After two years competing on the cycling circuit Jackson Pickell's skills are reaching high gear.
The 17-year-old Port Coquitlam rider turned in a top-20 performance earlier this year at the national championships in Lac-Megantic, Que.
Pickell finished the road race segment in two hours, 54 minutes and 16 seconds to take 19th spot in the junior category while his time of 44:23 in the time trials was good enough for 29th spot.
"The guy's a great bike racer. He has an eye for being able to pick out winning moves in races," said Richard Wooles, Pickell's coach and the executive director with Cycling British Columbia.
"Jackson's got a good engine but he's also got a keen eye for being able to understand the bike race and the tactics that go along with the race."
Pickell followed that up with a top-10 showing in category 3 at the Northwest Juniors Classic Stage Race in Washington state. Pickell's time of 2:07:38 was good enough for fourth in the road race while he finished 12th in the time trial in a time of 30:15 and was 17th in the criterium in 50:49. His combined time for the three events gave him a ninth place finish.
"It was a tough time trial but I liked the road race course. It was pretty hilly so that suited me because I'm a bit of a climber," said Pickell, adding the road race is his favourite of the events. "Over the races I've developed as a climber."
Time trials see riders race by themselves in an attempt to record the best time over a course of about 12 kilometres. A road race will range from two to four hours where riders tackle a longer course of up to 80 or 90 kilometers. A criterium is similar to a road race, with riders going over a shorter circuit, usually about a kilometre, for 30 minutes to an hour.
But with the onset of colder weather, Pickell and many of the other riders turn their focus indoors. His next race will be the Burnaby Four-Day at the Burnaby Velodrome Dec. 27-30.
"I got into road riding from track. Track is where I started. I really like to do both of them right now," said Pickell, who enjoys the strategy of track racing.
"There's a lot of strategy in when to attack. If everyone has just sprinted, you can decide to attack right after that and some of the guys might be a bit tired."
Competing on both the track and road circuit requires two different types of bikes and even different training routines.
"It's hard because when you want to train specifically for track you're working on the shorter distances so sometimes it kind of conflicts," said Pickell.
Finding the time for training can also sometimes be a challenge.
"It's kind of hard with school to go out for very long on the roads because it gets dark around 4," said Pickell, who goes to the track once a week and also has a training bike set up at home. "The weekends are usually when I get my road riding in on my winter bike, we do group rides in the Fraser Valley."
Pickell is aiming for a strong showing at next year's national championships as well as the races in Washington state.
"Next year is a big step up for him. If he does well he should go on to represent Canada at the world championships in Spain," said Wooles, who coached the Canadian team for the last two Olympics as well as Great Britain for the two before that.
