Cyclist prepare for eighty-first cross country

Easter is three weeks away and that means it is time for one of the biggest sporting events, the cross country cycling race. And come April fifth and eleventh when the bugle sounds, the tenth annual Junior Cross Country and the Eighty-first Elite Cross Country will get underway. But before the classic races get off, News Five takes a look at the preparation that takes place prior to the cycling races. Reporter, Duane Moody, threw on some sweats and took a ride—going behind the scenes.

Duane Moody, Reporting
The Cross Country Cycling Race is one of the highlights of the Easter Holidays and riders have been hitting the highways early in the morning in anticipation of the race, hoping that their team will be the first to pedal across the white line. This year, there is an increase in the number of teams participating and the competition looks particularly tough.

Marco Reyes, VP, Belize Cycling Association
“We’re expecting in the area of maybe ten to—anywhere from maybe nine to eleven teams, which would be around a hundred and ten riders. So that is what we’re expecting expecting.”

Duane Moody
“Is that a norm or is that a figure that increased over the years?”

Sheffield Eck, Treasurer, Belize Cycling Assn.
“I mean we have the Guatemala’s come in, the Mexican’s come in. So that should increase because I think last year it was like a hundred and forty that started.”

Duane Moody
“I decided to put myself into the shoes of a rider and I’m telling you I don’t know how they do it. I can’t even catch my breath and I only rode one mile and I’m so tired. But what is still puzzling me is how do these guys do it. It takes a lot out of you. You know what, let me go and check with them. Let me ask them what it is that they do to prepare for a race like this.”

Byron Pope, Elite Cyclist
“You always have pain. The best rider will have pain.”

Duane Moody
“How do you do it?”

Byron Pope
“Well, you have to got your mind set fi do di hundred miles, first of all. You have to got yoh goal weh yoh gwein go do you hundred miles fah.”

Duane Moody
“What speed were you travelling at this point in time?”

Byron Pope
“We were traveling eighteen, nineteen miles per hour in the breeze. It’s hard but you have to keep a steady pace to hold on to the foreigners to leave the foreigners behind.”

Duane Moody
“Is that the norm?”

Byron Pope
“Yes.”

Duane Moody
“So that’s the speed you normally ride during the race?”

Byron Pope
“Well, the race speed is much higher, it’s about twenty-five, twenty-six an hour in the breeze. But if it’s a tail end, you’ll get about thirty, thirty-five. So you have to prepare your mind and body for it.”

Duane Moody
“You just completed a hundred miles noh? Did you find it to be a problem going and coming?”

George Abraham, Elite Cyclist
“Going up was very easy because the breeze was in your back so you can ride twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three miles an hour. But coming back twenty-, twenty-one miles an hour and the headwind—cruel, cruel headwind and it’s very, very hard. If you guys notice from Hattieville to town, that is where the breeze is hardest.”

Duane Moody
“What kind of strain did it have on you as a rider and what’s the experience that you found with it?”

George Abraham
“Well, this is one of the hardest training I’ve done since I started riding like fifteen years now and its very hard. It’s for the love of it and the hardest part for me, due to I am forty-one and it’s very, very hard. So what my role in the team to ride is like one. It’s one way so I push all that I can.”

Perry Gibson, Manager, Benny’s Megabytes Team
“Preparation starts early, even before November, from September our guys have been in the gym. The gym work is essential to building power so that in the latter stage it converts to power on the bicycle.”

I only covered a mile, but Junior riders cycle up to seventy miles while Elite riders compete for one hundred and forty miles. According to the Vice President of the Belize Cycling Association, the Cross Country Classic started over eight decades ago.

Marco Reyes
“The Cross Country started way back in 1927 if I am not mistaken. It was basically a journey from Belize City to Cayo and back to Belize City. A couple times, they’ve experimented with taking the race I think one time to Corozal and a couple times we took it to Benque. The race covers a total of one hundred and forty-four miles and it all occurs in the space of one morning; leaving six o’clock and returning within five to six hours. Cycling has grown and the calibre and quality of cyclists has also grown as the races have gone from one year to the next. This year we’re looking to healthy team concept along with foreigners and I think we have a high calibre race this year coming based on the previous races that we had this year already.”

There are many station prizes that can be won along the route to the finish line. And Treasurer of the B.C.A., Sheffield Eck, says that the total cost of the event is over one hundred thousand dollars.

Sheffield Eck, Treasurer, Belize Cycling Association
“We have like probably fifteen thousand and we probably need like a hundred thousand to be successful. The logistics alone will cost us like fifteen thousand and the trophies is another amount. Right now B.T.B. has committed five thousand for the first prize. We need the second prize, we need the third prize, we have fourth prize which is two thousand five hundred from Belize Bank and sixth prize from Atlantic Bank and we need up to tenth prize with cash and then the morning; the Friday when we go and we mark the prize line, we are on the road collecting prizes up to then.”

I am now even more a fan of the sport. Maybe I should compete next year? Naw, just kidding. I’m Duane Moody Reporting for News Five.”

Next Duane Moody will look at other teams and the technical part of the sport.