Tria Cycling presented by DonohooAuto

Posted by Brian Toone
January 4, 2009
Managua, Nicaragua

I had an incredible opportunity to race in Nicaragua on Sunday, January 4. It turns out that this also led to our first victory of the year! I am still humbled by the opportunity to borrow a bike and experience racing in another country. Here is an abbreviated report I sent out to our team mailing list:

For the race today, I borrowed a bike and shoes from Shannon OReilley, the president of the Nicaraguan Cycling Assocation. The race was a 1.25 km course with two 180 degree turns. The start/finish was at the top of a downhill which took you shortly into the first 180 which was a VERY large roundabout called “Rotunda La Virgin” complete with a statue of the Virgin Mary and for the Christmas season all kinds of camels, sheep, and wise men. The roundabout itself was probably 1/10th of a mile or more. When you exited the roundabout you came back up the start/finish hill but on the other side of the road. The hill wasn’t that steep but it was into a strong headwind (20mph?) so that going super hard across the top you were only going 16-18 mph. Then you went into this headwind all the way to second 180 degree turn which was a normal 180 (not a roundabout) so it was pretty sharp. Then you had a 20mph tailwind and we easily were topping 35mph through here on the first couple laps.

Two riders on different teams attacked on the first lap, and my teammate, Walter, joined them to form a small three man breakaway. They got a little bit of a gap, but the pace was just way too fast on the downwind part of the course. We caught them at the start of the second lap. My other teammate (the national road and mountain bike champ) attacked on the hill and got away solo but another rider bridged to him and then again because of the tailwind we caught them both at the start of the third lap. So for the first two laps, the pace had been super fast when we started the third lap and made it around the roundabout starting up the hill into the headwind. I attacked as hard as I could thinking that people would be tired and I at least wanted to put on a show as the token “gringo” in the race. I had a 20 second lead for the next 7 or 8 laps but then I could tell my gap was shrinking. It was awesome to hear everyone on the side yelling “allez”, “allez”, “allez”, and one boy yelling “allez gringo, allez gringo”. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to stay away from the chase group behind me which included one of my teammates (Walter) who had bridged from the third group to the chase group so I eased up and then there were four of us off the front. We used our numbers perfectly with Walter attacking first and forcing the strongest sprinter in the race to chase. I hopped onto his wheel and when Walter was reeled back in, I launched a counter attack and only the Shell rider could follow. So the two of us got away and worked together with me pulling up the hill into the headwind and the Shell rider pulling on the tailwind section. We worked together for the last five laps and then I was able to outsprint him.

There was somebody taking pictures, and I am going to try to hook up with him on Saturday before we leave to buy a few for $1 each. Also this website has some pictures from the race including the podium picture: http://www.ciclismonica.com/Circuito2009/circuito.html