August 17, 2003 – Andrew Pinfold is a fulltime rider for the Atlas Cold – Italpasta team. After last Sunday's Montreal-Quebec race, the 25-year-old from Woodbridge, Ontario, decided to hang around la belle province for a few days in order to race the final Mardi Lachine event. Here's what he has to say about it…
Well friends, it is time for a little insight into the world of not quite pro cycling. This past week for me was like A Tale Of Two Cities, but instead of cities, it was races. It all began with the long drive to Montreal for the second annual Montreal-Quebec. To be honest, if you are at all interested in what happened there I'd suggest reading someone else's report because I never saw the front of the race. Every cyclist knows what it is like to have a bad day on the bike, and I had one of those at Montreal-Quebec.
In Canada, normally a bad day will only last about four hours for your typical cyclist. The nice thing about Montreal-Quebec when there is a headwind, and it's pouring rain, your purgatory lasts a good seven hours.
After the race our battered and disapointed team went their separate ways: some stayed in Quebec city while others headed back to Southern Ontario. On the advice of Canada's little big man, Joe Guiliano, I decided to hang around Montreal and do the final edition of the “Mardis Lachine”. To those of you not familiar with “Lachine”, it is a series of Tuesday crits in the Montreal suburb of Lachine. Lachine's Tuesday night races have being going on since 1978 and its founder, Tino Rossi, should give a lesson or two to all other promoters in North America on how to put on a show and great race.
First off, it's one of the nicest circuits I've ever raced. The course is about 1.5 km and has recently been resurfaced with slightly banked corners. Needless to say – it is fast! No braking on any of the corners and not a pot hole in sight. The start finish area has a huge VIP gallery which had a bar and served food. On both sides of the finish are bleachers resplendent with many racing fans.
The final race of the summer series is special because it attracts both thousands of people and offers reasonable prize money ($300 for the win). What is sort of unique is that on every one of the 31 laps there is a $35 dollar prime. This keeps the race lined out pretty much the entire time with speeds usually around the 50km/hr mark.
My plan was to win a few primes and contest the finish. With a little help from the only other Ontario rider in the race, Peter Morse, I was able to win a few primes. With nine laps to go I took a prime and just kept on going. Six other riders joined me and we worked together until the finish. I took the win but misjudged my sprint pretty badly and ended up winning in a photo finish by only about an inch.
The podium presentation was the biggest I have ever been a part of. Podium girls, the Mayor, CART racer Patrick Carpentier, fireworks, champagne, Chariots of Fire music, absolutely massive trophies, the works. I walked away thinking I had just won the World Championships. Alas, it was only Lachine, but I'll take it.