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Cyclist Zach Bell of Watson Lake is resting at home in North Vancouver after getting knocked off the Tour of the Gila with a broken collarbone.

The 31-year-old, who represented the Yukon at the 2012 Summer Olympics, was racing in New Mexico when he crashed last Saturday. He is expected to miss a month's worth of racing.

"It's a frustrating one just because of how the season was going and where we were headed,鈥濃�圔ell told the Star today.

"There was a couple more races that were coming up that were really well suited to my skillset. It was an incident that really didn't need to happen.鈥�

Bell began racing for SmartStop when his previous team, Champion System, folded after last season.

The North Carolina-based squad is headed up by former cyclist Michael鈥圕reed, whom Bell has raced against before.

His team was racing the fourth of five stages in the Tour of the Gila when the crash occurred. Bell was amongst the lead group of riders when a rival rider bumped Bell and sent him flying.

Bell picked up a bronze last month in the 174-km Winston-Salem Cycling Classic in North Carolina.

The circuit of races SmartStop is competing in is not entirely new to Bell. The Yukoner had raced a large chunk of these races three seasons ago. This year, he was serving as the unofficial captain of the squad, making most of the decisions for the team during races.

Bell is one of the more-experienced SmartStop team members, and is the reigning road and track champion in Canada.

While he hopes to be able to defend both titles this year, Bell said he's still working to map out his future with Team Canada.

"I think the national team is really in a building phase,鈥� he said. "They've definitely expressed interest in wanting to keep me on board ... For us the problem has always been you can't make money on the national team. We're trying to figure out if that's possible.

"I鈥坖ust have to figure out which direction it's going to be. Hopefully by the middle of the summer, we'll know.鈥�

Bell figures he has at least two more quality years left in his legs.

He does hope to defend his national road championship in late June, but acknowledged his wife Rebecca is expecting a baby around the same time.

Bell is expected to don the red and white jersey for Canada at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland this July.