What a race! La Ruta was everything it was billed as and more. The climbs go on FOREVER! and they are super STEEP! Like, how am I going to ride up that steep. And just finding the correct way on the course is a challenge, the direction signs are small and if you're not with a moto or someone that knows the course, good luck. The hiking wasn't bad, just a lot of on and off the bike. The railroad bridges were crazy, not because you're going to fall off but it's very easy to slip and cut your leg or foot on the old ties. Oh yea, you might get your bike stolen at gunpoint as well or get stung by a bunch of bees while crossing one of the bridges. All that said it was awesome.
I was lucky to have a great first day and get enough time to hang onto the jersey for the rest of the week. On day 2 I was still pretty good but had some bad luck with a flat tire and lost time to the guy in 2ne. Day 3 we climbed for what seemed like forever and I was in the box the whole way. Rom(Costa Rican from Specialized in 2nd) had me under pressure for all 7,000 ft of the volcano climb, luckily I caught him on the descent and he cracked less then 10 K from the finish so I gained half the time back I had lost to him the day before. And the last day had two climbs at the start, about 15-20 min each that hurt really bad. I came off a bit on the 2nd steep dirt road climb but was able to get back on before the flat section of road, dirt road, railroad tracks and beach.
Then there was my support crew, they were the key to everything. I had Meg, Benno(Specialized Factory TM/Mechanic), his girlfriend Manuela, Carlos(Specialized Costa Rica Distributor) and his friend Roberto. We had two land cruisers fully decked out with Thule racks and boxes. I had both my Stumpjumper 29 which I raced the first two days and my Epic 29 which I raced the last two days. The crew would make it to each aid station regardless of how remote or how fast they would have to drive to get there. They almost flipped the vehicle multiple times on the steep, muddy dirt roads(paths) used to access a lot of the zones. There are no street signs or addresses in most of the places we went in Costa Rica and the course map is almost nonexistent so if you don't have local knowledge, you're not going anywhere.
After racing around all day to feed me and give technical assistance, Benno and Manuela would completely rebuild mine and Reba's bike to get them ready for the next day. Meg would clean all my other stuff and the Specialized crew would do store runs and whatever else was needed, including taking care of their normal jobs. And did I mention the races started at 6 am so we would normally be up by 4:30 AM. The team was incredible.
The Costa Rican people were awesome and it was cool to catch the race on the news at night while flipping through the channels. The scenery was great and finishing at the Caribbean sea on the last day in Limon was definitely a highlight. We rode on the beach for 8 of the last 10K and it was awesome. After the race we had another race to get to the Pacquare Lodge, a 5 Star Eco resort nestled in the rain forest of Costa Rica. There are 3 ways to access it, down a 6 K dirt road/trail that takes about an hour to drive in a real 4X4 and then you have to zipline across the Paquare river to the other side, by raft or by helicopter. There is no electricity and it's the coolest place I've ever been. Here is a little peak at the main lodge:
Meg and I had this for our room:
And of course every room needs a personal infinity pool:
And an outdoor shower:
We 4x4ed in but we rafted out, here are a few of the better rafting pics...
There were tons of rapids, most class 4.
We stopped at a cool waterfall:
Benno's boat:
Time to get back to work, got to get out for a spin so we can go jet skiing before we have to head back to San Jose. Thanks Costa Rica for a great time, Pura Vida.
I wonder what Winstons' doing right now....
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