B5 – Atilla Avsar

Name: Atilla Avsar

Bike: black carbon, the previous bike was a Giant

How long have I been riding track: Since I was 13, I raced on the 1976 Olympic velodrome in Montreal and the 1996 Olympic Velodrome when it was relocated to Bromont QC.

I started racing as a junior for Miyata bikes which was a powerhouse team. Louise Lalonde the hall of fame official was the president. I didn’t do great obviously but in the middle of the season one-day things came together and in a crit in Sainte-Foy, Quebec I was off the front contesting primes, breaking away. That race which I didn’t finish because I kept attacking and fried myself, was the moment to me I became a racer. By the end of the season, my team had been invited to the Tour de l’Abitibi (we didn’t go) and I had raced the now-iconic 7-11 team in a professional race in limited junior gearing. I got mad at them if you can believe it because they kept hammering and I was spinning out. I think Brian Walton or Ross Chafe who tragically passed away in that road accident near Whistler won.

Over the years I’ve stopped and started racing and have done over a thousand races and probably won over a hundred races, sprints, primes including downhill etc. I’ve won a bunch of titles in paracycling in later years racing for fun and made the pool (Zeus program) for the Rio games.

The greatest thing I have ever done in cycling is being one of the founders of Cycling combatting Cancer “CCC” with Damon Phinney, father and grandfather to the pro cyclists Davis, Taylor and Connie. We worked with Livestrong before Lance won his first tour. They have a meeting room dedicated to CCC. The incredible people who joined afterwards raised millions of dollars for cancer research. Damon was an amazing guy.