Hot Action Down South....Under the Rain....

In what will most likely be the last official race of the 2009 racing season, the Sagitun Banana Classic held in the deep southern belt of the banana industry saw many cyclists congregate in Independence Village for what turned out to be quite a competitive event. Under cloudy skies and rain, the organizers still managed to put off three nice races in the Junior, Master (cat. 4/5) and Elite/U-23 categories, offering nice cash prizes along the way.

The Team Zamir and Sugar City Starz guys were out in full force with 7 Belizeans and 3 Mexicans. We wanted to represent well for Roger (Zamir) since the race was being held in his adopted home town and was being organized by his in-laws.

As is usual, the attacks were furious and many in the beginning but the group basically stayed together for the 1st lap on the 42 mile "x-shaped" course which took riders all the way out to the San Juan Village, back towards Independence, turning south towards Bella Vista Village, before coming back out and heading into Big Creek then back out again. Unfortunately for us during these tense moments we there was a crash which saw four of our guys go down (including all three Mexicans), with one of them, Nelo Acosts breaking a derailur and being forced to abandon the race.

Gilberto going solo for 5 station prizes

On the 2nd of the two laps, the attacks really started to pick up since this was the lap that would have as much as a dozen cash station prizes (primes). Byron Pope (Benny's) was the 1st to make a credible move, but was soon reeled back in by the strong Santino's team who wanted to keep it together as best as possible for Marlon Castillo and Greg Lovell. As soon as the peleton brought Pope back, Gilberto Santiago (Starz) one of our Mexican imports who also won a stage for us in Merida, made a bold solo move that saw him eat up 5 straight station prizes in uncontested fashion.

Sensing this to be a serious move Santino's again took over the chasing duties and labored to bring him back. This hard effort by Marlon split the pack and saw a small group of nine go off the front.

We had good representation with Giov (Starz) and Roger (Zamir) being the two protected guys for the race. When they caught Gil, the now 10-man group would work well to stay away to the end. While at the back Pashito Leiva, now back with Starz after an up and down season, Victor Manuel "Chromato" Martinez (Mexician) and the remaining Choto brothers kept the peleton under control.

Coming into the sprint for the final, Gil jumped and got a massive gap on the break, but mis-judged the tight final right hand turn to the line and almost whipped out. He managed to hold on bu lost too much ground and had to settle for 4th just behind Christian MacNish (the Panamanian sprinter from Benny's) who took 1st, Greg Lovell (Santino's) 2nd, Douglas Guiterrez (Costa Rican from Benny's) 3rd. Rounding out the top ten were Nissan Arana (Typhoon) 5th, Giov (Starz) 6th, Jairo Campos (Typhoon) 7th, Roger (Zamir) 8th, Jawmeighan (Santino's) 9th, and Marlon Castillo (Santino's) in 10th.

Some other notable finishes for the team were Jose Choto (Zamir) in 12th, and Pashito (Starz) in 15th. In the Master 4/5 category race new comer to the Starz outfit, Glen O'Brien formerly of Santino's was the lone gun for the team. Though severly outnumbered he held Glen represented very well placing 3rd out of a 6 man breakaway that got clear with about 8 miles left in the 42 mile event. Kudos and a good showing!!!

This was a nice end tot he season and puts us in a confident position going into the 2010 campaign. We are already deep in negotiations with potential riders for the upcoming season and should be able to post new signings and a 2010 roster in the coming weeks. Stay tuned....

Giov Shines Blue on the Bipass

So it's been a while since I've posted but only because there's not been much happening here on the local race seen.

Yesterday, on the home training roads of the Sugar City Camp the 5th Annual John Briceno Bypass Criterium was held under the scortching heat and blowing crosswinds. Races in four categories were on the card for teh day, a 1/2 lap "Tinymites" race for 9-12 yr olds, a 4 lap Junior event, 3 lap 4/5 Master race and the main event was the 6 lap elite/u-23.

We fielded teams in the Master and Elite/u-23.

Damian and former 3 time Cross Country champ Charlie Lewis lined up in the master event but bad luck ruled the day. Charlie managed a brief stint out front by bridging over to the day's 1st lone man escapee, but that was short lived. He would manage to finish in the 3 bunch of the day cracking the top 15. Damian would have a horrible day flatting 4 miles into the race while trying to bridge over with 3 others to yet another lone escapee. The service truck as delayed for some reason and was no where to be found when he flatted and as such ended up abandoning the race.

In the big 6 lap (60 miler) of the day after a few early attempts a 7 man group made it clear bout 3 laps into the race. This group featured 2 Santino's riders including known sprinter Jawmeighan, a local favorite from Typhoon, Byron Pope from Benny's and Nelo Acosta from the Depredadores team out of Chetumal. We had two strong guys make the seperation in Giovanni Choto and new acquistion Glen O'Brien (formly of Santino's). Glen worked his tail off in the break to try to perserve Giov for the finale, and with a lap to go lost contact from the remaining 6.

