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Elite rider Swan finding her passing gear

Callie Swan is seeing a lot less traffic ahead of her as she climbs closer to the top of Canada's elite group of bike racers and she can't deny climate change has been a factor.
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Callie Swan rides on her way to a 17th-place finish in the 90-rider Grande Prix Cycliste Gatinueau women’s under-23 road race last week in Gatneau, Que.

Callie Swan is seeing a lot less traffic ahead of her as she climbs closer to the top of Canada's elite group of bike racers and she can't deny climate change has been a factor.

Her move two summers ago from Prince George, where road biking goes into hibernation mode for the cold-weather months, to the mild surroundings of her new home in Victoria, where she can rides outside virtually every day of the year, has made all the difference for the 20-year-old rider.

A week ago at the Grande Prix Cycliste Gatineau in Gatineau, Que., Swan finished 17th in the elite under-23 women's road race against an international field of 90 racers which included professional riders.

"It's the biggest one-day woman's race in Canada, so all the top North American teams come and I did really well there, so that was pretty exciting," said Swan. "You don't often get to race with 90 women.

"We did two laps of Gatineau Park, which is notoriously hilly, and then we did five laps of this 10K circuit, so the race ended up being 105 kilometres and it was pretty quick. It's the fastest race I've had in a couple of years."

With her 17th-place result, Swan earned her first Union Cycliste International (UCI) points, which count towards her international ranking. Racing for the Vancouver-based Trek Red Truck racing team, Swan was the eighth-highest finishing Canadian. She ended up in a group of riders that was 1:15 off the winning pace of 2:43:04 set by 39-year-old American Lauren Hall of Vicksburg, Miss.

Swan's race season started May 4 in Wenatchee, Wash., where she placed second overall in the Tour de Bloom stage race. She also placed second in the general classification at the Mutual of Enumclaw stage race in Enumclaw, Wash., May 19.

At the B.C. time trials in Abbotsford, Swan won the May 26 time trial. She kept up her winning streak in Victoria June 1 in the Robert Cameron Law time trial and finished second among the elite women in the five-lap criterium that followed two days later.

"It's been a really good past couple months, I'm really happy with it," she said.

Swan developed her racing engine as a speed skater with the Prince George Blizzard Club in Prince George and competed in mostly short track events for 14 years, starting when she was four. At age 16 she competed in the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, finishing as high as 11th in the 1,500m event.

Swan spent the winter months working on her endurance with two- or three-hour rides through the streets of Victoria. This year she's been building up her strength riding intervals, short bursts of all-out sprinting for five minutes, followed by five minutes of normal-effort riding - keeping up that on-again, off-again pattern for the duration of a two-hour ride. Sometimes she does her intervals on hills.

"That's something I've never done before and I think that got me accustomed to being comfortable in an uncomfortable zone," said Swan. "You're riding your top end, like 90 or 100 per cent. In races, when you're riding at that top end it feels uncomfortable, obviously, but I've gotten used to that and I'm able to push through that more.

"I'm developing as an athlete and I'm older and I'm growing up a little more. It seems women develop a little later than the men in cycling. The men develop (to peak) at 23 or 25, whereas the women can be 27 or 28. That just means I have a lot of time left in this sport."

Swan is studying business online through Camosun College in Victoria, which allows her to train for four or five hours per day and ride during daylight hours, which aren't long in the winter, even in Victoria.

"That's why I live in Victoria, because I can ride outside every day," she said. "I don't think I did a single training ride (on a stationary bike) this year. Even if it's raining it's manageable."

Swan will be back in Quebec next week in Saguenay for the Canadian national championships, June 21-24. Last year she was fourth in the U-23 criterium, seventh in the road race and 11th in the time trial.

"My goal last year was the podium or top-five but I think this year it could be more achievable," Swan said. "I'm riding stronger than I was last year and feel stronger and I have a better sense of how the race plays out, so I've just developed as a rider and have a lot more knowledge to use when I'm racing."

Also on the racing calendar for Swan is the B.C. Super Week, a series of nine races in 10 days in the Lower Mainland. She plans to enter eight of those races.