Short's Report: Tour of Belize Stage 7

Tour of Belize: Stage 7 – 80 miles

Today was a great day for many reasons. The number one reason is that we don’t have to wake up at 3:30 in the morning anymoreJ. The number two reason is that today ended up being one of the easiest days of the Tour, at least for me.

We started in Belize City and raced to the western border by Guatemala. The race started out pretty calm. I think that everyone was dreading the mtns. Before the race Dave Wiswell of Sun Digital asked if I would help him with the bonus sprints today. He is only one point ahead of the Belizean sprinter Gregory Lovell. If Dave could win the sprint and I took second it would help him increase his lead. I know what you’re thinking. Why help the other team? The next couple of days are going to be hard and we may need some help moving John up in GC, moving Joe closer the U23 jersey (which he lost because of the TT), and help Mike get the 38+ jersey back.

As we approached the first sprint Wiswell was tucked in on Lovell’s wheel and I was on Wiswells wheel. Dave came around Lovell and I sprinted just off to the side bumping Lovell and blocking him in. The plan worked. Dave took the sprint and I took second. Sun Digital is very happy and willing to work with us in the next couple of stages.

As the race continued we all rode close to the front, except for John. He was staying out of trouble and was only going to come out and play if needed. About half way through the race John flatted. He got a great wheel change from Randy and quickly made his was through the caravan. As he came up to one of the Guatemalan team cars they stopped in the road to pick up bottles. This is probably one of the stupidest moves we have seen in the caravan so far. John had to come to a complete stop and go around the car. Mike noticed that John hadn’t made it back up so he dropped off the back to help him catch back on. As soon as he was on they both went straight to the front.

The next several miles attacks started going like crazy. Now it’s starting to rain as well. Chris got away with a good group and had a minute on the pack. I was riding on the right side of the road and hit a small hole. I must have hit this thing just right because my front carbon wheel exploded. I quickly stopped and Randy was right there with a new wheel and I was back on the pack in no time. I felt great! NOTE: Just because we are having problems with our wheels does not mean that these wheels are bad. The roads are just really rough. I LOVE CANE CREEK!!

After chasing back on I went straight to the front. The rain is really coming down now. The chase is on. Chris’s breakaway is starting to pose a threat. Teams get to the front and start to chase. The really weren’t making any ground. As we rolled into the town of San Ignacio we went across a really narrow, metal grate bridge. After the bridge we hung a left at a round about and went straight up. This hill was as steep as the steepest part of the Manuyunk (spelling?)Wall, all the way up. It was about 500m in length. This was defiantly the hardest part of the course. Crazy me, I went up it in my big ring. At the top of the climb the race leader (an unbelievable Swede) went to the front and single handily brought back the break. This was the plan. We need to make this happen a lot tomorrow. That’s the only way we are going to wear this guy down.

As we came into town I was on Gregory Lovell’s wheel. I figured that he has won three stages because he knows the finishes really well, so I followed him. As we came up the last little rise I could see the line about 1k away. I had no idea that it was coming up. There were no signs on the course (usually they have 5k, 2k, and 1k to go signs). We are way too far back to sprint. We both shoot through a couple of small gaps to try and get there but we then get shut down by guys who can’t go anymore. I guess that today won’t be my day.

After the race we rode 12 miles to our hotel. This felt really good. Our hotel is amazing. It’s at the top of a hill above a rain forest. It’s so beautiful!! Our room actually has 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, and hard wood floors. We really needed this before the 112 mile stage tomorrow.

After we got to the hotel we showered up and went to downtown for lunch. We ate until we couldn’t move. After lunch we decided we wanted to see some sights. So we all hopped in the car and drove to the Guatemalan border. We got our passports stamped and went into Guatemala and got something to drink. We then got our passports stamped from Guatemala and came back to Belize. That was exciting!

After our passport stamping expedition we went to see the Mayan Ruins. This was amazing. We climbed all the way to the top of a 13 story stone ruin. We also found out that Mike and Joe are scared of heights. This is not the group that they wanted to reveal this too. We still have not stopped teasing them. After all, they are grown men.

Now we are just lying in our hotel getting ready for bed.

Talk to you tomorrow.