When Glen got dropped the 6 man break had 1:25 lead on the chasing field, who were being led by Santino's and the Depredadores team, both wanting to place stronger riders in the position to win. Eventually the escape was never caught and in a surprise win Jairo Campos (Typhoon) charged around the final curve to pick up the two bike length win for his team. Giov surprised many including myself by slipping into 2nd by a front wheel, Domingo Lewis (Santino's) 3rd, Byron Pope (Benny's) 4th, Jawmeighan a surprising 5th, and Nelo Acosta (Depredadores) 6th.

Giov says it's the new Blue bicycle that he's been outfitted with that made the difference...super light, stiff, and fast!!! (Thanks to E.Murph for parting with his machine back in March)

More next time.

Mixed Success in Merida

Gilberto Santiago (Sugar City Starz on podium after Stage 4 win)

With the Belizean cycling season on its usual recess through the summer, we opted to take the guys over into Mexico for the Vuelta Ciclismo de Merida which featured a 4 stage race over three days, August 7 - 9, 2009. We opted to take both teams, Sugar City Starz and Zamir in an attempt to maximize numbers. In all the nine man contingent featured 5 Belizeans (Jose, Giovanni, and Peter Choto, Hernan Ochaeta and Arnides Rivas), 2 Guatemalans (Carlos Hernandez & Mario Santizo) as well as two Mexicans from Tabasco (Gilberto Santiago and Anuar Anubis Diaz).

Stage 1 - would feature a 140 km race from Merida to Kantunil and back along the open inter-state. The traffic was horrendous and made servicing the riders very difficult since the practice over there is to have the caravan pass the peleton and move to the front of the race then do standing service as the peleton wisks by. The field finished virtually in tact with a small breakaway group of about 12 riders coming in some 9 seconds ahead of the charging peleton. Our best placed after this stage was Guatemalan Carlos Hernandez who managed to make that selection slotting himself into 9th place on GC. A bit of bad luck saw two of our guys flat in the last 15 km and 1 km respectively, but none lost time.

Stage 2 - an early morning individual time trail of 29.5 kms or roughly 18 miles, again out on the open interstate highways but this time including a few steep climbs caused by the bridges on the freeway. Our hopes for this race rested squarely on the shoulders of Giovanni and Carlos since both were out best TT-ers. Several riders put in great rides including the race's leader Domingo Gonzalez of Team Orven from Nuevo Leon, as well as Manolo Henrandez of Team Depredadoes (Chetumal) and Belize's ITT champion Marlon Castillo of Santino's. Giov would manage a top 10 time however Carlos was passed by 3 riders but still managed a top 15 time. After this stage, out best position was Giovanni in 18th, and Carlos in 26th.

Giovanni and Arnides following attacks

Stage 3 - held at 3:00 p.m. later in the day featured a 100 km / 60 mile road race covering 2 laps of the Perferico on the outskirts of Merida. It featured a total of 11 small climbs up bridges on the freeway on each lap. The crosswinds were intense, but Giovanni knew he needed time and managed to catch the day's winning break after being launched off a serious attack my Carlos. The five man group would include other overall contenders Donizetti Vasquez and Rafael Escarsega (both Depredadores) and Jairo Campos of Belize - Team Typhoon. Seeing how much work Giov did in powering the break to stay clear the members decided they would have given him the stage win since the two Depredadores riders were only concerned with time gains. In the last 800 meters though Campos would opt to betray the agreement and shot out for the sprint win, a move completely unexpected by the group. After the dust settled the group would manage a 45 second advantage over the field with Giov getting 4th on the stage and moving up to 15th on the overall.

Stage 4 - Sunday's fourth and final stage would see the remaining 85 out of the original 176 riders who started travel 30 laps around the Paseo de Montejo, in the heart of downtown Merida. Depredadores (having the strongest team there) promised to attack early and often to dislodge Belize's best placed rider Marlon Castillo who sat in 2nd overall, 5 seconds down and with the hope of moving up one of their GC contenders Manolo Hernandez who sat in 3rd 12 seconds behind Marlon.

At the gun, a small 3 man break got off the front on lap one, and was soon joined by the race leader Gonzalez, Manolo Hernandez, Nissan Arana (typhoon), two Santino's riders who were covering attacks to protect Marlon and one of our Mexicans gilberto Santiago (Sugar City Starz). The leaders pushed the pace hard and Santino's tried but could not get organized in the back to bring back the escapees, not even after dropping their two guys from the front breakaway. With Santino's cracking and it's riders dropping out one by one the break further pulled away and would finish 1:35 ahead of the field. Coming in for the final sprint Gilberto got the jump on the breakaway group and easily won the sprint winning the stage by 3 bike lengths, but by then the damage had been done and Marlon fell from 2nd overall to 4th but managing to retain the U-23 title.

Gilberto Santiago (Sugar City Starz) on podium after Stage 4 win

So, in the end, a mixed result for us...a hard fought but tactically impressive stage win by Gilberto but out best finish on GC being 17th for Giovanni and 25th for Carlos Hernandez. Two guys abandoned on the last day but both gained well needed experience having participated for teh 1st time in such a high caliber tour outside of Belize.

Below is the link to the final GC results.

http://mx.geocities.com/esdene1/Clasificacion_general_Merida_09.xls

Disappointment in the Road Champs....

So after the dust was settled we walked away empty-handed in yesterday's National Road Championship Road Race after 120 miles of tough racing. Santino's ended up dominating the race placing 4 guys in the top 5 and walking away with the elite, U-23 and Master titles.

