We don't need a crystal ball to tell you that on April seventh, 2012, Belizeans far and wide, even those in the United States will be praying. That's because April 7th is Holy Saturday - and patriots and cycling fans will be praying that somehow a Belizean can reclaim the garland for the first time since 2006.
But hoping and praying won't get it done: veteran cyclists will tell you that Belize's promising young riders will have to put in work on the road.
But it's about more than just riding hard, it's about riding smart and that's what two American cycling coaches have been in Belize talking about for the past few days.
Former Cross Country Champ Bill Elliston and Ray Ignosh were brought to Belize by the US Embassy to talk about nutrition, body science and road tactics.
They held a session in Cayo on the weekend and have been in the city for the past two days. When we visited today, we saw no elite cyclists and just a few trainers and officials. Still Elliston says he knows Belize has the seeds of greatness for cycling, it's just the technique and training that needs perfection:..
Ray Ignosh, USA Cycling Trainer
"We have been involved in this sport for 20 and 30 years, so almost 50 years collectively between the two of us, and we are I think two people do trying and use our personal examples, a lot to illustrate points and we still consult colleagues and other trainers outside references and sources on a regular bases. So we are not coming down here and professing to be the end all, be all, know all experts. But just you know a couple of coaches, we raced our bikes. it's great to have local resources knowledge and a little bit of our local celebrity with me as well. But just to give some others examples and maybe offer some suggestions on things that we tried and it worked, and things that we have tried and it haven't."
Bill Elliston, Former Cross Country Champion
"They have the enthusiasm and they have the support; both familiar support and both from the country in general. We've said it before that the kind of the advantage down here is Cycling is a hug pass time, so it's a very acceptable sports on every level, so kids want to get into the sports and it's just creating more opportunities by way of training knowledge and by of just experience and hopefully we can expose some of that to them and open the doors for them to gain that stuff and move to the next level, because they've got the passion and they've got the desire and they have the ability, it's a matter of just kind of expanding it to capitalize on some of that."
And despite the poor attendance in the city, we are told the showing form junior cyclists and veterans at the Cayo session was much better. The pair say they are willing to come back for further sessions.
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