Several weekends ago Lea and Sue went to Guatemala for El Reto Guatemala.  It's a new 3-day stage race that attracted the likes of Tinker Juarez and Tom Ritchey.  The local Trek dealers and distributor made a huge contribution to get our Trek-VW women down there, and this is what Lea had to say about it ... also be sure to have a look at the COOL PHOTOS!

I have no idea where to begin to describe my recent mountain bikeing endeavor in Guatemala.  Sue and I ventured to Central America to take part in the unveiling of Guatemala's first annual 3-day endurance race.  Armed with malaria shots, plenty of Cytomax (which exploded in transit all over my bike bag), and my dialed-in Top Fuel, I was ready to embark on what would be one of the greatest adventures of my life.

The element of surprise and teh fact we were pedaling our bikes for a ridiculously long time were the only expected elements in our 3 days of racing.  Each bend on the rough double track had a new surprise.  we rode through tiny Mayan villages where the locals had never seen high performance, painted bicycles, not to mention women in spandex riding them!  They would stare quietly in disbelief wondering what was rolling through.  The Guatemalan children ran next to us yelling in joy and would only get louder as Sue and I screamed Spanglish back.  Women balancing baskets of corn on their head would glance at us as if to say that hill that would make us drool and pant was nothing, try and wak up the pitch balancing 12 pounds on your head four miles to the village.  There were many dogs, at times looking rabid, that would sprint after us.  I guarantee these Guatemalan street dogs make your local wheel chasing hound look like a puppy playing in the sunshine.  They were hungry, and they kept up with me going 30mph downhill for good couple of scary minutes.  We turned corners to see another 2000 foot climb stretch out before us on a mountain that was supposed to be "a short 20 min climb with a couple of steep pitches".  I don't know if distance and time get lost in translation, but they definitly have a different definition of climb in Guatemala.  In fact there's not a flat spot in the country!

There were hours of climbing,  hours of sweet descending, and views of lush rainforest and steep mountain that made it all worth it.  On top of it all, Sue and I raced hard for 3 days to capture 2nd place in the Master Men's category.  There were only 2 women's teams so they had us race in the men's division, hence our new adopted nickname "Ms Masters".  The people were amazingly friendly and welcoming, and the Trek Guatemala crew completely outdid themselves, throwing us an amazing welcome and autograph signing party as well as being our tour guides and translators for the duration. 

A huge thanks goes out to Trek Guatemala, Johanna, Walter, and Jorge for the hospitality, and to Netzer and Oscar for putting on a great race!

Also be sure to check out the photo album with Lea's pictures.  I'm still figuring out how to post it, but it's in here somewhere ...