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Carribean Adventure... |
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Written by Adam Craig
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Tuesday, 04 April 2006 |
Every season should start this way; the time finally comes to leave the great (unseasonably) white north for the fitness tests of the year. Usually this means Arizona or some other fairly drab southern US area hosting the season kickoff. Not this year though, oh no. Instead we were headed to the Carribean islands of Puerto Rico and Curacao to get the ball rolling in style (and SUN). Puerto Rico played host to the little (really big) event that could, the UCI E1 Medalla Light Ultimate Dirt Challenge, which seemed like a logical “acclimatization” (getting used to wearing boardshorts, flip flops and no shirt) stop on the way to the World Cup XC opener in Curacao, next door to Aruba and Venezuela down in the Dutch Antilles.
Combined with a short (four day) stop in Thousand Oaks (L.A.) at the Giant offices for a Team Presentation camp before departing to for the Carribean, it seemed like we had the season kickoff sorted out perfectly.
My winter project, rebuilding a totaled WRX Wagon, wrapped up just in time for said vehicle to deliver us to SoCal (via the scenic, twisty, route) without a hitch, and team camp was as all camps should be, quick, fun, and to the point. Day one was spent inside at Giant getting acquainted with our new team Director/inside marketing guy, Jon Stierwalt, who seems to have a great handle on what the team is about and how everyone involved in the program can be best served and utilized. Should be good to have around. He can also keep up on the bike, no crashes on any of the training rides, which is more than I can say for the last guy… (sorry Westover) We learned about some new products that Giant may or may not be working on with us in the upcoming years, caught up with all the folks inside we hadn’t seen in a while, etc… After that we got our shiny new bikes, all in matching team blue, giving the team pit a serious factory look. The next step was obviously taking them out for a proper break-in, easy enough with the plethora of singletrack just across the neighborhood from the office. Day two was media day, with a decent showing of SoCal MTB mag editors coming out for lunch and a ride. Always interesting to spend some time with the guys whose prose we all read on a regular basis and who are responsible for spreading the word throughout the industry and beyond. Day three was Giant Appreciation day, we set up the team trailer in the parking lot and had lunch and poster signing with all hundred or so Giant employees invited, then took whoever was into it on a mellow (which turned serious) mountain bike ride. It was great to meet people from accounting, warranty, sales, and other departments that we never interact with and see how fired up they were on the team. Overall solid three days getting comfy with everything that is Giant for all parties involved.
Early morning flights are always better when you know you need to have shorts and flip flops packed so you can change in front of the airport when you land somewhere hot. After all our bags arrived in San Juan, PR, (starting the season off with all luggage intact is a good sign) we did just that before Tom rolled up in the rental minivan (which we just barely fit all of said luggage inside, another good sign). A dinner/grocery store stop and we where on our way to the west end of the island and the little surf town of Rincon. Once there we met Jorge, one of the event organizers, who led us to a two room bungalow just above the beach which he had arranged (and paid for, what a concept...). After unloading and rigging an inner tube to keep the fridge shut, we fell asleep with the warm moist air filling our humble abode and the waves breaking a hundred yards away. (a fellow Gringo, Lea Davison had left a message jokingly describing our digs as a cross between “a jail cell and a campsite” I definitely did not agree, a stunning backdrop, shower, AC and a kitchenette , what more could a vagabond bike racer ask for on a tropical island, they were perfect) We awoke at noon and breakfasted on the porch overlooking the ocean before settling about the task of building bikes and checking out the race venue. We registered (with comped entry fees) and set out on a loop of the extremely entertaining track. An endless maze of rolling singletrack, it would be fun to race on even with weak march legs. Instead of the normal three hour race prep ride, Carl and I elected that a nap and some sitting on the beach in the shade of palm trees would be less exerting as we got used to the island climate. HOT. Race day dawned lazily and we got our ducks in a row for the event, which basically meant filling all the water bottles we had with cytomax and putting them in a cooler, as if that was going to help. Sooner than we expected, we were lined up for the first race effort of the