The Tuesday night Lachine criterium series is known to be a very fast weekly race near Montreal. It is a must race for local teams to battle it out and give their sponsor's media coverage.

I used to do this criterium series regularily, and although the pace is high (usually averaging 47-48 km/hour), as pack filler, I'm usually able to do this race and maintain my heart in a reasonably confortable zone.

Last Tuesday, some major teams like Symmetric, Steve Bauer's Team Race, Columbia's national team, that just finished ethe international Tour de Beauce showed up.? So the first half of the race was around 48km/hour average, things were fine and the majority of the 130 racers are hangin in there.

Then the Symmetric's team and Svein Tuft, decided to take control of the situation. The second half of the race was averaging above 51km/hour and near the back (where I was), gaps were opening. After closing a few, the race was just a long line of bikes for more than 400 meters. When I'd come out of a corner, I'd see the leaders into the next corner. Finally I blew up like about half the pack, and watched the rest of the race.

I'll be back next Tuesday to get some more intensity work when the locals will take control of the race again. If you ever come out to Montreal during the summer, it is an exciting race to participate in or watch.