Romanin is certainly nothing if not fit. He has previously taken part in full Ironman events, competed regularly in triathlon, raced in crit series, ridden a mountain bike 550km across New Zealand’s South Island and is now trying his hand at cyclocross.

Interestingly, he also used to regularly play golf – but insists the corporate golf days really are becoming a thing of the past.  

“In the past, for business leaders it was all about a long leisurely lunch and plenty of games of golf,” he admits. “But nobody has time for that nowadays. A game of golf takes four or five hours and I think executives in this day and age are just way too busy to take that sort of time out of their schedule.

“I know I used to put on golf days as corporate networking events, and played regularly myself, but I don’t think I’ve done that for about seven years or so. Cycling is becoming more and more popular in that regard. For a CEO or top level executive, they can get up at 6am, go for an hour or 90-minute ride, and then be in the office mentally and physically alert.”

While that early-morning ride could easily be a solo affair, Romanin is a member of the International Cycling Executives (ICE) that is trying to tap into the networking potential of the sport.

It was originally set up as the Australian Cycling Executives in 2010 but has now expanded globally with activities in London, Singapore, San Francisco and Hong Kong – as well as Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. ICE organises group rides once a month in each location for the C-Suite community - and its growing popularity appears to provide proof that cycling is increasingly the go-to leisure activity for high-powered business leaders.

“The great thing with ICE is that once you are out there on your bike and wearing Lycra then everyone becomes equal!” Romanin explains. “You’re talking about the ride or about cycling and it doesn’t really matter what job you do or who you work for.

"I remember recently on a ride I was chatting to a guy about our bikes and eventually I asked what he did and it turned out he was the CEO of one of the biggest retailers in Australia. There’s a guy that normally I would never get the chance to meet, let alone chat casually with.”