Canadian
National Team Member
12 time National Champion
Multiple World Cup Winner
World Championships Silver Medalist
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Monday, March 15, 20043 Times Unlucky for Poitras in Mexico
Track World Cup #2 - Aguascalientes, Mexico
March 12-14, 2004
Points Race - 12th
Scratch Race - DNF (crashed)
Image: Casey Gibson, Velonews.com
Over the past 6 years I have represented the Tim Hortons Canadian National Team in Mexico 5 times in 3 different cities and have either crashed or gotten really sick in each of the 3 locations.
As if dealing with the effects of racing at 6000ft altitude wasn't enough, I arrived with a broken fork, flatted on the start line of the Scratch Race and crashed with 3 laps to go!! After using 5 min Epoxy to glue my fork tip back in and having two days to acclimatize to the altitude in Aguascalientes, Mexico, I raced my first event, the Points Race, on the third day there. Sprinters love the altitude as it produces very fast times for them, but for endurance riders, the lack of oxygen is quite a hindrance unless you are well adjusted. If you are just making one single, short, hard effort, you don't seem to notice the effects of altitude, but if you are racing anything longer than 1km, recovery after repeated efforts becomes quite a problem. During the 20km race, I felt like I was breathing through a blocked straw and was doubtful that a single muscle fibre in my legs was receiving even an ounce of oxygen.
I gave it everything I had in the Points Race, going with attacks, bridging up to breaks and acquiring a few points along the way. In the end, I finished the race in a breakaway, found myself leading out the final sprint, only to have two other riders pip me at the line. Unfortunately my efforts only afforded me 12th place out of the 34 starters. Although I am not happy with my final result, I am happy with the effort I gave and how I raced despite the conditions and how I felt.
I was really looking forward to the Scratch Race, as this is usually my strength. There were 35 starters (the maximum allowed on a 333m track). It was quite a nervous pack on the whole as there were a lot of inexperienced racers trying to compete for Worlds points to have a shot at the Olympics. In the end, there were 3 major crashes towards the end of the race, with a total of 13 riders going down between the 3 crashes, myself being one of the casualties with 3 laps to go. Two riders crashed in front of me and with no brakes and no room to maneuver around them, I was launched over the handlebars landing on the front of my helmet then my elbows and knees. I seemed to have tagged every possible protruding bone that could possibly sustain scrapes and bruises.
I am now at home trying to recover and after a few days of physio will hopefully be able to get back on my bike by Friday. The next World Cup will be in Manchester mid April, but I have chosen to give this one a miss due to my injuries and the quick turn around time between events. I am now focussing on getting in some solid training before competing at the final Track World Cup in Sydney, Australia in May.
I thank you all so much for continuing to support me (and replace my damaged equipment) on this challenging road to the Olympics: Rocky Mountain Bicycles, PowerBar, Tim Hortons, Shimano, Easton Sports, TUFO North America, Rudy Project, Adidas, Basic Sports Nutrition, AVIS Rent A Car, Race Face Headsets, GiroPoste, See You in Athens Fund, and Symmetrics Cycling.
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