The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GLASGOW, Scotland — Despite the long wait they had to endure along with the torrential rain they went through, the start of the cycling competition for Team Bahamas wasn’t any better for Jay Major and Chad Albury.

On day eight of the games as the cycling competition finally got underway at the Cycling Time Trial Course, Major Jr and Albury found themselves sitting at the bottom of the 60-man field of the men’s individual time trials at the 20th Commonwealth Games.

In the 32 kilometre race on Thursday, Albury posted the best time of the Bahamian duo, placing 50th overall in 51 minutes and 14.48 seconds, while Major Jr was 55th in 53:56.73.

Only four of the competitors did not record any times. The only competitor to finish behind Major Jr was Moses Sesay of Sierra Leoni, who did 57:31.98 for 56th. Winning the gold was Alex Dowset of England in 38:38.55. The silver went to Rohan Dorsett of Australia in 38:33.31 and the bronze was awarded to Geraint Thomas of Wales in 38:37.35.

For both Major and Albury, it was quite an initiation into their first major international competition.

“It was a tough course,” said Albury, who didn’t envision that it would have been as gruelling as it turned out. “With the rain and the tight corners, the road was wet, so you had to really slow down, going on the corners and then you had to get on a crank going up the next hill. Also, it was a very technical course with the hills they had in it. It was a tough course. It’s a good one, but it was tough. It was a little tougher than I expected. I think that the rain made it a little difficult to carry the speed going through the hills on the hill. When you had to put on the brakes going through the corners, you come to another hill, so it was really hard out there.”

Despite the difficulties that he experienced on the course, Albury said he didn’t have any issues because the crowd along the course really encouraged him as he passed them by.

“The fans were excellent,” he said. “But it was really tough out there on the course.”

Major Jr, the first of the two to start the race, said the change in weather made it quite difficult for him.

“It didn’t do too well,” he said. “It was what I expected, but I had some mechanical problems in the first half of the race and that threw me off stride and it was difficult to catch up. My rear core shifter on my bike broke apart, so I had to switch bikes in the first three kilometres and that threw off my groove.”

Major Jr, the 19-year-old Bahamas national road race champion, said he will be back on Sunday in the gruelling road race to make up for his disappointment in the time trials.

“I’m going into the road race with some vengeance and anger because of what happened in the time trials,” he said. “I’m looking to do very good in the road race because I am a better competitor on the road than I am in the time trials.”

And if the time trial was any indication, Albury anticipates that it will be even more difficult for Team Bahamas when they compete in the road race on Sunday.

“It’s tight in this weather because you don’t know whether it’s going to be hot or cold, sunny or raining,” he said about the adverse change in the weather over the last few days. “Today was a little bit of everything, dry in some places, not too hot and it was raining, so I think the race is going to be the same way.”

In any event, the 42-year-old Albury, who works in Australia, is confident that he will be ready for the challenge.

Bahamas chef de mission Roy Colebrooke, who also serves as the president of the Bahamas Cycling Federation, said they couldn’t ask for anything more from the duo.

“I think they performed very well,” he said. “Looking at the degree of difficulty that they experienced on the course, I think the guys did very well. They need to be commended.”

With more than 130 competitors expected to contest the road race, Colebrooke said it won’t be easy for Albury, Major Jr, Anthony ‘Biggie’ Colebrooke, Roy Colebrooke Jr and Deangelo Sturrup when they line up to compete at 7:01 am EST.

“The road race is going to be tough, it’s going to be fast and it’s going to be very technical,” said Musgrove, who also serves as a vice president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. “But I believe that Team Bahamas is up for the challenge and we will do very well.”

Barron ‘Turbo’ Musgrove, the coach for the team, said the course was very technical and because the Bahamas doesn’t have the terrain to train in, it posed a problem for the pair.

“I think the guys handled it the best they could under the circumstances,” he said. “Everybody rose the same course, so it was a part of a learning process to prepare you. The biking skills have to come into play along with taking the necessary nutrition to deal with the change in the temperature. Some times it’s hot, cold and raining. So as you compete internationally, you have to prepare yourself for whatever happens.”

Musgrove, the president of the New Providence Cycling Association, said they will have to find a way to get the local cyclists more exposed to a higher level of competition than what they are used to at home.

For those who put in an argument that maybe the Bahamas is not ready to compete at this level, Musgrove begged to differ, pointing out that the only way they will know where they are at is to compete with the international competitors at events like this.