It says everything about Cameron Mason’s priorities that his Christmas Day consisted of a bike ride and eating rice for his Christmas dinner.

Added to that, his unconventional Christmas Day was spent not at his family home in Linlithgow but rather, in Boom, a Belgian town near Antwerp where Mason bases himself for several months each winter.

The Scot’s unusual Christmas regime was as a consequence of one of the biggest races in the cyclocross calendar – the Gavere World Cup - taking place on Boxing Day. But despite his racing schedule precluding him from over-indulging throughout the festive period, Mason wouldn’t have it any other way.

“In Belgium, I live with my friend Dave who’s also my soigneur and he has a Belgian Christmas on the 24th. Then the 25th was the day before race day so it’s definitely not a typical Christmas Day for me,” Mason says.

“A Belgian Christmas dinner isn’t too different to what we’d have at home but because I was racing on Boxing Day, I was eating rice on Christmas Day.

“That was my fifth Christmas in Belgium so it’s become the new normal for me. There’s definitely not much eating chocolate or watching television going on - I’m in race mode. 

“I went out for a ride on Christmas Day – I did some intervals and the roads are really quiet so it’s actually pretty good.

“The race on the Boxing Day is great – it’s one of the busiest races with about 17,000 people watching so there’s an incredible atmosphere and it’s an incredible experience.”

Mason’s Christmas may have differed from the norm but his commitment to the cause is paying off.

Over the past twelve months, Mason has established himself as one of the very best cyclocross riders on the planet.

A top-ten finish at the World Championships a year ago was then backed-up with a European silver medal last November. That piece of silverware saw the Scot become the first male rider hailing from outwith the Netherlands or Belgium to stand on the European podium in the event’s history. 

There’s also been several impressive World Cup results, including a top-ten placing on Boxing Day.

Mason next major target is to successfully defend his British cyclocross title, which he won for the first time last year.

And his defence is coming in what is the perfect venue for the Scot.

Today, the British Cyclocross Championships take place in a Callendar Park in Falkirk, a place Mason knows like the back of his hand.

The Scot admits his sole target is to end today with a second national title to his name but cyclocross, which is akin to cross-country running on a bike, rarely occurs without at least a few shocks and upsets.

However, Mason is, he believes, in the form of his life and has few intentions of being at anything but his best on home soil today.

“I’ve been racing at Caley Park since I was 11 or 12 years old so it’s really nice to be back for the British Champs,” says Mason, who goes into today’s race as hot favorite but will face stiff competition from the likes of Thomas Mein, Lewis Askey and Scottish champion, Lewis Martin.

“I’m feeling good. I’m confident in my ability and I want to do a good ride on home soil.

“I’ve not been in this position of defending champion before but it shouldn’t be any different - we all start with a degree of pressure and expectation so being defending champion shouldn’t change that for me. 

“My target is to win but I also know that it’s never as simple as that - lots of things can happen.”

Mason is something of an unusual beast in that he remains entirely unsure as to his specialist discipline.

In the short-term, his target, once he’s raced today’s British Championships, is the World Cyclocross Championships in the Czech Republic at the start of next month. 

But as well as being a world-class cyclocross rider in the winter months, he’s also an international cross-country mountain biker and in addition, has designs on excelling on the road and gravel. 

And he admits that, in the longer-term, he remains somewhat unsure as to the direction in which his career will go.

“Results-wise, cyclocross is my top discipline. For some reason, the type of power profile and the skill-set I’ve got really suits cyclocross but the good thing is that lends itself to other disciplines too. So over the next few years, I’ll be looking to see how my form can transfer onto the road and gravel. 

“Doing so many disciplines keeps things interesting for me. 

“As long as I can continue being competitive and winning bike races in one of the disciplines, it makes sense to keep doing multiple disciplines. If it gets harder to win or I stop improving, maybe I’d look to specialise more. 

“I’ve got options and the good thing for now is I can ride them all and then it’ll be up to me and my team which route I go down.”