As expected, the race stayed virtually together for the 1st quarter until they met the rolling hilly sections. At the "Gap" (the race's toughest climb), Marlon (Santino's) launched a hard attack. He was quickly followed by Giov (Starz) who'd been out in the 1st small break of the day, Roger (Zamir), Greg (Santino's & defending Champ) and Nissan Arana (Typhoon). This group would eventually start building a lead that would prove to be the race's defining break. At this point...and coming out of the hilly section we were feeling good as we had our two best guys in the main break, with the two favored Santino guys and not enough fire power left in the bunch from other teams after clearing the hills.


With maybe 50 miles or so to go, we started playing our cards. Hernan, Jose, and Pete (all Zamir) along with Mateo (Starz) and two Santino riders made a bid to get over to the five leaders. We sent word to Roge and Giov in the break to shut it down a bit in order to give the chasers a chance to catch up. The thinking there was that if they did get across, the Zamir/Starz alliance would be well placed having 6 total riders in a break that would have been 11 strong if the chasers got there.

For whatever reason Giov continued pressing the pace in the break, and then in the back with the chasers, one of the Santino's riders dropped off the pace and Jose slowed down and stayed with him, as well as Pete. This grave error costed us a shot at the race, as Mat and Hernan were unable to close the gap to the leaders by themselves (both having labored in the early part of the race). Two Santino's riders saw them crack and attacked them and bridged across after a massive effort. This put the advantage squarely in the Santino's team hands....seven man break of which they had four of their best, two solid pacers and their two best sprinters.

After that Santino's used their numbers and threw down the attacks one behind the other. Giov was a monster and tracked every attack down in the last 15 miles of the race. Roge sat on with the hope that he would have been able to conserve enough to counter one of the Santino attacks in the last mile or two, maybe catch their sprinters off guard. With less than a mile to go and well within the last 500 meters, Marlon launched a killer attack and came flying round the final roundabout with a gap on the lead group which he would hold on to the end, just barely beating out teammate and last year's champion Gerg Lovell.

Third position went to a brave and well-deserving Nissan Arana (2007 Elite Champion) considering the work he did tracking back attacks with Giov in the last 15 miles. Santino's managed 4th - Darnel Barrow and 5th - Bertram Brown (former Starz ruder), with 6th going to Roge and 7th to Giov. 8th went to Santino's Leroy Casasola (also giving them the Masters title) and Jose (Zamir) managed to get 9th.

Clean sweep for Santino's.....

The season should now really slow down as no other major races remain on the calendar. We will instead be looking to do some races over in Mexico in the coming weeks, perhaps the Vuelta de Merida and the Clasica de Cuidad del Carmen around end July and early August.

Looking Ahead to the Nationals...

This year the local federation has opted to split the National Championships into an individual time trail and the usual road race in an attempt to give us a more international flare as well as encourage our riders to become more rounded and complete in other disciplines. The T/T was held this past Sunday, June 21st, 2009 covering an 11 mile ciruit and under rainy and wet conditions.

Our guys competed and all gave valiant showings with Roger (Zamir) managing 2nd in the elite T/T, Jose (Zamir) getting 3rd in the Master category and Giovanni (Starz) slotting into 2nd for teh U-23. Despite a protest raised by Roger, Marlon Castillo (Santino's) who is offically registered with the Association as a U-23 rider, he was allowed to participate in the Elite T/T and won. This unfortunate relegated Roge to 2nd, otherwise he would have easily captured the Elite title. As soon as the results are posted on the BCA website I'll post the link.

Looking ahead to this Sunday's Road Race, we like our chances going into the 130 mile race. Firstly, not many riders have been training for this sort of distance since the Cross Country, nor have many of them been training on the terrain that this race will cover. Starting in Silk Grass down south and then travelling north thru the Stann Creek Valley the race will pass over some of the toughest climbs the country offers. The Choto's are all great climbers, and Roge is one of the smoothest climbers in the country. The addition of the hard pacing Arnides Rivas and the return of Gian Ochaeta (whose been really sidelined this season since getting a full time job) should really boost our top guys once we've gotten through the hilly sections and hit the flatter more windy part of the race.

In the Master category both Jose (Zamir) and Mateo (Starz) should have solid chances. In the U-23, Giov and Gian should both go well. Last year while riding for their previous team Gian attacked in the last mile and was caught 250 meters from the finish when the sprint started, though of course Marlon Castillo will be a threat in their category. In the Elite category is should be a very interesting race, as our best shot will be to try to put Roger in the best position to win that title against the likes of Greggy and Froggy, both riding for Santino's. Roge is in great condition and coming off some really focused training after a disappointing Cross Country.

More after Sunday!!!

Strong Showing in Chetumal

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here and I start 1st with an apology. There has been literally nothing happening in racing in Belize, as is typical after the Cross Country for the season to taper off. On the horizon looms the National Road Championships, June 21st - ITT and June 28th Road Race. With that said, we took the team across the Mexican border this past weekend to participate in the 1st ever Clasica Depredadores in Chetumal on June 14 as a preparation race for the guys.

