Who will win the big cycling race?

On Saturday morning Belizeans who live along the Western Highway corridor will flock to the roadside in droves, while thousands more will stay glued to their radios. The reason: Belize’s biggest sporting event. Patrick Jones has been pounding the pavement and returns with a preview of the Holy Saturday Classic.

Patrick Jones, Reporting
The athletes taking part in the seventy-seventh running of the cross country cycle race, say preparation for Saturday?s event started virtually from the time Chris Harkey was crowned back to back champ last year. Over a hundred local and foreign riders will suit up and hit the pavement early on Holy Saturday morning in search of thousands of dollars in prizes not to mention the national glory. John Burns, manager of the BTL Fusion team says it?s all about training.

John Burns, Manager, BTL Fusion
?We?ve been training I would say since September, as a team. And progressively the miles, the hours on the bike have been increasing to the point where for this race being a hundred and forty-four miles thereabout, I think our team has been putting in the miles and I believe that we would be prepared for this cross country here.?

Douglas Lamb, Team Santino?s
?For this year, we put in a lot of work. We try to improve on the work this year with our sponsor, who is also the coach of the team. And he has done a good job to try to keep us together and try keep us focused. All the goals are for this race here, all the marbles.?

Patrick Jones
?How important is team work when you hit the pavement??

Douglas Lamb
?Team work is very, very important. Because one has to sacrifice his chance of winning to let somebody else win. And naturally you could know if somebody is faster than you what you are good at. And what our team try to do is use every person on our team at his strength.?

With each rider having his assigned duty on Saturday, they will have to work like a well oiled machine if they are to wrestle the garland away from foreign hands. While some competitors question the participation of foreign riders in the cross country, Douglas Barcelona Lamb says there may be a silver lining in this contentious cloud.

Douglas Lamb
?It makes the race much more exciting. It brings out the best in each of the athletes in Belize. This is what–in cycling brings in the level of competition, the professional level to Belize. And our fans have to learn to appreciate that maybe Belize can?t win everything. But going out and giving our best, that?s an accomplishment by itself.?

Lamb?s team-mate, a ten year veteran of cross country, Mateo Cruz takes a different view.

Mateo Cruz, Team Santino?s
?A Belizean has to win. I am very tired of people on the streets disrespecting we the cyclists because they always say that we the Belizeans, we chicken out and we are riding for the foreigners. Bit it?s not that. It?s the politics of the game. And a lot of people are telling me Mateo you have to go against the coach?s decision. And Patrick, come that day, if I have to go against the coach?s decision. And if I win or if I make another Belizean win I want someone to step up and sponsor me because definitely I won?t have a sponsor next year.?

John Burns
?It is my opinion that the foreign riders for some reason, maybe its training, scientific training, but there is something that seems to make them be head and shoulders above our riders, it seems like. If you want to talk about riders that stand out, as soon as you talk about a Mr. Uribe or Chris Harkey these are the two names that strike fear here in Belize.?

But even before the starting gun goes off on Saturday morning, each rider must ensure that their equipment is in shape. One man who?s on every rider?s check list is Andrew Ordonez, who painstakingly takes the machines apart, replaces worn out pieces, oils what needs oiling and puts it all back together, so the cyclist has one less thing to worry about in crunch time.

Andrew Ordonez, Manager, Ordonez Bike Shop
?Belize is a very dusty country and these parts need to be fine tuned every so often.?

?This is the bottom bracket. This has to be smooth. If you want you could feel it. You want to feel it? If that?s too tight it causes resistance. Also with the steering if it?s too tight, you have to use additional energy. So you want the bike to be as free as possible. And you have to check the brakes, all the cables that they don?t fail. You don?t want to be riding and you shift the gear and your cable would break. There are mechanical problems that you could have. So we are checking this bike completely.?

Douglas Lamb
?Everybody will try to have the best equipment out there. Our team, we are riding specialized bikes. We have some of the best wheels, the Euros wheels. And you have to have, the main important thing is to make sure the gears working right, or the wheel is rolling freely, so that will create less stress on the legs. And then you could have a better race if the equipment is working really well.?

Ordonez says that improvements over the years have made bikes lighter and easier to manoeuvre on the road. A sharp contrast with what was available when Elston Kerr made the first cross country trip in 1928.

Andrew Ordonez
?You have the shift levers are in the handle bar. The older bikes used to be on the tube but now it?s in here. This is a low gear; it?s on right now. This is like if you are in the mountainous part of the country. And most on the flat you would shift to the big chain ring, which is this gear shift here to the big shift ring and then you have these gears here. Every time I shift this lever, you will see the gear keep shifting. For the cross country, the guys will basically use big chain rings and the seventeen, sixteen inch gear up here.?

While the race is an intense six hours of battling the elements, and each other, Cruz says that the championship is won, or lost as the riders home in on the old capital.

Mateo Cruz
?The most challenging part for me Patrick will be from mile thirty-five to Belize City. That?s when the real, real, strain takes it. It?s a mental thing more than a physical thing. Because between thirty-five and Hattieville, the Pine Ridge is there, the sun is blistering hot and a lot of crashes could happen. So you have to be up there concentrating and even that takes atoll on you trying to ride the bike and then trying to concentrate on your competitors. And I think the competitors they come here every year and they realize that that is the part where it?s very hard, so they try to take advantage of it.?

So the foundation has been laid. The bikes primed and the bodies conditioned. And while many will make the trip to San Ignacio and back, only one will wear the garland on Holy Saturday. Patrick Jones, for News 5.