After missing more than a year of racing, I was beyond ready to return to stage racing with Voler Factory Racing. And for that first race back, we were going big in South America, heading to Brazil for the Volta a Goias. And what a race back it would be for the whole team...
Colin Patterson and I arrived early, and while waiting for our other teammates and director to arrive, we rode around Goiania and tried some of the local restaurants. After a day, we linked up with our director, Gus, and guest rider/translator Rolly Weaver. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until we received word that our teammate John Borstelmann had been delayed, and after some frantic phone calls, it became clear that although John would make the race on time, his bike and bags would not.
Further complicating things, John’s bag contained most of the spare Voler team kits for the guest riders, but thankfully, Colin had just enough spares to cover everyone. John was still without a bike, but Rolly went and talked with the guys under the Shimano tent, and the neutral support crew was nice enough to loan John a bike until his showed up. All-star guest riders Drew Christopher, Jim Maddock, and Anders Johnson rounded off our squad.