The race was well organized and big congrats should go out to the Depredadores Team of Chetumal for putting a very good race together, excellent course (tougher than many imagined), great prizes, hospitality, accomodations, 5 different levels/categories of races....congrats to them, good job!!!

The eilte race started at 9:00 a.m. and was supposed to be 90 miles however with an almost 8 mile lead out (neutral start) and 4 laps over a 1.5 km circuit the guys all clocked close to 102 miles on the day. All of our guys raced under the Sugar City Boyz banner today and though we were short some key guys like Roger, Mateo and Quinton (who is serving a suspension for using banned substances) we still managed to take a solid squad comprised of the 4 Choto brothers, Jose, Raf, Pete, and Giov, as well as Hernan Ochaeta and new acquistion Arnides Rivas (see pic below) who rode his 1st race in our colors and did a yoman's job of eventually helping Giov make it over to the break.

As expected the competition was hard and intense in light of the fact that some big name Mexican talent was there such as Carlos M. Hernandez (2nd in the Cross Country), teammates Carlos "Chicote" Valdez, Mario Rios, as well as Donizetti Vasquez, Canadian powerhouse Brian Barkhouse, Omar Trompa, Chino...and noted Belizeans such as Nissan Arana, Brandon Cattouse, oh and did I mention Team Santino's took their entire 9 man elite team.

The early break saw Rios, Barkhouse and Greg Lovell (Santino's) manage to get a lead of about 1:30 on the chasers which they would hold until little after the 1/2 way mark. In the chase group of 15-18, we had good numbers - Jose, Giov and Pete who had been in the early moves from the get go. With about 40 K to go the race really took shape with the high level riders putting their stamp on the race. Eventually with 20 K to go and after several attacks by the likes of Donizetti and Nissan, Rios and Chicote, some of the Santino guys, the lead groups would disintegrate to about 10 guys...two of which were ours in Giov and Jose.

Entiring the final 4 lap circuit Giov just could not stay on anymore and faded slightly off the back never being able to quite get back on. Jose was out numbered and isolated againsted the host team Depredadores (Hernandez, Vasquez, and Rios) as well as the ever dangerous Barkhouse, and Belizeans Nissan and Greg...all of whom have stronger kicks to the line than he does.

With a lap and 1/2 to go on teh final circuit Manolo Hernandez made his move and would never be caught giving the home team Depredadores the win. Two guys tried to catch him but ended up battling it out for 2nd, which would go to Barkhouse and Chino taking 3rd. The remainder of the lead group then sprinted it out for the remaining podium prizes and Rios (Depredadores) outkicked Arana, Lovell and Jose in that order giving Jose a had fought 7th place on the day.

After the race, we all kicked back, soaked in some Mexican cuisine and beers, went back to the hotel and packed up for home. All in all not a bad day of racing which should give the guys a solid foundation heading into the Nationals in the weeks ahead. More updates and info coming soon...I promise!!!

Jose gets 4th and 1st Belizean in Cross Country

So after the dust had settled and contrary to my pre-race post, a Mexican rider emerged victorious in the 81st Cross Country Classic. In fact the Mexicans managed 1st and 2nd and ate up close to 35% of the station prizes and primes on the course. After 6 hours and 2 minutes of hard racing, Mexican Carlos Lopez (riding unttached) emerged with the win in solo fashion a minute ahead of country-man Carlos Manuel Hernandez (riding for the Mexican National Selection). Rounding out the top three was Cuban Frank Travieso riding for Team Santino's giving the foreigners the 1, 2, 3 sweep of the podium.

With that faith sealed, the eyes of the nation then came down to who would be the 1st Belizean, a heroic feet in itself given the overwhelming foreign competition in this year's race, and to be outdone was our Team Zamir's very own Jose Choto out-sprinting Team Santino's rider Geovanni "Froggy" Leslie for the forth overall position and capturing the hearts of a nation by also winning the covetted 1st Belizean prize in his attempt to defend the garland.

The race got started shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday morning with 123 riders. About 3 miles in a small breakaway of four riders including one of our protected guys Giovanni Choto (Starz) got clear. Soon after this breakway group ballooned to 12 with our Eric Murphy (Starz) and Roger Troyer (Zamir) going along with the move since it had the presence of several dangerous Mexican and Costa Rican riders and given how the race unflodded last year where an early break stayed out for most of the race, and eventually saw the winner emerge, they opted to follow. The main peleton opted to let the front runners go.

At 30 miles in a Mexican and a Costa Rican got clear of the 12 and ran all the way into Cayo and back to mile 42 before they were caught. In the back the action was relentless and main peleton would eventually catch the 10 riders chasing the 2 foreigners about 2 miles before the San Igancio turn point. With the dangerous group caught it was just a matter of time before the attacks started on the return leg. The heat and wind were definitely factors as slowly but surely the pack got smaller as riders abandoned.

Coming past Belmopan and with about 45 miles to go, one of our two Guatemalans, Luis Santizo (Starz) tried to bridge across to the two front runners. Seeing this failed attempt a small group of 5 gave it a go. Froggy Leslie and Frank Travieso (both Santino's), Carlos Lopez and Carlos Manual Hernandez (both Mexicans) and our Jose Choto managed to catch the two with about 42 miles to go. From there this group worked together to distance themselves from the pack. Three of our guys - Bill Elliston and Roger (from Zamir Cyling) and an toasted Santizo tried to bridge over, and came close but just could not finish the effort.

