Race morning in Tuxtla, Chiapas, Mexico started off at in the comfort of the Ramada hotel with a 4:15 am alarm to get ready for the 6am start. My supporter, Alfredo took off early to the start line while I ate a bowl of oatmeal, drank a dark Guatemalan coffee and then kitted up in my 7 Mesh skyline jersey and RK1 Bib Shorts.
Next up I started searching for my Airpods to listen to some country music on the ride to the start-line , but soon realized they were MIA. I remembered I had forgot them at the pool the day before. Opening up the find my Airpods app on my Iphone, I realized someone had found them and were now walking around the hotel with them. I set out chase, running around the hotel for 15 minutes trying to track them down. Realizing I was getting late for the start, I abandoned the chase, deciding I was better off getting to the start line in time, as I could potentially earn enough prize money to buy a new set of airpods if I played my cards right.
The ride to the startline took just over 20 minutes through the dark streets of Tuxtla. Reaching the start at 5:40, seeing most everyone had lined up already, I opted to walk in the front of the start chute as I had plans to win, and didn’t want to be stuck behind 900+ riders off the gun. One young Mexican gave me a bit of an elbow to get in front, I let him have it as I was more worried about saving my fight for the tough 100 km ahead! He would crash 1 km into the race, I think I saw him again from the top of the podium later 😉
At 6am sharp the Clasica Coyote 100km Marathon kicked off! It was rough as the diesel engine wasn’t firing early on and the 900-strong field was full of spicy Mexicans sprinting off the front. It was a sketchy start with a few crashes, and numerous attacks, before 3 riders riders finally broke away, with myself and another rider leading a chase group of 8.
Around 25km in, our chase group was starting to sink over a minute back from the leaders and it was time to try and bridge up. Putting in a hard 15 minute effort, dropping the group, I soon passed 3rd place, & had a glimpse of the leaders. They saw me, and picked up the pace, but I’d eventually catch them just before a rugged single track descent. Going into the DH, it was shocking how fast they ripped it, later I found out the leader, Roberto Sarmiento, lives right there, and had won this race 4 times so had the local knowledge.
Soon after the skies opened up, starting to drizzle rain, turning the course into a muddy and slippery mess. This played into my favour with Roberto dropping back in the mud, just leaving Marco and myself off the front. Marco and I are the same age, and he has a history of being one of the top racers in Mexico. We had battled before at the Race X-Cross Hidalgo, but I was confident I had the upperhand as he had gone out hard burning some matches, while my diesel engine was just turning on. Unfortunately for him, he would suffer a tire issue at the 50k mark.
Now in the lead going into the King of the Mountain climb, the race had been served on a platter. The system was now in an adrenaline rush as I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity, first grabbing the KOM, then going full gas into a sketchy, slippery descent down a rock garden 🪨. The rocks were like ice, nearly sending me into the Rhubarb, I toned it down a notch to try and avoid any unnecessary crashes or mechanicals.
It’s amazing what being in the lead of a race can do, turning the system fully on. The descents were a challenge as it was tough see with all the mud in the eyes and dense fog. The legs were flying so I used the climbs to stretch the lead, confident the race was mine as long as I stayed out of trouble which was easier said then done in the tough conditions.
Soon I was on the homeward stretch, coming around the last corner before the finish a large aggressive dog blocked the road. I fired my empty water bottle off its nose, opening a chance to get by and was soon rolling across the rowdy finish line to cap off the victory. Their was a large Mexican crowd on hand creating a great atmosphere for the celebration of the hard fought victory!
The Mexican “cold front” which brought the temperature down to the high twenties, and rain, played in my favour. My Kona Hei Hei, setup with full Shimano XT components and Maxxis Aspen and Rekon tires, loved the conditions, stretching the lead to nearly 10 minutes by the finish.
The race atmosphere was amazing with the Mexicans enjoying the festivities and the organization was solid. The course was well-rounded and reminded me of a Cape Epic stage with a mix of fast farm roads, rugged single track, rocky descents, and lots of crowds through the villages. I’ll be looking forward to returning back to Tuxtla, and Chiapas to try and defend this title in the future. It would also be great to have some more time to take in the great Chiapan countryside and its people.
After the race Alfredo and I took 4 days to tour Chiapas, the highlight being the highlands colonial town of San Cristobal de las Casas. From there, Alfredo took the excess luggage on 5 buses and a taxi to travel 12 hours home to Xele 🇬🇹 . Meanwhile I loaded up my Apidura bike packing bags with the necessities for a 4 day bike tour before the next race back in Guatemala the following Sunday.
The first day the only plan was to get out of Mexico before my free 7 day visa expired. Reaching the La Messila border after 170km, the legs were still good so I kept rolling, eventually hitting the Guatemalan town of HueHue at dark, 255km later. A new friend, Adial and his family generously opened their home for a great home stay that night before I headed back up to the Cuchumatane mountains to soak in the high altitude (3300 meters) at a Llama farm for a few days of recovery.
Huge shut out to my Guatemalan buddy Alfredo who looked after all the F2C Nutrition handoffs in the feed zones and helped translate my Spanglish in post-race interviews.
Over and Out from Guatemala as preparations continue in the Guatemalan Highlands for the season ahead.
