Nic Hamilton adding endurance track to his 2014 season
Canada’s top road cyclists are starting to gear up for the fast approaching season. Now is the time they decide what went right and what went wrong in 2013, and set goals for events in 2014. Nic Hamilton, who rides for the U.S. continental team Jelly Belly presented by Maxxis, is making a big addition to his program in 2014: the track.
An incredible rush and crushing defeat
For a professional cyclist to realize a career-defining goal many things have to go right. He has to be in peak condition at the right time. In the race, tactics need to align and allow the rider to take advantage of the good form. The professional cyclist vying for the win must make multiple split second decisions to increase the odds of winning. A wrong decision can leave the rider looking up the road as the lead group rides away. Lastly, the rider needs luck as any number of things can conspire against a racer: an untimely crash, puncture or mechanical mishap.
For Nic Hamilton of Jelly Belly, tactics and luck were on his side during Stage 4 of the inaugural Tour of Alberta. He put himself in the breakaway with the hope of winning a stage in his home province. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough horse power to win the stage. But putting himself in the break was a success in and of itself. For that reason, Hamilton has mixed feeling about the stage. “At the tour of Alberta I made it into a race winning breakaway, which was a massive season goal, but I didn’t have the legs to seal the deal,” he says. “It was a decent result, maybe enough to qualify [as] a season high, but missing the podium was a big disappointment.”
A change is coming
Hamilton has used the off-season to review his career to date and re-evaluate his future goals. “The winter in the northern hemisphere, with the season and daylight hour swings, is a naturally reflective time” he says. “I set my season goals in line with my new year’s resolutions, as that is a take on the tradition that I prefer.” Hamilton has committed himself 100 per cent to the re-vamped Canadian endurance track program. Here he is fully integrated within a tightly knit bunch of young men aiming to qualify in the team pursuit at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. He believes he is helping pave the way for future riders. By putting the men’s endurance track cycling back on the map he is helping to “provide massive opportunities for up and coming youth to utilize the springboard that track racing is to flourish as professional cyclists in the future.”
Hamilton’s focus on the track, however, doesn’t mean that he is leaving his professional road program behind. He will be kitting up with his Jelly Belly professional team with the hope of riding the Tour of California in the spring and, without a doubt, another big push toward realizing glory on his home roads at the Tour of Alberta.