Our 2nd Guatemalan Carlos Hernandez (Zamir) made a valiant effort to get across the over 2 minute gap to the 5 front runners and give Jose some help in the break and eventually caught them with 20 miles to race. By the time he got there though he too was dead on the bike and when the Mexican Hernandez attacked Carlitos got put out the back and would eventually roll in at the finish under sever cramping in 27th position.

Hernandez would eventually open a lead of a minute on the four remaining riders. Not to be outdone was his country-man Carlos Lopez who attacked with 5 miles remaining and eventually caught up to Hernandez with 2 miles to go to the finish. Hernandez would flat in the last 2 miles and with about a mile to go Lopez rode off down the rode to finish about a minute ahead of Hernandez and claim the 2009 Cross Country title.

Back behind the two Belizeans Leslie and Choto would drop the Cuban Travieso but when the cat and mouse games started in the last 2 km, Travieso caught and left the two Belizeans and rolled in for 3rd in uncontested fashion. After the jocking, Jose jumped first with 300 meters to go and gapped Froggy to easily win the 4th position and claim the much covetted 1st Belizean with Froggy having to settle for a disappointing 5th.

In all the Sugar City Starz / Team Zamir camp managed 4 riders in the top 20 with Giovanni Choto in 8th, Quinton Hamilton (Starz) in 12th, and Bill Elliston (Zamir) in 16th. We also managed to pick up a few station prizes along the way thanks to Jose's presence in the final break. All in all, though it was not an outright win, the team is very happy and content with the results in light of the fact that many of the foreigners who rode this year were Professionals with Cat.1 licenses and were just too much competition fro the Belizeans. Our record in two Cross Country Classics now...1st Belizean...TWICE!!!!

In closing we would like to thank our sponsors Melin Vasquez and Family, Vasquez Trucking, Belize Sugar Industries Ltd, Belize Medical Associates, Triple A Imports and La Popular Bakery.

Below please find links to the final classicification links via the BCA website.
http://www.belizecycling.com/results/43-mexican-carlos-lopez-wins-81st-holy-saturday-cross-country-classic.html?28e5bbf660cb545fc854f5c048c7be7c=d5ac3be423a5b511a87c01ed9aebb293

It's Finally Here...81st Cross Country Classic...GO!!!

All the training, prep racing, 6 - 8 hour Sunday rides, 4:00 a.m. Saturday's to go race in Belize City, this is what it boils down to, Saturday April 11th, 6:00 a.m., 144 miles, the heat...the gusting south-easterly winds...it's shaping up to be yet another history making classic.

Going into the race we already have an idea whose going well for us. Roger and Giovanni have been riding well, with Rog placing 3rd in the last two major classics and Giov winning two races in Guatemala while on a 3 week training camp there with Nery Velasquez (Cafe Queztal). Nery and Luis Santizo arrive later this week and while only Luis will ride for us on Saturday, Nery's presence will be greatly appreciated as he will bring another great cycling mind to the think tank for strategy planning. Also bolstering the squad's efforts will be last year's 4th place finisher Carlos Hernandez, another Guatemalan saddling up for us this year.

Already in town is Bill Elliston who will be riding for Team Zamir. Bill is a former Cross Country Champ (2005) and has been racing at both the elite amateur and professional levels for 20 years. He also coaches and is a student of the sport. Rounding out the foreign support for the race for us will be the Mercinary, Eric Murphy from the Myogenesis.com Cycling Team out of Georgia. E-Murph's been here for two major classics already and should play a key role marking dangerous moves for us during the race.

Of our local guys, Roger, Giovanni, Quinton, Jose, Mateo...all have great chances of winning this event and should be able to use their experience and conditioning to position themselves well when the deck is being shuffled. For anyone whose familiar with this race, it is typically a race that's decided in the last 25 - 30 miles. our strategy will be simple, preserve as many of our guys as possible for the last 30 - 40 miles so that we canhave and maintain a presence in all the decisive moves and then position our protected guys into the winning opportunities.

The competition should be strong. The team to watch will definitely be Santino's who've split their team as well by re-introducing Redbull and bring the likes of Frank Travieso and Yusvany Falcon in for the race. These two will be sure to protect the speedster and reigning Nation Champ Greg Lovell. Additionally, they have the recently crown Belmopan Classic winner Jeovanni Leslie, super srpinter Darnell Barrow, and former SC Starz work horse Berty Brown as options to play.

Benny's too should post additional threats in the likes of young sensation Byron Pope and veteran Jeffery Zelaya, but moreso in the presence of Panamian sprinter Christian McNish and Costa Ricans Nieves Carasco and Pablo Espinoza, as well as the legendary Columbian Carlos Robles.

C-Ray will counter with Brandon Cattouse and will no doubt have the services of the Mexican and Canadian duo of Yapur and Barkhouse who will be coming in as part of the Merida delegation. Former Champ Shane Vasquez (Western Spirits) has been quiet all season, but as been steadily improving in his form and performances since Valentine's and should be right there again. This is his kind of race and he can't be counted out.

