Endless Summer

The endless summer continues…

Training for the past two weeks has included a 3 day race in Panama, a week riding single track and Volcanos in the mtn town of Boquete, four 5 to 10 hr travel days on the bike and a week up in the mtns hiking and building outhouses with my Peace Corp friend Kat.

The 1st ever “Epic” Panama Off Road xc SR was too much for me to pass on given the $60 entry fee and the word Epic in the name. Racing in a first yr event in a 3rd world country is usually the recipe for a top notch gongshow. Day 1 started with nothing less as the 100 riders took off on a dusty gravel road with the lead out quad hitting the ditch. We thought it was pretty funny but soon the quad was trying to catch back up to the start of the race and blew by us stirring a huge dust storm and knocking the rider in front of me into the ditch. After that the pack of riders were biking in a dust storm worthy of Africa with about 1ft visibility. The road was littered with large boulders and the question was not if you were going to hit one but when. The rider beside me was taken out by a basketball sized boulder while I bounced of a bigger one but managed to stay unscathed and started working my way up the leaders.

About 25 km into the 55 km stage I could see the 5 leaders about 20 seconds ahead as they squeezed by a herd of cattle. When I reached the herd, the road had narrowed with steep walls on each side with no room to pass. Pretty soon 4 other riders caught up and we were all blockaded by the fat asses of the cows. We tried to squeeze by but to no avail and pretty soon 2 or 3 minutes had passed. The cowboy controlling the herd thought it was funny but I don’t think he understood there was $5000 on the line in the race. In an effort to make a hole in the herd a Panamanian rider picked up a 12 ft stick and started using it as a ramming pole. Soon another rider and myself followed suit and started jabbing and smacking our way through the heard. Our cowboy friend didn’t like this but it helped ignite his desire to get his cows out of the way. Soon after with his help we got through the cows and started to chase down the leaders.

45 minutes of chasing later with a couple Ticos in pull I made it back up to the lead 3 riders for a great 6 man sprint down the Pan Am highway weaving through vehicles and drafting off the faster ones in a typical Latin America gong show style finish. I sprint like an elephant and finished 6th out of 6 riders with Panama’s hero Mohammed taking the victory and 5 time La Ruta winner, Lico Ramirez taking 2nd.

The next two days we raced through coffee fincas, up cow trails and down sketchy descents through 2 ft deep grass. It was a cool race but whoever translated the word Epic for these guys was drinking cheap rum as 1.5 hr racing days is a criterium sprint race not an endurance mtb race. In the end local rider Mohammed would end up Victor, Lico 2nd, Licos teammate Aleman Sanchez 3rd and myself 5th. My legs were on fire for the race and a 3 way battle for the win looked to be in the cards for the weekend but luck was not on my side (broken chains, flats, getting lost due to not understanding the spanish course directions ) Having the legs to attack the top riders in Panama and Costa Rica was a great confidence booster and one day these boys will be eating Canadian dust.

After the race I was welcomed to the home of American´s Craig Wynn and his wife Dana in Volcan to recover for a few days and eat giant un-organic salads from nearby Cerro Punta where 80% of Panama’s veggies are grown. 2 days later and recovered again it was back on the bike for 2 days of riding-hiking through single track, gravel roads and the Pan Am highway eastwards to the Indian hamlet of Cerro Iglesia to visit my friend Kat and take a much needed rest week off the bike.

Nearing the end of her 2 yr Peace Corp commitment Kat took the initiative to start a project to build outhouses for 20 Ngobe (Indian) families in her district. The Ngobe’s are Panamas largest Indian tribe and they live across the mtns in the west-central part of Panama. These amazing people live a simple life in small bamboo huts mostly living off what ever the land can supply. In some cases there are over 12 family member’s sleeping in the same one room 15 ft by 12 ft home. Too me it was pretty amazing that this even still existed in such a developed country as Panama.

The outhouse project we were working on is an effort to prevent illness’s and sanitary problems that come with the current outhouse of choice for many of these families which is the closest river or creek. This causes a shitty problem for the habitants downstream. By digging 3 to 4 meter deep outhouses holes and constructing a transportable cement foundation it allows the families a place to take care of there business for 4 to 5 yrs. Once the first whole fills they then have the ability to dig another hole and transport there outhouse over it. The US Peace Corps does an amazing job down here in Latin America and this is just one example of the numerous sustainable projects they work on.

While working on the outhouse project the daily commute was a .5 to 2 hr hike on winding Indian trails through the mtns. The hikes could have been quicker but the Indians love there Peace Corp volunteers and walking with Kat through the small villages was like being in Hollywood with everyone and there dogs wanting a moment with her. Once we reached the construction sight it would take around 3 hrs to do our work, thanks in large part to the 5-15 Indian helpers we would have each day. After work was completed the families would generally serve up a plate of homegrown rice and beans then it would be off to the next project with usually a few sling shot shooting Indian kids in tow. Watching these kids work there sling shots I soon understood why the bird life was rather scarce in the area. 6 days and 8 outhouses later I was back on the bike and Kat was off on her next project in Panama city. Having a chance to work with my friend brought me into an unbelievable world that seems almost impossible when you look at the pictures of sky rises from Panama City just 25o km away!

In the future more outhouses will need to be built in this area as already Kat is being asked by the neighbouring families when they can get in on the next outhouse project. With Kat finishing her term in 4 months she will not have a chance to build anymore. She is the 3rd Peace Corp volunteer to live in the area and the last for a while as Peace Corps doesn’t want the people to become dependant on the volunteers.

As a result, outside help will be needed to construct these outhouses. Kat and I have had a few discussions on a privateer project to build another 20 to 30 of them. If any of you are interested in this idea feel free to contact me as I will be looking for ideas to raise money to make this happen. With a building cost of approx $70 per outhouse this is a pretty cheap initiative given the huge positive and lasting influence they will have in improving the quality of life down here.

Today everything in Panama is in slow motion as the country trys to recover from the previous 4 days of Carnival. Panamanians know how to party hard, toss in 50 cent beers and a 3rd world attitude of making the best of whatever good is around and you have the recipe for one hell of a mammoth event!