Finally! Because, we've been waiting long enough for this indoor velodrome for Eastern Canada. And finally, because these championships were supposed to be in October, constructions delays responsible for the new date. Still no track for Quebec, but it is still closer than Vancouver and its a world class track, heated and able to host any international competition.

December - Preparation in Aguascalientes

Beginning of last December, without any garantie to be able to train on the newly built track in Milton, I started looking elsewhere, but all destinations were expensive. I finally decided on Aguascalientes, in Mexico and planned to leave on the 9. A bug in the reservation system made me lost my reserved ticket and the same flight was now up to 2500$. Anyways, on December 9th, when I wake up and check ticket prices again, their was one spot left at an even cheaper price that I had already booked so I jumped on the occasion, but I had only a couple hours to pack my luggages and bikes ! I finally land in Aguascalientes around 10pm, but the luggages never showed up.

I used the free time to find a cheap room, meet the coach responsible of the velodrome and pay some visit to the city center.  My luggage and bikes showed up 2 days late and I didn't lose any time to start training with focus set on the Canadian nationals. In retrospective, I am quite happy to have chosen Aguascalientes with great training roads and great people, the moto being;  "la ciudad de la gente buena".

National championships

Back from Mexico on December 31st, I was satisfied with the training done and excited to hit the boards in Milton. After the new year spent with family, I joined team Quebec on January 2nd direction Milton. On the first day, we had a training session in the afternoon and team pursuit in the evening. The team pursuit didn't go well but it was good to try out the track before the other races.





For the first time in many years, their was not only sufficient riders to have a full peloton but qualification races were required. I qualified easily taking a lap and went on winning the first event, the scratch race. After, I finished 4th in the pursuit in 4min40 and was 2nd overall behind Ed Veal. In the elimination, as I don't rub shoulders like some, I often race from the back, which in this track is not recommend with longer turn and short straight. With that tactic, I got eliminated sooner than I should and lost many spots on the standings.

The next day, in the Kilo and Flying Lap, I didn't do great rides and I slipped down to 7th position with a big deficit in points. For the last race, the points race, I had to race aggressively, which I did and I quickly got back in 2nd place after taking 2 laps and even leading the race for a short while. At the end, I miss concentration and lost count of who to follow or not and I ended the competition in 4th. Hopefully, this racing will be beneficial for me for the next races during the Milton challenge.

Credits photos: Robert Jones-Canadian Cyclist