Short's Report: Tour of Belize: Stage 1

Tour of Belize – Day 1

Flat tires – 1
Broken Wheels – 3
Crashes – 0 – Thank God
# of miles Alliance Environmental had all 6 riders on the front – 40


Today’s stage was 80 miles from a town called Orange Walk to the Mexican border and back. The roads where pretty rough, chip seal at its worst. There where also speed bumps in every town we came through. The speed bumps never really created a problem; it was the rain that made everything scary.

We had to drive this morning to where the race started. This made for an early morning. Once we got there we got all our stuff on, signed in and headed to the start line. The race started out pretty aggressive. We covered most moves and tried to put at least two riders in each break. We quickly learned that nobody was willing to work with us. Why? We don’t know? A break of two guys’ went up the road and was later joined by 5 others. By the time we got to the turn around it was clear that we needed to chase. At first Mike and Chris went to the front and started the chase. They where quickly joined by Boyd and Joe. As soon as they had it pinned there was a huge crash right in front of me. I went into the grass, around two cars and back onto the road. I went to the front after that to play gate keeper so that the chase would stay organized and I could stay safe. John was at the back doing his best to try and get each of us bottles. After about 10-15 miles of chasing I flatted, I could tell that this was not going to be my day. As I pulled off to get a wheel John stopped (still waiting for water) and gave me his rear wheel. Since my team were the ones setting the pace the entire group slowed down when I flatted. A couple of guys tried to attack but Boyd put them off the road. After that everyone was willing to wait. I was back in a couple of min. and the team went back to work on the front.

As we drew near to the break we had all 6 riders on the front. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. The guys in our team car said that there where guys getting dropped like flies. We had the entire field strung out single file. What happened next wasn’t so pretty. It started to rain. This was REALLY bad. Imagine diesel fuel, oil, and water all mixed together. Then try and ride on it. This disrupted our chase a little. Our back wheels were going about 4-8 inches side to side with the grooves on the road. Despite the rain slick roads the team caught the break just before the point sprint. It wasn’t much of a sprint since we couldn’t stand because of the slick roads. My bike was literally going sideways during the sprint. I took second and quickly stopped pedaling in fear of crashing.

The rain stopped not long after and another break went. This was my first of two mistakes today. I didn’t go with it. Now there are six guys blazing up the road and guess who takes up chase? Alliance Environmental! Again we have all six guys on the front trying to bring back yet another break and lead me out for the sprint all at the same time. This time there was absolute carnage at the back of the field. Our team had it nailed coming into town with me in tow. One by one each rider pulled off in exhaustion. As we approached the 2k to go sign the break had about 20 sec on us and it was John leading the charge with Chris, Joe, and myself behind. We are not going to catch the break. Now John’s done. Chris takes over. As Chris starts to wind it up he hits a hole. Since Joe and I are tucked in right behind him we hit it as well. Joe’s rear wheel is gone and he moves out of the way. I move up to behind Chris and encourage him up the last little rise. As we crest the rise the Sun Digital Photo team (Ryan Dewald and Dave Wiswell) attack. I quickly jump over to Dave’s wheel and I’m sure that I’ve got the sprint. Ryan pulls off and Dave lights it up. As I pass Dave I realize that this wasn’t the correct finish line. The real one was about 150 meters away. I’m completely done at this point and roll across the line somewhere in the top 20. Luckily I got second in the sprint out on the road and got a time bonus. I should be around 10th overall going into tomorrow.

I wish that all of you could have seen our team today. We literally had it pegged for the last 40 miles. Even though we didn’t win, we earned the respect from every team and official out there.

As far as my allergies go, I’m still fighting them. However, I don’t think that I can use that as an excuse for my boneheaded moves today.
Tomorrow is 90+ miles. I think that we are going to turn it back a notch.