The life of a professional cyclist can be filled with plenty of thrills but an equal amount of spills.

Conor White experienced all that the sport can offer in the space of just a few days, winning gold on his first international event at the Pan American Track Championships on Thursday before falling and finishing his last couple of races at the back of the pack while nursing injuries.

After returning to the UK from Chile on Monday, one of White’s first tasks will be to seek medical treatment to remove a splinter from his arm after doctors trackside in Santiago failed to remove it following a fall.

“I’ve got a nice, big splinter in my arm that I haven’t managed to get out yet,” White said.

“The doctors on the side of the track tried to cut it out and told me that there’s nothing in there, but I can still feel it. Never mind the gold medal, I was trying to milk my injuries to get an upgrade on the journey home.

“When I get back to the UK, I’m just going to go and get it treated. I have a few burns on my arm and along my ribs and on my hip, but thankfully no broken bones.

“I got pretty lucky with the place on the track where I fell, so I didn’t hit the banking at 60kph an hour. I fell onto the straightaway, so I slid down and got burnt because I was sliding with all the friction along the wood.”

The fall meant White was unable to perform at his peak in his final couple of events but he remains a continental champion after winning a gold medal in the Scratch Race when breaking away from the field and making a solo ride to glory.

Victory means White has joined a select few Bermudians to win medals at that level or above and his achievement is now only finally sinking in.

“At the time because I was so focused on racing the rest of the week and that was just the first of seven races, I didn’t really have too much time to think about it,” he said.

“But to be the first continental champion in cycling from Bermuda is pretty amazing. I don’t think anyone expected that I would medal on my first go on the track, let alone get a gold. I'm definitely exceeding my expectations so far on the track and I hope that can continue.”

Despite the early success after his track transition, White is not thinking of making a permanent switch to the velodrome, with the limited number of opportunities ensuring he will spend most of his summer on the roads in Europe.

“No endurance rider, that I know of at least, is solely racing on the track,” White said.

“Sprinters will just go in the gym if they're not on the track, whereas most endurance track riders have a big road background and you can’t train like a sprinter and be that fit to compete.

“I’m definitely focusing more on track this year, but I still will keep riding the road because there’s also not as many track races throughout the season as there are for the road.”

White’s performances in Chile means that he should form part of Bermuda’s squad for the Commonwealth Games, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, in July, but is just waiting on confirmation of his selection from the Bermuda Olympic Association.

“I’m not confirmed to be going yet, but I would like to go,” White said.

“I know that I’ve already met one standard and I'm hoping to meet another one very soon. But that comes later in the year and I have a few races on the road before then.

“I'll be back in the UK for just a few days and then I go over to Europe and I’ve got two UCI road races with my team in France on March 7 or 8.

“Then I will do another race in the UK the following weekend and then start doing the big national races in the UK coming into April as well as some track racing as well. I plan on coming back to Bermuda in mid-March, just for a week and a half and to get a little break.”