We leave a few days earlier than needed due to most likely not all luggage will be on time and this is the case. So after a long day of flights & shuttles, I end up stuck with no bike & no clothes for two days. At least it's warm & we are on Jaco beach, the hotel also has some really crappy free bikes you can take so that is about all we could do. We explored what we could on them.
(riding along Jaco Beach area)
Having an extra day to relax, we decide to check out the jungle on a suspended bridge hike. We figure it's a short drive, main highway, let's just rent a economy car (fiesta like). We know we were told by lots of friends the roads require 4-wheel drive to get anywhere but seriously we were only going up the road 20 minutes! Anyhow, you can imagine what happens next, one turn off the highway to the destination and we are four-wheeling on extreme mountain roads & across waterfall runoffs in a Fiesta!! I even got out at one point to not be directly involved in any damage! So once we reach the spot, of course the pouring RAIN starts, the park people tell us it's REALLY DANGEROUS to venture out on a hike NOW that mudslides occur, etc, etc. I ask...'could we die?' they say '....yes.' hhmm, I blurt out 'then yep, we are still going!' So they drop us off at the entrance, warn us they are NOT responsible for us & lock the gate behind us, and we venture along. About 6 bridges to cross, kind of scary being so high but JP the naturalist is able to spot a toucan since we are up in the trees at times. The trail quickly turns to a gushing river & popping around in the water I see little flourescent treefrogs, my favorite and what I wanted to see! We observe them closely......but do not touch or lick. We manage to get the Fiesta back without apparant damage:-)
(eating lunch outside in the jungle restaurant during a RAINFOREST RAIN)
So the day before the race start, the place is crowding with riders & the race meeting is on. We get lots of information, and are quickly introduced to Spanglish, the conversation method we will hear & get a little tired of for the next 10 days. Every communication takes three times as long & everything is printed twice. Before we start meeting & greeting my bike is here, some damaged needs repaired & we head out with others to check out the prologue to the first climb before the afternoon RAIN begins.
(checking out the prologue start)
Race Day #1
The rumor is day #1 is SO hard & that if you can finish it, the other days will seem easy. To be fair and make sure everyone has a chance this day, it is necessary to start at 5AM. Freak. Stuff all your belongings for the next 4 days into a duffle bag, throw the rest of your luggage into storage for the week, and we are off totally dependant on the race organizers to come though for us. This day is good for me, after a ton of gravel climbing & some nasty downhilling in some huge rutted out packed trails, we get to the famous mud crap miles in the jungle and it starts to RAIN. When we hit it I LOVE it, I am ready to hike-a-bike all day if I have to! Everyone is whining & people start to slow down as they get frustrated with bikes packing, weighing a lot, etc. Thick mud at some points is over my knees and rocks are in it so footing is careful. I have carried my bike from the mud start so it never gets too heavy & when I do coast a few down hills I can hear the river crossing at the bottom so know I can rinse & lube which I do at every crossing. A few are deeper with fast current but not too hard. Finally out of the jungle, I am excited for more. But the excitement fades quick as I find out we are in for a 20 mile ROAD climb, followed by some extra gravel climbing to the end. Agh, about 1/2 up this all the peeps that hated the mud start to catch up to me and they like the road! Bummer. Anyhow, I finish this day with an ok time and nothing was too much of a pain in the butt, I didn't feel over pressured to meet the check point times, even without having a race pace for any long areas. This day is finished by rolling right into the night's hotel, sweet set up with dinner & bike cleaning waiting. JP is there all cleaned up and helps me get settled in & we get our stuff ready for Day 2. Unfortunately, he did not have such a geat time, with chain issues early on and the realization that in packing somehow part of his chain tool was missing, it took him some extra time to get going again after lots of walking. Once back, he got rooked on the price of a badly needed new chain:-(
We both had packed a little more than planned for this day, still skimpy, but not knowing how the stations would be a little more was safer. Now we know, so we both pack a little skimpier for Day 2. There was enough food, drinks, mechanical help, bike wash, etc at the stations. You really just needed to have stuff for about 15-20 miles on the trail with you and bike know-how.
1 comment:
somehow your event summary post showed up in my rss reader, but not on your blog.
anyway..."there were some 'why would you do THAT,"...that's totally messed up, and I never expect to encounter it when it does occur, but it's like anytime someone does something AWESOME or leads to success (in all of it's forms) you get some naysayer who says that.
La Ruta is kinda on my radar. I'd love to do it. Looking at it I've wondered if I could do it. It's incredible that you and JPok did it!
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