory at Junior Worlds in the scratch, a tactical mass-start race that requires acute awareness of exactly when to break away from the pack. He and Mississauga's Dylan Bibic also won the world junior bronze in the Madison, a high-speed two-rider relay.

At the Canadian junior track nationals in November, he won two gold medals, four silvers and a bronze and set the national junior individual pursuit record during the preliminaries before Bibic broke it in the final later that day, with Mattern second. With another year of junior (U-19) eligibility remaining Mattern feels he has a good chance to break the world junior record in the pursuit, and there's the opportunity for more podium placings at the Junior Worlds in Israel late this summer.

There's definitely that feeling of pride," he says of his world title. This is something I've dreamed of for so long. It's happened now, it's a reality. But the biggest thing for me is not the achievement in the past, it's the opportunities going forward. It's to reflect not on the fact I've won but on all the things I'll get to do with racing."

One of which is the right to wear the rainbow jersey - one coloured stripe for each of the world's five continents - in any scratch race while he's the reigning global champion. Another is joining Cannibal Team in Europe as soon as pandemic and visa delays allow, hopefully by March at the latest. The Belgian junior road-racing team is well known for developing world class riders and Mattern has become one of 24 team members from 16 different nations.

He'll spend most of the spring road racing in Europe and the long season's calendar also includes the junior track nationals, the Canadian road nationals, and a return to the track Junior worlds, in Israel in September.

Training for track is so different from training for the road," he says. Different sets of energy systems. It's like training for the 100 metres and then the marathon."

He will focus on trying to qualify for Canada's 2024 Olympic team in track events but professional road racing is definitely in his longer-term plans. He also wants to take some university credits this year, although he's still working on those details.

I like having school, it adds balance to my life," he explains.

Mattern credits his parents, Jennifer and Roland, with instilling in him the value of setting goals for himself then doggedly pursuing them, whether it's the ruthless training or diligent study for academic success. And for getting him onto a bike as a toddler and making cycling a daily part of their family life.

That has led to not only competitive success but to an appreciation for the aesthetic gifts of cycling's vigorous training, particularly on the roads and trails.

It's the same sensation as riding a motorcycle or in a convertible," Mattern says. It's this very intimate way to experience the environment around you. You're going through the trees, you can smell the leaves, the air is your face. It's really fun when you get into that total-flow state.

For me, it's complete freedom."

Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com