Specialized-lululemon's Amber Neben made a trip down to South America recently. Her goal? To win the time trial at the Pan-American Championships. Which, she did. The victory earned her an automatic ticket to the World Championship time trial. Boom! The United States gets two starts at Worlds, and Neben has one of those spots nailed down.
After the Pan-American Championship, Neben and Coryn Rivera headed to a stage race in El Salvador.
About 30min after leaving the airport and cruising through some very poor areas, we ended up on a dirt road in an area that seemed like slums. I took it all in. I was reminded of how much we have in this country, even when we think we don’t have much. When we asked if we were going to be able to buy some food and water, our driver pulled over to a roadside stand and got out to ask them something. At that point, both of our thoughts instantly shifted to our own safety when we spotted the serious automatic pistol in his waste band. Yikes. Where were we going? I’ve been racing a long time, and a weapon on our driver is not normal.
And it only gets better from there. Go on, go read the rest of Neben's story.
Oh, and Neben did make it to Redlands in time and after a quick sleep, placed second in the opening time trial and fourth in the general classification. That's some bike racing, right there.