Caribbeanized Onion
This September I got myself invited to race in Trinidad and Tobago at the Tobago International Cycling Classic. The stage race attracts European and American racers looking to finish up their seasons with some hard racing and fun on the beach. As a warm-up for Tobago , I arrived a week early and joined New York City’s Foundation Team for the Newsday Classic Criterium and the San Fernando Stage Race. Although we didn’t get in much good training in Trinidad, if was a nice introduction to Trinidadian culture, and I got some hard chasing in at the front of Newsday classic, a flat 50 km criterium oval in downtown Port of Spain. I was 10th in the field spring there and 10th at the Criterium Stage of the San Fernando Stage Race in the spookiest, rainiest and craziest race I have ever done – which started at 8:30 PM under streetlights!
At the main event, the five-day Tobago International Cycling Classic, I was a member of Team Quebec, organized by Chris Atkins from Toronto. My teamates were Joe Lewis from Minneapolis, who I knew from Superweek, Andre tremblay from Val D’Or Quebec, and several other young Canadians. With its’ oppressive 100+ degree heat racing in Tobago can be brutal. The Tobago race features several monstrously hilly stages. This year, the Classic attracted ten international elite and professional teams with riders from Germany, Austria, the US, Canada, the UK and the top teams from the Caribbean nations. There was one Continental Pro team in our race from the UK, Rapha Condor. Despite having not ridden international races in a long time, I was in decent form and OK for most of the race. On Stage III, I barely missing the lead group of pros on the last lap and finished in the top 25. On the final “Queen” stage, I stopped to avoid an early crash on the first big climb, and never really regained my rhythm or contact with the field, because I got scared on a really hairy descent – where we were careening through villages and looking over precipices at 50 mph. I subsequently spent four hours in a laughing pack of caribbean and european riders who held onto team cars to avoid riding up every climb. I tried to ride the whole way on my own steam and was really suffering to keep up with these jokers. It was the toughest road course I have ever done. All in all these races were a great introduction to the Caribbean cycling culture, and a fun way to make contacts for exotic racing around the world. Cycling is indeed becoming a global sport!
More information about the trip is on my blog: jmcgill2.wordpress.com.