A change in the Bermuda Bicycle Association mountain bike schedule will see the Island's off road riders back in action at the weekend with two events taking place at Hog Bay Park, Somerset, and one rider who cannot wait to get on the start line is MacInnis Looby.

The 32-year-old national squad rider is back in Bermuda for a few months from his home in England and admits that the mountain bike series has given him renewed enthusiasm to get back on the bike in readiness for the 2002 season.

"I am very excited to be back on the bike, and especially to be doing the mountain bike races, I can't wait for the weekend at Hog Bay," he said.

Last weekend mechanical problems forced him out of the first event of the series at Admiralty Park when he was looking comfortable at the front of the race with eventual winner and reigning National Champion, Brian Steinhoff.

The 17-year-old Steinhoff even tipped Looby as the man to beat in the series based on what he had seen, and whilst Lobby is equally complimentary of Steinhoff there is an ominous confidence as he talks about riding off road.

"Brian is an awesome rider and on Sunday I will just follow and sit back for a while as he tends to start off very fast. I want to check the course because it will be the first time I have done it," Looby said.

The rider credits his obvious bike handling skills to riding BMX's as a youngster.

"I raced BMX and freestyle when I was younger and it helps develop good skills that make you more confident in mountain bike racing where being able to control the bike is as important as being fit," he said.

Sundays first event, however, will be a downhill race which will see the riders descending a steep winding course individually against the clock. This leads to a cautious tone in Lobby's voice.

"I might do it, I don't know, I will have to look at the course," he said. "As you get older you definitely become more cautious and on a downhill event that can lead to problems. You need to be able to just let it all hang out and not be thinking of what might happen. I will probably leave that to the younger guys."

As for the future, he still has the drive to race at the top level and the Commonwealth Games in Manchester next year are clearly a goal he has set himself.

"Marcia and Imani (his wife and 20-month-old daughter) will be here until January 15," he said. "I am staying a bit longer but when I get back to England I will work on my road racing.

"I actually signed up with a team last season called Condor Cycling but at the last minute they lost some funding and had to make cuts.

"I was the last one in so of course was the first one out."

Qualifying as a personal trainer is also a priority to the Bermudian who has made sport a major part of his lifestyle.

"I am part way through a tough personal trainers course in England and once I qualify that is what I am hoping to do," he said.

But right now there still appears to be a burning desire to try to make it at the top of the sport of cycling and he sees mountain biking as just another way to help him get there.

This weekend he will be on a new bike provided by his employers Wheels Ltd and few that saw him in action last weekend will doubt his ability to challenge Steinhoff to the finish.

Riders must sign in for the event at 8.30 a.m. at Hog Bay Park.