Other possible contenders include Chris Harkey who'll be riding again for Acros/Guiness and while many may count him out because of his age, he too as been improving his performances fro a 22nd New Years, to a 6th for Belmopan (3 weeks ago).

The Mexican and Guatemalan contingents will be active and should be out gunning early for the money prizes and not so much for teh overall win. They come strictly to collect. Only time will tell...keep you posted!

Giov & Rog Shine in Guatemala; Quinton & Mat in Mexico

In an effort to hone the form of the guys in these final critical weeks leading up to the Ride for the Garland...and the Glory, aka the Cross Country we decided to send 3 of our guys (Jose and Giovanni Choto & Roger Troyer) over to Guatemala to finalize their training with Nery Velasquez (our Guatemalan team-mate) in the higher altitude of Guatemala. They've been there for 2 weeks and doing lots of speed and intensity work with Nery, as well as some racing on the weekends.

Giov is really showing that he is in great form right now, coming off a great showing in the Belmopan Classic he has managed two wins in races in Guatemala, with the most recent coming this weekend when he got away from a field that included the Guatemalan U-23 national team and managed to win in solo fashion finishing some 5 minutes ahead of the field. Rog continues to show his consistency winning the bunch sprint for 2nd, while Jose managed 6th.

Meanwhile, with those three guys training and racing in Guatemala, I arranged to take the remaining guys (Quinton, Mateo, Leslie, Hernan, Raf and Pete) over into Mexico for a 150 km (90 mile) road race in Felipe Carillo Puerto, Mexico. We packed up and left Saturday evening and despite some excitement with the team van breaking down and the distractions of almost not making it to our destination, the weekend proved to be very successful.

After a rolling start thru the principal streets of the city, at about 30 K in, Leslie Sanchez got a gap of about 25-30 seconds and was soon after joined by Quinton Hamilton and another Mexican rider. Despite limited help from the Mexican, the trio soon managed a 55 second break with Quinton really driving the pace hard. The chase in the back was led by Canadian Brian Barkhouse, Omar Trompa, and Donicetti Vasquez put in massive efforts to bring the break.

About 10 K after the half-way turning point of the race, Leslie and Quinton dropped the Mexican which created an even more sense of panic on the field. The Duo of Barkhouse and Trompa pushed the pace into the low 30's for 4 - 5 miles relentlessly until they brought back our guys. Once caught the counter attacks started, and since our guys basically sat on during the chase, we managed to put at least two guys in all the counter moves, however none of them proved strong enough to stay away from the charging field.

With about 10 K to go the main field of about 20-25 riders all still together rode in for what would turn out to be an impressive bunch sprint for all the marbles. Quinton powered the train up to about 40 mph coming in with about 500 meters to go and actually created a bit of gap but the field of charging sprinters with the likes of Brandon Cattouse (C-Ray), Donicetti Vasquez, and Byron Pope (Benny's) all three managed to come around him in that order so Quints had to settle for 4th, with Mateo managing to recover from bad positioning, taking the 5th slot.

All in all not a bad day, the guys were very active in all the days breaks, rode very aggressively and managed a respectable finish to really boost team morale after the vehicle troubles. With pretty good showings against some foreign competition and the efforts during these races the team is showing to be on good form heading into the big one...

Roger Troyer Continues His Consistency!!!! 3rd in BMP Race

Sorry for the late post of the results of the Belmopan Classic held on March 8th, but I been swamped at work and been trying to get my own ass into some kinda form for the after Cross Country racing season, i.e. the summer races.

The Belmopan Classic is the 3rd biggest classic on our racing calendar, but usually gives an early indication as to who is on form going into the BIG one, the Holy Saturday Cross Country. It is about 105 miles of sun and that stiff south easterly wind that will challenge riders on the Holy Day.

About 65 riders lined up including our friends from North Carolina and Georgia as Monte, Harp, E Murph and 1st timer Cleve Blackwell flew in to lend a hand to our local guys. Ten miles into the race a small four man group got off the front, and we were represented well, with Giovanni (sugar City Starz) having made the break. We opted to gmable and leave this one out there on the basis that Giov was in pretty good form and would not disappoint. This break would eventually build an 8 minute lead with 40 miles to go in the race.

At mile 37, with the other two member of the breakaway showing signs of crumbling, Giov and the lone Santino's rider attacked and instantly got a gap on the other two. We radioed back to the others to shut it down as we were confident Giov would be able to hold out for the win over the Santino rider. Santino's sensed this and told their guy in the break to sit up and then they started a vicious chase in the back, aided by Benny's who saw their race hopes dashed when their rep in the break was dropped at the mile 37 attack.

Their Costa Rican import (Nieves Carrasco) slaved along with the Amercian duo of Grant Potter and Sheldon Serrao riding for Santinos until the breakaway was caught with 14 miles to go. Unfortunately for us, the guys had been so busy in the back countering and bringing back attacks to protect Giov's lead, that only Rog and Pete (Team Zamir Cycling) were able to follow the chasers that caught them. With 10 miles remaining the Costa Rican moved again and this time only Rog and Jeovanni "Froggy" Leslie (Santino's) could follow.

