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....