The road race at Pan-Am games last saturday ended my 2011 season which started early in december of 2010. 85 day of racing for a total of 100 races and 600h of trainning later, its easy to weight what went well and what not.
2011 was special. Firstly because I broke my leg at the end of the 2010 season in Vermont during the Green Mountain Stage Race and finally because I took the opportunity to race in France in a DN2 team.
Looking back, its always easy to say what if or I should'nt have but the important is not to do the same mistakes twice. To go over quickly my 2011 season, I will start by the begginning with the very first event, the Vuelta a Costa Rica in December. Initially, I was not planning to do the race, as my objective along with the rest of canadian team pursuit riders was to go to track world cups and qualify a team for the Olympics. Having broke my lef in September changed everything. I started cycling as soon as possible and did little gym work and went to LA to prove I was fast again to go to Beijing in January. I was, but until then, I figured out the Vuelta would be a good race to get all my shape back. So, with little base, I started the Vuelta where I turn out to perform very well, entering the top 10 three times and climbing pretty good. I have to say, my weight was not back to what it was before my fracture, but the freshness combine with the recent trainning load was all it take to make me go fast. I did not finish the vuelta as I arrived outside time limit on the queen stage across the cerro de la muerte with freezing temperature of 5 degrees and rain which took lot out of me in addition to force me to arrive outside the time limit. 
Sprint finish on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Costa Rica - Photo www.fecoci.net
Anyway, a few days later I was back in LA for preparing the Beijing world cup. Already at that point, I felt a bit tired and not 100% back in shape so we decided to put me in 4th position. Anyway, we were still confident to post a good result in China. Our ride in China was a complete disaster both technically and physically. We then decide not to go other world cups and save our money for other projects and get better before another attempt. Back home, my fatigue continued but I already had another event scheduled in Dominican Republic where I was hoping to post a good results having miss a top 10 GC for a knee problem the year before. 2011 was not my year again as I accumulated bad luck with 7 flats and food poisonning the day before the last day. The next day I had to fly directly to Geneva to meet my new team. I was pretty excited but the food poisonning + the very long trip and short night made me tired.
The next weeks in France, the cold weather made me sick and my form would go even lower. In April, I started ramping up the form and in May I was finally in good condition altought not 100% yet. In may, the program was heavy loaded with 15 days of racing and had some problem with the right knee following the Tour du Jura where I crashed in a slippery descent along with pretty much 1/4 of the field that day. A few days rest and I was good to go again, now resting in preparation for the Tour de Beauce and national championships.
The Tour de Beauce was a good race to get the shape back and I was able to finish without going too deep. With nationals only a week later, I took the next days resting and active recovery and I was ready for the race. At nationals, my legs were fantastic, however, I missed the decisive split of 20 riders on 4th lap and the rest of the race was just chasing in different groups to finally finish in 21st a big gap behind the winner Svein Tuft.
I stayed in Quebec the whole month of July, organizing the Tour de Québec, racing here and there with some podiums along the way and a victorious points races national championships just before going back to France finally in good condition.
Podium Stage 1 (clm 12km) - Tour de la Gaspésie 2011
Back in France, I was very motivated and the form was there. The first race was not great with 3 days off the bike and lots of transport fatigue prior to it, but the form was definately there the next weekend when I bridged almost alone with 3 other riders (with only one really pulling through) to a 17 man breakaway on a fast circuit road race. With no races the next weekend, I profited to do a good ammount of volume and my form was very good for the stage race comming up in south of France. The first stage was a 146km road race consisting of 4 laps with a 3-4km climb. With a very hot 35 degrees, I felt pretty good and launched an attack on a small uphill section following the climb and the descent. Quickly, our group of around 15-20 riders gained a good margin on the peloton and the second time up the hill, our group diminish to only 7 riders. With no possibility of car feeding, I was starting to feel very dehydrated and weak. I then drop from that group and the third time up the hill our feed was finally in place but it was too late and I was already minutes behind the peloton. I tried to recover as much as possible and the next day, I was feeling good again. I attacked straight from the gun and almost made the breakaway, but a flat tire forced me to stop and change wheel. by the end of the race, my left knee felt strange but I was not too woried. Unfortunately, the pain got worst and the next day I was not able to race.
With another knee pain, it was very hard for the motivation, but I was confident to get better quickly and try to get good results for the team. However, the pain did not go away as easy and did not go away until my last race in France from where I left for the Tobago Cycling Classic, already set on my program. Fortunately, position adjustments and electro-stimulation helped me get better and even finish the race strong.
Two weeks later I was in Guadalajara, Mexico for my first major game, which was a tremendous experience. Entering a full stacked Olympic size stadium is priceless !
The Canadian team waves to the crowd during the opening ceremony at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico on Friday, Oct. 14, 2011. Mike Ridewood/COC
There, I was only supposed to do the team pursuit but the forfeit of David Veilleux allowed me to enter the road race. The team pursuit was a good satisfaction as I was happy with my form and we were able to lower the canadian record of 2,5sec and only missed the final rounds by 1.8sec without having trained as a unit ever and with one of the rider not being a team pursuit specialist.
The road race was 160km long with no major difficulties in it. With only 50 riders in the field, our directives were to be agressive. Right from the start, I try to attack and jump in groups. Ultimately, I missed the 5 riders breakaway but still felt good and knew they would'nt stay away the whole race. With 6 laps to go, the break advantage was almost neutralized and I was feeling better and better. When the junction happened, I attacked hard and end up riding with Quick Step Marc De Maar. Not everybody was willing to commit and so the peloton came back on us. As we were making our way towards the finish line with 3 laps to go, I followed a rider from Chile who smashed the 500m signs immediately projecting the two of us hard on the asphalt. Unfortunately, I was not able to get back on my bike and had to jump in the ambulance to the finish line where I got my injuries treated. A very short and uncomfortable night and we wake up at 3am to jump in the shuttle to be at the airport on time for our 6h45 flight. The transport was pretty painfull with my swealing hip but finally made it at 11PM to finally get some rest. 
Credits @ Univesal Sports - http://www.universalsports.com/photos/galleryid=562171.html
To summarize, I had lots of learning experiences this year (in cycling, this is just a nicer word for difficult time). In the end, I think I almost got back all my power from before the injury and worked on my road racing stamina as well. In the next weeks, it's time to definitely correct the imbalances from the injury in the gym and have a better planning next year to make things better and hopefully score some wins next year in more important races.