This trio would make it to the finish maintaining a small 25 second gap over the chasers. In the sprint the Carrasco rose first and Rog locked on, but cramped up badly. Froggy took advantage of this mishap and opened a decent gap with the Costa Rican desperately trying to close. Rog would recover enough to contest the sprint with him but would eventually have to settle for 3rd by a 1/2 a bike length. Such are the breaks sometimes. Giov would hang on to crack the top ten in 1oth place with the seven chasers.

Roger is easily riding the most consistently of the guys on our team and is gonna be our "go to guy" come Cross Country. With a win under his belt in one of the Saturday races back in January, several top 5's and two back to back 3rd places in the classics leading up to it.

With the support of the solid cast of veterans like Jose Choto, Mateo Cruz, Quinton Hamilton, and young horses like Giov and his brothers Choto (Raf and Pete), along with again a bolstering for foreign help we will be going for the glory with Rog....

Rich Harper Wins Digicell Valentine's Classic for Team Zamir Cycling

February 15th on the roads of the Western Highway proved to be the show grounds of the second official classic on the Belize Cycling Association's racing calendar for the 2009 season. This 82 mile journey was sponsored by BTL's Digicell and saw the participation of 63 riders from all of Belize's major teams and riders, as well as a Mexican contingent from Chetumal, a Costa Rican riding for Benny's and four Americans (two each) riding for Sugar City Starz and Team Zamir Cycling respectively.

This one got off the way promptly at 9:00 a.m. in front of the San Ignacio Hotel enroute to the Benque Viejo Border then returning back to Belize City. Kudos to the BCA as this is the second major race of the year to have gotten off on time. Despite many early attempts the first major breakaway of the day did not occur until the descent of the Cement Hill coming back through San Ignacio. This 19 rider group included many of the race favorites and included riders from Santino's, Benny's, Sugar City Starz, Zamir Cycling, Acroz-Guiness, and Western Spirits.

Nearing Brick Wall around mile 55, American Christopher Monteleone (Sugar City Starz) countered off an attack launched by fellow American Chris Harkey (Acroz-Guiness) and managed to create an immediate separation from the group of nineteen. Monteleone would eventually build a lead off just under 5 minutes ahead of the field and ran solo for almost 40 miles until just outside of Hattieville near mile 18, where he was caught after some serious chasing by the combined efforts of Team Santino's and Benny's.

After the catch and a series of attacks Amercian Rich Harper (Team Zamir Cycling) launched an attack near mile 14 and would never be caught. Hoping to not get outdone, Benny's Costa Rican import Pablo Espinoza attacked in the last four miles and was quickly followed by Roger Troyer, Harper's Belizean teammate on Zamir Cycling, and that's how they would finish with Harper hanging on to win by a minute 25 seconds despite being routed down the wrong road by one of the race officials at the Faber's Road junction.

Coming into the sprint for second Espinoza would hold on to clip Troyer who had to settle for third.Winning the bunch sprint for the remaining top ten positions was 4th - Gregory Lovell (Santino's), 5th - Mateo Cruz (Sugar City Starz), 6th - Elston Coleman (Santino's), 7th - Jose Choto (Zamir Cycling), 8th - Ray Cattouse (C-Ray), 9th - Gian Ochaeta (Sugar City Starz) and rounding out the final tenth spot was Kyne Gentle (Westen Spirits).

Congratulations to the winner Richard Harper of Zamir Cycling team for being the first foreigner to win this classic, as well as setting a new record of 3 hours and 53 minutes. Team Zamir Cycling is formly the Sugar City Boyz Cycling Team who recently had to change their team name to meet a BCA request.

All in all it was a good race for both teams as between Zamir Cycling and Sugar City Starz we placed 12 riders in the top 21 positions.

Notably absent from today's race was Marlon Castillo who is sidelined with an injury, as well as other strong finishers Brandon Cattouse (C-Ray) and Byron Pope (Benny's) who are out of the country training.

Next up on the cycling calendar is the annual Belmopan Classic scheduled for March 8th, 2009 then the big one, Cross Country on April 11th, 2009.

SCB Ready for the DigiCell Valentine's Classic

In what promises to be a very exciting race from teh gun, Sunday's DigiCell Valentine's Classic should prove to be 85 miles of non-stop war of the road. The race is scheduled to start in Cayo and venture to the western border town of Benque Viejo, before returning to Belize City. With the grand classic (Cross Country) little more than two months away, the race should be the perfect mid-season gage to see where all the teams are with their preparations.

The SCB camp should have a full compliment of riders in our arsenal, having also strengthened up again with some foreign help. Returning for this race will be some of our friends from Hincapie?gary Fisher including Monte (USA-U23), and Bruce Humphries, as well as new comers Eric Murphy (AEG) and Rich Harper (A&F Pro Development).

The boys have been training and racing hard the last month, doing several hill training sessions out west and through the Hummingbird Highway, as well as the weekly Saturday races.

Some of the other teams have been prepping well as well, doing similar hill rides and others have even managed to send some of their riders aboard to compete in the recently concluded Vuelta de Monterrey in Mexico. Likewise, some of them have also opted to go for foreign help.

