I just spent the weekend racing the Easter Grand Prix in Arima, Trinidad. The track is just under 500m long. The air was thick with smoke from the forest fires all over the surrounding mountains. It was about 35 degrees during the day, but a moderate 28 in the evenings. I was happy to see Erin Hartwell there with two American endurance riders (Kit Karson and Austin Carroll) and two sprinters (Chris Pritchard of Scotland and T.J. Mathieson of the U.S.A.). I owe him a huge shout-out for helping me out while I was down there. Ten countries were represented, including Spain, France, and Columbia.
After a poor showing in the early races on the first day, my legs finally came around for the final, and feature event of the night, a 15 km scratch race. Four racers were launched an attack right away and after 1500m (three laps) I bridged up. Right away three of the riders got dropped leaving me with just one other rider. After about 5 more laps, he got dropped too, leaving me out in the wind on my own. I stayed away solo, and took my first win of the weekend!
The second day saw a few pretty gruesome crashes, and I took 3rd place winning the field sprint in an unknown distance race. In the feature event of the night, a 15 km points race, I took third behind Carlos Alzate (Columbia) and Austin Carroll.
On the final night, my legs were feeling pretty wrecked, and I was hoping that everyone else was feeling the same way. The first endurance event of the night was a 5 km scratch race. With 2 km to go, Alzate attacked, and I quickly bridged up to him. Neither of us wanted to pull for the final lap, so some cat-and-mouse action started. With the pack gaining on us, I attacked him in corner three, and took my second win on the weekend!
Overall it was a great experience. I made it to Maracas Bay, had a Bake n’ Shark, and met some really cool people (locals and the international racers). I will definitely be back, and wish luck to the Canadians going down for the Beacon Races!
