Will Routley's experience growing up mountain biking in Whistler came in handy during his first taste of professional road racing in Europe this season.
It seems all those lengthy climbs made it easier to ascend - and descend - a steep learning curve against the best cyclists in the world as part of SpiderTech, a team founded by Canadian cycling legend Steve Bauer with the goal of one day competing at Grand Tour level, including the prestigious Tour de France.
For Routley, who cut his teeth as a road racer at B.C. Superweek and won the Canadian National Road Racing championship last season, it was a chance to finally experience world class racing on the other side of the Atlantic.
"I've been over at mountain bike World Championships as a junior and a couple national team events as an under-23, but never any real pro events so this was the first taste of the pro European peleton and it has been a steep learning curve to say the least," said Routley, who is back training in Whistler for the summer, and planning to compete in parts of the upcoming B.C. Superweek series.
"The biggest difference is racing here in North America, fitness and race tactics are 90 per cent of it, but over in Europe you have to have skills because it is just that much more aggressive and technical, and you have to have experience because the courses and the competition are just that much tougher and more difficult.
Maybe all that time racing down Whistler mountains paid off, or maybe Routley is just a really fast learner, because he was the only Team SpiderTech rider to reach the podium during their inaugural spring schedule in Europe, finishing second at the 206-kilometre Tro Bro Leon race in France in mid-April.
"It's a challenge but I got a little taste of success," said Routley, now 28 but just seven years into road racing. "It's like golf - you play a whole round and only have that one perfect shot but you get a taste of it and you want more."
Routley will get that chance with SpiderTech, which is powered by C10, a group of 10 Canadian companies backing Bauer's attempts to build a domestic squad capable of competing with, and ultimately beating, the world's best cyclists on the world's biggest stage.
He is scheduled to compete at a pair of big ProTour races in Quebec in September before returning to Europe next spring, and also has his sights on a spot with Team Canada at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
A second place finish as part of a SpiderTech sweep at the Canadian Road Race National Championships last week certainly can't hurt Routley's cause.
