Small-town cyclist makes big strides
Meier just misses Canadian Olympic team selection
SUSSEX - Six years of competitive cycling has taken Christian Meier all over the world. From Canada, down through the United States, into South America, across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and down under to Australia.
But the 23-year-old professional cyclist has yet to ride in a place quite like his home town of Sussex.
"I think its one of the most beautiful places," he said. "I want to come back and build a house."
Meier, Canadian espoir champion in 2007 and national team member since 2003, has been racing with Symmetrics racing, a professional team out of Langley, B.C., for four years. He said his squad is likely the best all-Canadian pro cycling team the country has ever seen.
Symmetrics competes in the middle tier of a three-tier, pro-cycling apparatus, meaning they compete in most, but not all major professional races around the world. The group recently lost some major sponsorship, which might leave Meier without a team in the near future.
He has attracted some interest from a first-tier pro-tour squad, Slipstream, and said if his Symmetrics team doesn't pick up the sponsorship they need, he might make a move.
"A team like Slipstream does Spain, Italy and France, all the giant tours," said Meier.
Landing himself on a top-tier pro team would bring Meier a giant step closer to his dream of racing in the Tour de France.
"The biggest goal for me in the next few years is to make it to the Tour de France or Tour de Italy. It's a matter of getting to Europe on a pro-tour team."
Meier is preparing for the 2008 Tim Hortons National Road Championships in Beauce, Que., next month.
He will be looking to redeem himself after his hopes of competing in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games came to an end in a crash on the same course earlier this month at the Tour de Beauce.
"At Beauce, I was in the running (for the Olympics), but I crashed two days in."
He was in a pack who was riding single file, when the rider ahead of him made a last-second swerve around a parked car, leaving him no time to react.
"I hit the front side of the car, ripped the mirror off, and did some damage to the car. I had to go to the hospital after the stage to get stitches in my hip, and I bruised my arm quite bad."
Meier said although the crash happened earlier in the competition, his injuries left him working at less than 100 per cent for the remaining stages.
Although he didn't crack this year's Olympic roster, Meier isn't discouraged. His teammate and best friend, Svein Tuft, went on to win the Tour de Beauce, which solidified the latter's spot on Canada's Olympic team.
"Going into the race, the Olympics selection were in the back of my mind, but we were there pulling for Svein," said Meier. "In a team race, there is usually a leader. Svein has won this course before, so we knew he could take the jersey (first place)."
Meier said the peak age for racers is between 26 and 30. Being the youngest on his team, he still has time to make another run at the Olympics, but said it's not his ultimate goal.
"We never really put it all into making the Olympics. It would be nice to be there, but it would just be a bonus. I have my team, and that's my job. I'd rather race the Tour de France."
He said in many sports, the Olympics are the pinnacle of competition. But in the cycling world, there are greater feats. He compares winning the Tour de France to winning the hockey's Holy Grail.
"Hockey players would rather win the Stanley cup than a world championship or an Olympic gold."
Meier's impressive resumé includes a national championship in 2007, 21 first-place finishes, and more than 30 top five finishes from 2004-2007.
Aside from cycling, Meier has been busy with other endeavours. He recently began his own fair trade, organic coffee line with teammate Tuft. The two have started a website, bikebros.com, to launch their product.
When he does eventually move home to Sussex, where his Parents Maria and Reinhold, and brother Mike still reside, he looks forward to opening his own coffee shop.
"I want to do my cycling as long as I can, 100 per cent … But I've had a dream of opening a coffee shop."
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