year and with a classic “three, two, one, GO” it was ON! Evidently there are some Americans who take this spring racing thing seriously, as Todd Wells, Mike Broderick and Jason Sager immediately laid the smack down. My skin was already crimson from trying to cool off, and from the water I could see dripping off Carl just behind me I’d say he was feeling the same. We settled into riding smooth and as quickly as we could comfortably enjoy the singletrack before us. Which wasn’t fast enough… I think we were sixth and seventh place, comfortably holding off the locals but not scaring too many of the Gringos up ahead… This continued for most of the race, focusing on drinking a lot and feeling the legs out for the first time. I eventually got my act together and charged the last two laps, which was a hell of a good time and reminded me why I do this in the first place. In the process I gapped Decker and caught Chris Eatough, who promptly went careening off into the bushes… It was good that I ended up fifth so Tom, Carl and I had an excuse to hang out (after we ran into the ocean 50 meters away) for the podium ceremony, which took place between sets of the really good Ska Band that had been playing in front of a crowd of at least a thousand people while the racers were flying past the stage. The ceremony involved all things good, beautiful ceramic trophys, cash, sunshine, podium girls, light refreshing beer from event sponsor Medalla Light, and wall to wall people cheering the whole thing on. We spent the next hour signing posters for reveling fans who lined up until it got dark and started raining. Amazing enthusiasm for an amazing event. We’ll be back for sure, and hopefully more promoters will use this model to produce a great time for everyone. (the good times continued on Monday and Tuesday in PR, sweet singletracking and island exploring on Monday, terrifying head high reefbreak novice surfing attempts on Tuesday, etc….).
Now, down to business. The World Cup Opener. Ahhhh, what is business really anyway? Let’s just fly to another tropical island, rent an apartment right on the water, (and, as it turns out, the racecourse) and hang out for a week riding bikes, snorkeling, and lying in the sun. Seriously though, I was happy to rest, ride, and prepare to defend my hard earned seventh place call up at the first proper battle of the season. Carl could rest a bit easier with #68 on his plate and simply wanting to race hard and enjoy the week. Sooner than it seemed we were all lined up under the sun with the strong prevailing winds keeping things cool and a solid crowd keeping everyone fired up. The gun went off and we hit it hard. Like it was a World Cup or something… I fulfilled my winter long dream of maintaining the front of the group as we charged down the beach and out into the scrub forest singletrack for lap number one. About two guys behind me I head cursing and collisions as we rode into the narrow singletrack that made up a good portion of the course and thanked my good ’05 season for keeping me on my bike and in the mix. Turns out there were perks to being back in the pack though, Carl got to play witness to a whole slew of shameless euros trying to run through the bushed past the bottleneck only to be stopped, screaming, dead in their tracks by the inch long thorns that cover each and every form of plant on the island. Sounded quite entertaining. I settled into the task of pretending I’ve been training nearly as intensely as all the guys I was racing around by using the Anthem to corner fast and conserve hard earned momentum whenever possible. The charade was pretty effective for most of the race. I got caught by a few guys who clearly were on the early season fitness plan and cold smoked me up the short climbs but overall was able to maintain, coming across the line six laps and just under two hours later in 21st position. Pretty happy with that for april world cups after a long cold winter. Carl used much the same technique, and had much the same result, finishing about where he started in 60th place. Now to the good part. The race organizer and course designer were clever enough to have the finish line and about 500 meters of the course right on the (surprisingly firm sand) beach. This meant that when you crossed the line, boiling and oxygen starved, you only had to lean your bike on a palm tree and slide into the refreshingly cool water three steps away. It was quite a sight, a bunch of skinny, scraped up guys in bike shorts sitting in the water bench racing the day’s best stories. A perfect end to a pretty damn good week. We had the foresight to spend an extra day to recover a bit from the race and check out the island a bit, which we did by riding to the far (west) end on some dirt roads and scenic byways, ending our remote exploratory ride at a secluded beach at sunset.
Thanks for reading, hope everyone is having a good time ushering in spring in their own way.
Adam Craig, Team Giant |
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