April 7, 2008 (San Juan de Los Morros, Venezuela) – Raphael Gagné (Rocky Mountain) from Quebec City sent us the following report from the hilly town of San Juan de Los Morros in the Andes Mountains (about 180km from Caracas) about the men’s cross-country race at the Pan Am MTB Championships held on Sunday where Gagne finished 8th and fellow Canuck Neal Kindree won the bronze.

Raphael Gagne Pan Am Report

After having dealt with mechanical problems – a branch got stuck in my derailleur during some warm-ups and damaged it. This forced me to change it very quickly just before starting the race. I thus started the race a little bit more stressed than usual!

I was eighth in my category (Senior Espoirs) behind American Sam Jurekovic who finished in 01:49:37, Argentian Dario Gasco in second at 01:50:31, and fellow Canadian Neal Kindree in third at 01:54:34. The race was very, very difficult because we had seven laps to do in two hours with a temperature of 33 C and all this under a tropical sun.

I found the beginning of the race quite difficult because I suffered a lot from the heat. I completed the first three first laps in thirteenth position but then began to feel stronger and advanced to eighth place. I found it difficult to push myself to my maximum because of the heat. Ironically, some other racers suffered from hypothermia!

I was somewhat disappointed with the start of my race, but stayed positive thinking about how we Canucks are not prepared for a race in such a hot climate so early in the season. The race was particularly difficult with four steep uphills, something that you cannot properly train for on a stationary bike – but the race was not very technical.

To kick-off my 2008 season, I have six weeks left before finishing my preparation for the start of the season in Canada. I am very eager to begin the racing season and my objective this year is to make the top ten at the MTB Worlds. This race was another experience preparing me for upcoming hot weather races. Photos will be posted on my blog after I return to Canada.