The teams and riders to watch will surely be ourselves (Berty, Quinton, Roger, and Mateo) have been training and racing well, and the Choto Foundation will be on their home turf for the 1st half of the race. Also, Santino's (Greg, Marlon, & Elston) Benny's (Byron and their Panamian) and C-Ray (Brandon) have all marked this one as one of the guages on the calendar to hone in on the Cross Country preparations. Western Spirits (Shane Vasquez) will also be on home turf and will be expecting a strong showing.

Who will win....???

I'll tell you Monday!!!

In a bit of an update, news to us is that Nery (our Guatemalan import) is now home and recoverying from his injuries, however racing/cycling will for now have to be put on the back burner. We understand some of his injuires may be career threatening and include among other things a badly broken right arm, and some clotting in the heart. let's hops El Negrito can pull through. wishes him the best.

SCB...Getting Stronger!!!

In the weekly Belize Cycling Association/Rhino Saturday morning Open Race, for the first time since the New Years Day race, almost the entire team raced together, except for Roge and Gian. Mat, and Quinton showed their form is coming along well by catching and driving the early break, while Berty continued to show is consistency and development by once again making the day's defining breakaway with Quinton in this 50 mile trek on through the usual Boom circuit. The final break included the last race winner Greg Lovell of Santino's and teammate Darnell Barrow, as well as Byro Pope of Benny's.

At the line for the sprint, once again it was the speedster Greg, followed by Barrow, Pope, Quinton then Berty, with Mateo out sprinting the guys in the second group for 6th place.

This proved to be a good team building race for teh squad as the guys were able to try a few different race tactics and maintained a presence in all of the breaks during. As the season unfolds, look for the team to start doing even better as we start racing even more together and learn more about eachother's abilities.

In the over 30 Master's Race which travelled the same route, the lone SCB rider was Damian Gough (team manager), unfortunately missed the winning break and finished the race in the main bunch, only managing 14th in the bunch sprint.

Velasquez Suffers a Nasty Crash...but OK!

The Sugar City Boyz (SCB) Cycling Team received a bit of bad news last night when it was conveyed to us that Nery "El Negro" Velasquez, a member of the Guatemalan Team Cafe Quetzal, who rode for SCB in the KREM New Year's Day Classic, was involved in a nasty accident on Saturday and as a result is still in the hospital in Guatemala.

Nery was out training, doing a 20 km time trail when he collided into a truck on the side of the road. He sustained serious injuries and was rendered unconscious for some time and had to be rushed to a nearby hospital. In speaking with a coach of the Cafe Quetzal team as well as team member, Luis Santizo (who also rode with SCB on New Years) we were told that Nery badly broke his right arm and should be released from the hospital this coming weekend. Thank God it was not worse and he will be able to recover from his injuries in due time.

This comes at an unfortunate time for Nery and his teammates, as the Guatemalan cycling season "La Temporada" was schedule to kick off soon. Sugar City would like to wish Nery all the best in his recovery and will be passing out updates on his condition in the coming weeks...saludos a nuestro companero Nery "El Negro" de todos sus amigos de Sugar City!!! Sabes que estamos contigo!!!

Back to Racing...Feels Good!

So Saturday, January 10th, was my 1st day of racing in like almost 6 months since doing the 1st two stages of teh M&M Masters Tour in July 2008. I had to take a couple months off after a kidney stone problem that kinda sidelined me and well, almost being team manager I've had a pretty full plate trying to get ready for the new season - negotiating with riders, getting equipment, acquiring sponsors, designing kits, planning racing and training, publicity/social awareness causes, it's been hectic.

Berty and I took the trip into the City with a friend (Kenny G), he rode the weekly Saturday BCA Elite race (50 miles) and I rode the usual Master (Over 30) Cat 4/5 race (40 miles) sponsored by Red Bull, with a small field of about 20 or so.

In his race Berty managed to make the defining break of the day with five of the country's top racers including Greg Lovell - Santino's, Brandon Cattouse - C Ray, Byron Pope - Benny's, and managed to hang on for 5th place in the sprint. Considering he's not a sprinter this was a good showing, the kid's coming into form and eager to right the disappointment of the New Year's Day KREM Classic, where he initiated the race's defining break but was unable to match pace with the eventual winner Marlon Castillo (Santino's).

In the master's race, I managed a respectable 10th place, but had a very confidence building day in that I was in several of the early breaks looking to get away, and opted to spend the rest of the race controlling counter-attacks and blocking for Kenny who'd been in the race defining break and who also managed to get the win! The day's efforts irding to protect Kenny paid off big time with a cold Red Bull at the end (from his prizes). Felt AWESOME to be racing again...more next week.

Offical Race Results:
http://www.belizecycling.com/results/6-saturday-race-open-category-january-10-2009.html

http://www.belizecycling.com/results/7-santinos-saturday-race-january-10-2009.html

Introducing....The Official Sugar City Boyz Cycling Blog!!!!

For sometime now I have wanted to get information about the doings and accomplishments of the Sugar City Boyz Cycling Team, and well...this is the start. I have toyed with the idea of a full-fledged website as well, and even started the discussion with a local site designer, for now though this will have to suffice. So, thank you for stopping by, please feel free to come back regularly to read, browse, view, comment or question.

Damian