Gringo Diaries: Vuelta Independencia

Editor’s Note: Josh Liberles (who you may recall from his recent story about training in Maui) is a Portland, Oregon-based road racer. He is racing in the Vuelta Independencia, a 10-stage race in the Dominican Republic and will be providing VeloNews.com readers with periodic updates.

A Mixed Bunch in a Foreign Land

We’re a rag-tag team under the banner of Ten Speed Drive — a name whose roots go back to the 90′s with names like Kent Bostick and John Frye. Three gringos — Justin Maka, a converted mountain biker from Albuquerque; the aptly-named Garrett White, a flatland specialist from Florida, and me, a never-was 36 year-old “living the dream”— are joined by Pavel Stuchlik, a U23 Czech rider transitioning from six-day track pro to stage racer and Jaime Gandara, a Mexican-American from El Paso, Texas, who’s one of the biggest guys in the peloton.

From the beginning, the event has been shrouded in mystery. Some of that was the good, exciting, adventurous kind, but there were also lots of unnecessary unknowns. The planned stages underwent several changes, right up until just days before the race start, when organizers replaced a day that had been set for a morning road stage and afternoon team time trial with two road races. Hotel and transportation details were sketchy, too. I envisioned someone holding a sign with my name, but nothing doing. Twenty other racers were in the same lot, but thanks to cell phones and roaming charges, someone managed to corral the organizers and several pickup trucks headed our way.

Talking to teammates who have raced in Central America, host hotels run the gamut from plush to dingy. One of the local Dominicans working as a driver for another team said that he lives in one of Santa Domingo’s ghettos, but the hotel we’re calling home is really in the ghetto, and that we definitely shouldn’t be out at night. To further emphasize the point, a man dressed in plainclothes sat outside the money-changer by our hotel, with the butt of a shotgun resting on his thigh and the tip against the ground.

The good news is that in most of the big UCI events in Central and South America, organizers provide all transportation to and from the airport and for the entire event, as well as room and board. The quality of the rooms vary — mine is noisy but livable, but some of my teammates have no shower head, an often-running toilet or minimal air conditioning. Hey, we’re not complaining — you can’t beat free, and we’re excited to be a part of an international peloton, with teams from Puerto Rico, Guadalupe, Ecuador, Kazakhstan and Canada, as well as several from the Dominican. Not to compare ourselves to Olympians, but there’s definitely something to be said for bringing together nations and their athletes in competition. There’s a camaraderie and opportunity to interact and rub elbows — sometimes all too literally — with folks we’d never meet otherwise.

Warm-Up Along the Caribbean

The traffic patterns here are unlike anything I’ve ever seen — it’s like a constant game of chicken but, as far as I’ve seen thus far, someone always knows when to back down. Traffic signals, at all but the busiest intersections, are merely suggestions. Here, where horns are a form of expression with nuanced meanings, a red light just means a quick look, accompanied by a horn-toot or perhaps a whistle out the window, before speeding ahead. Some of the car horns are connected to loud, high-pitched car alarm chirps, so that both sound in tandem.

After seeing the streets as a car passenger, I was nervous as we headed out for a short pre-race ride Saturday, to shake out the plane flights and remind the legs how to pedal. I was pleasantly surprised that the swarm of cars, buses, mopeds and trucks gave us space and let us ride two abreast and take a lane. Don’t get me wrong, there were absolutely insane, terrifying moments of cars speeding towards us against the flow of traffic to make a quick turn, vehicles of all sorts blowing lights and swerving all around us in a complex maze of activity, and a jaunt through a frenzied marketplace right by our hotel during rush hour, where fruits, sneakers, electronics and more than I could possibly absorb were all loudly for sale. Traffic was at less than a crawl, the various sea of horns continued, mopeds emerged from nowhere and sewers missing their covers presented serious obstacles and a quick ticket to a DNF come race day. The guaguas — privately run buses with a man hanging out the door and constantly getting on and off to drum up business from the streets — were the most interesting obstacles, since we ended up leap-frogging with the same ones for long stretches.

Once away from the melee, though, the roads were in good condition, the breeze at our backs, and the warm temperatures and view out to the Caribbean from the coastline that our route paralleled made everything right with the world. A quick team visit to a bike-powered coconut vendor was the day’s reward. The salesman used a machete to provide us each with a seed full of coconut water and meat.

The Race – Etapa 1, Plaza de la Bandera

The Dominican Cycling Federation has put together a cool Web site for the 31st edition of the Vuelta Independencia, complete with a V.I. theme song. The event, by far the country’s biggest bike race, coincides with the Dominican’s Independence Day and accompanying Carnaval — the biggest party of the year. The method to decide caravan order was an interesting one: the eight teams that who arrived on time with all paperwork had their names go into a hat. Some irony that they were rewarding organization and timeliness. The rest went into a separate drawing.

On tap was a 77-mile circuit race, 14 relatively flat, fast laps with four mid-race sprints to keep things interesting. Breakaways were the order of the day, with several groups dangling off the front and claiming the mid-race points before getting reabsorbed, until a trio made a successful run on lap nine. Bruno Langlois and Eric Boily, both of Spidertech, were joined by Dominican rider Osvaldo Capellan (Telecable Central – Bicicentro). Their lead stretched out to almost two minutes, with another ten-man group in pursuit, before the Kazakh team, who have claimed the overall here three times, hit the front in an organized chase.

The Kazakhs threw down an impressive pace at the front of the pack, enough to overtake the chase group in the final kilometers of the stage. They looked pro, and it felt like being in a big-time Euro race with a strong team taking control — except that it seemed they didn’t know that the three leaders were still further ahead. Perhaps it was an early season casualty of no more race radios, as Ablay Shugaipov looked to be celebrating a win, rather than just taking the field sprint for fourth.

The racing was fast — the 77 miles took less than three hours. Sitting in wasn’t too difficult, but actually trying to race, which our team did a good job of today, was definitely taxing. Despite trying to start this stage race conservatively, I did too much work early, as is my tendency, and struggled in the 90-degree heat towards the middle of the race. I was able to regroup for a couple of laps and still had some punch in the legs towards the end, which was a good sign. My teammate Garrett finished just outside the top-ten.

Tomorrow we face our first double day, 104kms from Santo Domingo to La Romana in the morning and 53kms from La Romana to the resort area of Higüey in the afternoon.

Until then, buenas noches de Santo Domingo.

Brief Results:

Bruno Langlois (Spidertech – Canada)
Osvaldo Capellan (Telecable Central – Bicicentro)
Eric Boily (Spidertech – Canada)
Ablay Shugaipov (Kazahstan)
Wendy Cruz (VCSM – Santiago)
Adam Pierzga (Gillette Fussion – Guadalupe)
Kenny Darmin (Velo Oxygen – Guadalupe)
Jorge Luis Perez (Telecable Central – Bicicentro)
Jose Carlos Ragonessi (Pichincha – Ecuador)
Olivier Curier

FILED UNDER: News / No Spoil TAGS: Dominican Republic / Vuelta Independencia