Belize CC - day 1 Touchdown

Landed in Belize City today for the upcoming historic Cross Country Race on Saturday. Had a great flight, and things have been going smooth so far, but we feel pretty bad that we had to leave our guys at home. The team had originally planned to have 6-8 riders come down to do the race, but unfortunately some last minute plans fell through. Harkey and I had jumped the gun and purchased our tickets about a month ago to lock in a good flight/rate, so we were not able to bring the full team down here for the race. I feel bad, especially for our rider John Delong, who is going really good right now, and would have to have been a favorite in the race...I wish he, along with the more of the team where here.

Got the bikes together and went out for a late evening ride to Hattiville and back to the city. Got a nice taste of the massive head wind we are going to have to fight for the last 30-40 miles of the 140 mile road race Sat. Harkey, as always got several shout-outs on the ride (after his 2 wins and multiple top 3 finishes), but I did get my first "die white boy" experience today while on the bike. While coming through the city, we got behind a funeral ( a great chance to see our cultural differences). 80 to 100 people formed a procession and were walking down the street towards the graveyard. There were partying, drinking and celebrating, walking behind a flatbed truck with a huge rack of speakers blasting club music. The person who passed was a 27 year old local DJ. Neat to observe that with respect.
Tomorrow we are heading out for the locally named 'speed ride' that leaves at 5:15am!

Road trip tip of the day: TSA really gets mad when you try to smuggle a jar of peanut butter through the x-ray machine! Leave it at home or chance the body cavity search.