It wasn't too long ago that Yukoner Zach Bell was an unknown rookie on the Canadian track cycling scene, dreaming of a spot on the national team and hoping for a professional racing contract somewhere in North America.

If you would have asked Bell even a year ago how he would feel if he won a medal of any colour at the Pan American Championships, he probably would have said thrilled.

It's a sign of how far he's come in his young career, and how much respect he's gained in his sport, that Bell's first international podium finish a bronze medal in the individual pursuit at the Pan Americans in Sao Paulo, Brazil earlier this month left him longing for more.

'I'm pretty happy,' he said, in an interview from Kingston, Ont., where he now lives and trains. 'I was probably coming into it as one of the favourites to do quite well. It was my first international podium, so that was good.

'But I think, given more time to prepare, I could have done better.'

After competing in a World Cup race in Sydney, Australia, followed by the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March and the world track championships in France in April, as well as training with his professional team Rite-Aid Racing in North America, Bell didn't have much time at all to prepare for Brazil.

The way he'd stacked up against other riders all year, however, gave his coach the confidence that a medal was within reach. Not only did he grab the bronze, but Bell came close to racing in the gold/silver final.

'I was out of the first/second final by about two seconds,' he said. 'That's not far off, but not really close either.

'But in the (third/fourth) final, I actually had the fastest time of all the final four racers. I was still faster in my second ride than the guys in the first/second final. It was good to see I faded the least, because there's two rides in the same day. I hadn't really been in that situation yet this year.'

The Argentinean rider who Bell was up against for the bronze couldn't close the gap and finished more than four seconds behind him, after posting a time just two seconds behind Bell in qualifying.

'So it wasn't like it was a nailbiter,' stated Bell. 'The strategy was to ride conservative for the first half and then catch him in the last third of the race, but I had to be careful I didn't get too far behind.

'It was definitely a good strategic ride for me. I haven't got a lot of experience in finals, so I think I played it really well.'

Bell ended up competing in pretty much every endurance event on the track in Brazil, which he said was great experience. In the madison, he rode with a new partner, an athlete he only ever rode with once previously, but he was still pleased with the result.

With the exception of one race, either he or one of his teammates managed to place top five in nearly all of their events. In fact, in the team pursuit, they rode what Bell said was one of the best times he's ever been involved with.

The goal of the Canadian team heading into the Pan American Championships was to qualify for as many spots as possible for the 2007 Pan American Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro.

'I'm not sure exactly what (the results from Sao Paulo) will do for Pan Ams,' said Bell. 'I expect we'll have at least one, if not two, spots. We just missed out on qualifying for the team pursuit. They take the top four and we were fifth.'

Sao Paulo was the last chance for North American teams to qualify for the 2007 Pan Ams. However, if one of the countries from outside North America who finished in the top four qualifies for team pursuit at another event, the Canadian crew could move up and get an invite.

Whatever happens over the next few months though, Bell won't know whether he's going to the 2007 Pan Ams, or what events he would compete in, for quite some time. The Canadian Cycling Association should know soon how many spots they'll have, but they'll wait until closer to the actual event before choosing the athletes who get to go.

Bell will be busy enough over the next few months to keep his mind off of it, as he spends the rest of the summer racing on the national calendar, with most events scheduled in the North Eastern U.S. His next race is Saturday in Rochester, N.Y.

It wasn't too long ago that Bell could only dream of representing Canada at the Olympic Games. Now, his goal of competing in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing doesn't seem quite so lofty.