FOUR national champion jerseys for one household - that is the aim for Bathurst couple Emilie Miller and David Nicholas at this week's Cycling Australian Road Nationals.
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Both Bathurst product Miller and Queensland native Nicholas have enjoyed plenty of success in their respective Para-cycling careers, but they still have a strong desire to build on that at the annual Ballarat titles.
While Miller, the current road race and time trial women's H1 world champion laughed that there is "definitely some rivalry," between them, the duo will motivate each other.
"It's just good to have someone who is in the same boat as you in knowing what is coming up and understanding that, both going through the motions together, I guess that's always supportive," she said.
"It's like having your own mini team at home all the time.
"It's actually the first year we've got to race in rainbows at the same event together, he is the world champion for the time trial, so we'll both race together in rainbows on Wednesday and Thursday. We were having a laugh about that at home the other day."
Miller and Nicholas will begin their nationals campaign on Wednesday in time trials before tackling the UCI Time Trial on Thursday and road race on Saturday.
It is the third consecutive year that the Para-cycling nationals have been run in conjunction with the able-bodied titles, so Miller is familiar with the challenges she will face.
"I think every year you know you've got the lovely Mount Buninyong coming up, it's good to know what you have coming up having done it in previous years," she said.
"But we've got a different time trial course this year, that's going to be an interesting change, it's actually made it a bit more challenging than previous years.
"I'm just going to back my strength and training for the road race and hopefully that will hold the time trial together too.
"My coach and I have set out to really have a good crack this year at nationals for both those courses. As I've got a bit older and physically matured a bit now, I'm stronger than I've ever been and we're hoping that is reflected time wise on the two courses."
With the Tokyo Paralympic Games seven months away, Miller said it "definitely" adds more excitement to the already good atmosphere at nationals.
But even though there is a provision for H1 women's events for the first time at Tokyo, Miller said her main focus is on what lies in wait at Ballarat.
"I think there will be a lot of hype around the event and certainly a lot of attention on the para guys, especially after the success of us as a team last year, going into this year. I think it will draw a lot of public interest for the event for us para guys.
"It's really exciting this year, we've got a lot of new athletes coming to nationals, more than ever before, including some of those lower classifications.
"For me it's just going to be about focusing on this week and the Tour Down Under. From there I will reassess what's going to happen for the rest of the year. Once I tackle this week I'll know a bit more what I have coming up for the rest of the year."
Following that will be a four-day break before they head to Adelaide for the Tour Down Under's new para-cycling Wheel-Race. Nicholas will then head to the United States and Canada for the track world titles.
