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Despite being relatively new to time trailing Marcel Schubert was crowned British Best All-Rounder champion last season and did so while also promoting events for others.

The 41-year-old only started racing time trials in 2017 after taking a scenic detour on his commute home from work and seeing his local club 10-miler.

Intrigued by what was happening Schubert, originally from Germany, got the event details from a marshal and pinned a number on his back the following week.

A year later he joined Darlington CC and competed in his first open events clocking a time of 58-47 over 25 miles. Just four years later his personal best over the distance has dropped almost ten minutes to 48-54.

“I started with really basic kit, a standard jersey which was probably really baggy and normal bike with standard wheels,” said Schubert. “Step by step I got a few upgrades and I noticed some progress by training.

“I’ve been riding most events in the Teesside district. You have some quite nice locations, the Yorkshire Moors, the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines aren’t far so we are more spoilt for the sporting courses and really hilly ones. They are probably some of my favourites. I’ve also started to explore some of the faster courses.”

Schubert has since moved on to competing at a national level and with the National 50 and 100 close to his home in Darlington the BBAR became an option.

Firstly the veteran rider finished second in the National 50 clocking 1-38-58 before finishing fourth in the National 100 two weeks later finishing in 3-30-56.

Schubert had never raced a 12-hour event but was persuaded to compete in National Championships to complete his BBAR times. A third place in the National 12-hour with a distance of 299.14 miles was enough for third place overall and the BBAR crown.

“The 12-hour, I didn’t really think about it until people asked me,” added Schubert.

“It was a great experience as I’d never done one before. The whole fuelling strategy and being comfortable on a TT bike for that duration was an unknown factor.

“I thought I had to give it a go as I might regret it if I didn’t try it.”

This year the National 50 takes place in Essex, National 100 in Norfolk and National 12-hour near Cambridge, making it more difficult for Schubert to repeat his success.

“The long-distance events suits me, my favourite distance is 50 miles which is in line with a lot of the sweet spot training that I do,” Schubert added.

“Once you can do a 50 you can do a 100 quite well so I might have a look at BAR courses which are nearer.

“The way I approach it will be if I can get a good 50 and 100 to decide on the last distance because it took me a long time to recover from that, probably four to six weeks.”

Along with competing for national honours Schubert also helps organising events for his club and is the organiser of the Darlington CC 50 in August and Darlington CC10 a month later.

“I just wanted to give something back,” Schubert said. “My logic is if everybody gives something back then I can continue. I’m from Germany and haven’t been aware of anything like this [local time trials] going on from where I’m from. I think it’s really special.”

Schubert is also one of few riders competing for national titles while also representing their local cycling club.

“From a sport point of view being close to the local cycling club I thought that’s a good thing to do,” he added.

“If I was a member of a team as a second claim member, I wouldn’t have the same influence if I wanted to try and contribute and be a remote member of the club.

“As long as riding a bike is fun that that’s doing the job for me.”

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission. This feature by Ben Goddard.