Cape man cycles 13 miles after shoulder injury during Belize race

Forty-eight athletes from nine countries convened Saturday on San Ignacio in Belize to participate in the Maya Mountain Adventure Challenge. The biannual four-day endurance race takes athletes through about 320 miles of terrain, cycling across pine ridges and jungles, rappelling down large cave systems and paddling down rivers, according to the race website.

Bryan Greaser, a lawyer in Cape Girardeau, was one of those athletes.

“I became interested in this race because it is part of the Adventure Racing World Series,” Greaser said. “With some of the best teams in the world coming here, you knew the race course and organization would be epic.”

Greaser’s training for the event incorporated weight training, mountain biking on local gravel roads and what he calls “time on my feet” training.

“I may go out and run, or sometimes just hike a forested trail at Trail of Tears, but I always mimic race conditions. That means hauling a heavy backpack with gear in it along — up to 25 pounds — and I’ll often get off trail and blast up hills by just bushwhacking my way,” Greaser said.

Greaser was one member of a four-person team that set out Saturday morning, hoping to finish before the course closed Wednesday.

But the race didn’t go as he, or the rest of his team, had planned.

Three men and one woman began the race that morning, but before the end of the day, the first member dropped out because of “major hip flexor issues,” Greaser said.

“So the three men continued on as we transitioned from a 24-mile whitewater canoe paddle to bikes,” he said.

Greaser recounted what happened next on his Facebook page. On Saturday evening, with only bicycle lights to guide them, Greaser went down a hill into a thick sludge rutted by the tires of vehicles that passed previously. His bicycle hit the ruts, and he crashed violently, hitting his head against the ground so hard, he nearly passed out. He also partly dislocated his shoulder.

Though his pain was extreme, he could not stop. The crash occurred hours after the team transitioned to bikes.

“Due to the remoteness of this country and lack of cell service, we had to ride our bikes back to race headquarters for about 13 miles with my dislocated shoulder,” Greaser said.

The next morning, Greaser went to the emergency room, where he was told he had a partially dislocated shoulder, bruising of muscles, tendons and ligaments and a small hairline fracture around the shoulder socket. He could not continue the race.

“Our team was finished,” Greaser said, although his team captain set out again the next morning, joining another team.

With several days left in his trip to Belize, Greaser has been enjoying his time in the country, despite his injury.

“I’m unable to do any physical activity like cave-swimming and all that Belize offers. I can barely even put on my own shirt without help,” he said.

Instead, Greaser has been relaxing and enjoying the sights.

“I have explored more Mayan ruins and pyramids, though, and have delved into the culture of San Ignacio,” he said.

The Maya Mountain Adventure Challenge was not Greaser’s first adventure race, and it won’t be his last.

“I may do this race again in two years, because I know how much I missed seeing in this one. But the calendar will determine that,” Greaser said. “I may do another four-day race somewhere else if it works out better.”

Greaser also is awaiting response to his recent application to compete on “American Ninja Warrior.”

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

San Ignacio, Belize