Rower turned cyclist Hamish Bond is enjoying the Australian hospitality as he prepares for the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast.
Bond has been adjusting to the hot humid conditions in Australia.
While training in the Gold Coast the Olympic gold medallist ran out of water on his training ride and reverted to what he normally does back home in New Zealand.
"If you're in the middle of nowhere, you get a little parched and the bottles are empty you generally find a tap a school so I do on occasion pull in and I haven't been kick out yet," said Bond.
Bond attracted a bit of attention while filling up at Tallebudera School.
"Weren't you a rower?" asked one student. Bond responded, "I was."
The Currumbin time trial course runs right past the school, a couple of kilometres down the road is the toughest stretch of the race.
"Apparently they call it the beast, that's what I've heard in the cycling world."
The weather yesterday made the steep climb harder but Bond's determined to balance his inexperience with plenty of practice on the course.
"I want to win a medal and ideally a gold one whether I'm capable of that I still probably don't have the experience to really know."
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