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Athlete’s Tip: David Veilleux on recovering from injuries and balancing life with cycling

All was looking good for the then-22-year-old Quebec City native until he crashed during a training ride, just before the start of the 2009 season, and broke his collarbone.

David Veilleux of Cap Rouge, Que., wins the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Champéry, Switzerland.
David Veilleux of Cap Rouge, Que., wins the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Champéry, Switzerland.

This article first appeared in our August/September 2010 issue

It would have been easy for David Veilleux to get down on himself. After a remarkable 2008 season that included winning his thirdstraight under-23 national time trial championship and numerous highprofile races, Veilleux returned to Kelly Benefit Strategies for 2009. All was looking good for the 22-year-old Quebec City native until he crashed during a training ride, just before the start of the season, and broke his collarbone.

It could have thrown his year into a tailspin, but instead he used the injury as motivation to peak later in the season and still posted some fantastic results – repeating as the under-23 Canadian time trial champion, winning the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium, taking the sprint competition at the Tour of Utah and finishing 10th at the under-23 world time trial championships. Veilleux took some time to share his thoughts with Canadian Cycling Magazine on recovering from injuries and balancing cycling with school.

About the injury
“I was out training and I was grabbing something in my back pocket, so I only had one hand on the bar. I hit a small bump on the road and my hand slipped, so I hit the floor. I had slowed down a bit, but I was doing about 40 or 45 km/h.

Restarting the season
“I was disappointed because I had just finished my volume training and I was getting ready to start racing. But I couldn’t do anything about it. It happened, so I just took some time off. The hardest part was when I started racing again, everyone else had good fitness, so in the races I was at the back. I wasn’t at their level, so it took me a long time to come back to my normal racing level. At nationals I was starting to feel pretty good. I know injuries are disappointing, but the season is still long, so you just keep going and you’ll be fresh for the end of the season.”

Education
“This is my second year in university for mechanical engineering. I’ve only done the equivalent of a little over a year because I take fewer classes, but I think it’s important to keep studying because it takes your mind off the bike a little bit and it builds a future for after the bike. If I’m really good, I could race until I’m 35 or 37, but after that I still have to do something. So I think it’s important that I keep going to school and preparing for my future. Something could happen where I can’t race any more, so this is a backup plan.”