Bugs, Heat, and Suffering in Guatemala

                Well, the season is now underway in full swing. I’m definitely back in the routine of packing, traveling, racing, packing and traveling again. I just got back from a quick trip to Guatemala - and have the bug bites to prove it - and am already getting packed up for my next round of trips to California for Sea Otter and then Europe for the beginning of the World Cup season.

I thought I’d try and squeeze in a short update here while I enjoy two of my last days at home for a while. Enjoy might be a strong word, as I’m typing this over the pounding of hammers and the pop, pop, pop of nail guns as a new roof goes on my house as we speak. Like I don’t have enough going on right now…

Anyway, Guatemala was a new country for me – and actually the first time I had raced in Central America. The Pan Am Championships are always a big mystery as far as lodging and food goes – I’ve stayed in some of the best places of my travels as well as some of the worst. Similarly, the food can either be wonderful or make me want to live off energy bars all weekend. Happily - our lodgings in Guatemala were on the nicer side of things and the huevos, frijoles, and fried plantain breakfasts were perfect fuel for some good riding.

Room with a view - and even the girls got podium girls...

The course was really fast with some tight singletrack sections and short, hard, steep climbs. The Elite Men has a particularly large and competitive field for this race with 84 starters. It was an all-out affair from the gun, and I had a great start and escaped briefly with the two leaders before getting dropped into a chase group on lap two. I tried to make some hard moves to break up the group – but really ended up working myself over and ended up fighting for the scraps later in the two-hour race. It was almost 90 degrees and jungle hot the day of the race – and I was really suffering from that heat at the end. Sometimes that’s just how it goes. The American Women turned in a brilliant performance though, With Willow, Mary, and Heather taking the top 3 spots on the podium.

Fishing for dinner, sidestreet of Amatitlan.

It was a pretty quick trip, but we still managed a little bit of time to walk around the small town of Amatitlan, which sits on the shore of a large lake surrounded by hills and even a few volcanoes. Admittedly – the picturesque ambiance was tempered by burning piles of garbage here and there, floating plastic bottles, and the strong scent of diesel fumes and pollution. A few of us stopped in to a very local bar/café made mostly out of corrugated metal and cinderblocks and enjoyed a post race Gallo – the local beer – which I have to say, tasted really, really, good after a hard day of racing in 90 degree heat.

Enjoying some local flavor after a hard day's work.