May 9th, 2007 - 01:08am
My winter in review
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Riding the "Race run" trail in Mt. Prevost
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Bromont, QC;
Wow, already May, winter went by so fast! Time goes by quickly when you have fun, I really had a blast out there! I've been thinking about training
in BC during a full winter for a long time, but it just never happened. There was always a good reason for not going; when it wasn't about money,
it was work, otherwise a girlfriend... but this year no matter what, I wanted to move to BC and I'm glad I did.
Training
I had the chance to train like any other winter. When you're far from home and you do not have your close friends around, or your family and
neither a TV with cable; training is pretty much the only thing you care about! Since October, I have been doing a mix of road riding, cross country
mountain biking, BMX track and downhill. This is what I love about downhill, everything you do brings a little something to your downhill skills.
One thing I also realized there, when you push your bike for 45 minutes to get to the top, damn you appreciate your ride down the hill!
It's such a good training too. I also worked out at the gym very hard and went from 159lbs to 180lbs! Yeah, 21 pounds of muscle ready to get me
through the upcoming race season! ;)
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Walking up is a great training
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Injuries
This winter wasn't always easy thought. I had to go through a couple of injuries... the more your ride, the more you're exposed to them. I had a
nasty crash at the Abbotsford BMX track in January, which forced me to stick to my bed for 4 days due to a very painful back. Just walking and sitting
down was a challenge! I know what it feels like to be 70 year old now! I also hit my ribs really badly when crashing on a log at Mt. Prevost.
It took over a month and a half to get better. Probably just bruises, but god it hurts. I also had a knee injury but the
mystery still remain... I have no idea what caused this problem. Hockey injury? Wrong shoe cleat position? Who knows. Time to pay a little visit
to my friend at Physio Extra hehe ;) I've been doing daily stretching and things are a little better, but it's still painful when I ride cross
country. Stretching is something we should all do, but I don't know about you, but I always find something better to do. It`s kind of boring! But I guess it took me an injury to
realize how important it is.
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Racing or working ?
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Though times
During the winter, Devinci decided to shut down the downhill team program I was on and they didn't have much to offer me. I also came to a
point where I had to decide between: racing or working. Last summer, I started to work as a sub rep for Cycles Devinci
and Cycles Lambert. I really loved what I was doing and moreover, I was working 3 days a week, which allow me to train and race. However,
my boss needed me to work full time this summer and also during week ends. With my best season ever under my belt, I wasn't ready to quit.
Racing has been part of my life for the past 10 years and I'm still very motivated. The adrenaline rush of a race, all the training involved,
coaching and helping other riders, the lifestyle, travelling, the people I meet and my sponsors are only a few of the reasons that keep me
hooked up to racing. Now that I'm starting to see the benefits of all the time and money I invested in biking, I don't feel like giving up
all I've worked for. So by choosing to keep up racing, I basically turned down my job. So I came to a point where
I had no job and no major sponsor for the upcoming season. Jeeez that was a weird situation!
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The first course in Progression's history on April 28th, 2007
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Giant
My priority was to find a ride as quick as possible. December is very late to find a team sponsorhip, but I still spread the word to all my
contacts and it didn't took long before I receive an interesting email from a certain company named Giant! :) I couldn't have find a better team!
Giant has the best team program for downhill racing in Canada, I was stocked! Things alway happen for a reason they say... Just a few days laster,
I was in North Vancouver to sign the most important contract since my beginnings.
Progression bike coaching
Being jobless allowed me to do something I wanted to do for a little while; start my own coaching company! I called my friend Antoine Aubert Larose
who is already coaching at the National center and he liked the idea. After a couple of forms to fill up, Progression bike coaching was born in April
and so far it looks promising. We have already given 3 clinics and there is more to come. I'm working on a section on my website with all the details,
should be up pretty soon.
Take care! Dom
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