See individual summaries for each event.
2009 MTB Bikes: Salsa MotoRapido, Ritchy NiTi
Team: WVMBA, support by ProBikes.
2009 Events:
WVMBA-Big Bear XC-Finished, not a good race.
Greenbriar Marathon-Excellent race until two flats.
WVMBA-Mountwood-Better start, but fell off and finished bad.
Dirt Sweat Gears 12Hr Solo-Conditions made the course hike a bike, only did 1 lap.
Mohican 100-Finished, on the long side of usual time, 12hr.
Davis WV Road Race-Finished, OK considering I used a mtb with road tires.
WVMBA-Massanutten XXC-Finished, good race, lots of fast competition.
Granny Gear 12hr Duo-Finished, not a good all out effort.
1/2 Trail Run Marathon-Rachel Carson Challenge-Finished 14.4 mi, 4hrs, 3500ft climbing. MASS 9Hr Solo-Finished @ 8hrs with 47 miles total.
Tour de Burg Stage-Finished 5 out of 6 days.
6 Hours of Power Coed Duo-Finished 1st.
Wilderness 101-Set my own PR & felt good!
WVMBA-Big Bear Ultra XXC-Great race, felt good. Finished 2nd.
Shenandoah 100-Lost 2hrs to flats, had to DNF @ mile 86/10hrs.
Shannock Valley XC-Finished 1st.
Roaring Run XC-Finished, slower than any past year here.
Roaring Run MTB Road-Flatted and finished.
Smuckers Peanut Butter Festival MTB XC-Great race, felt good. Finished 1st.
WVMBA-Revenge of the Rattlesnake XXC-got lost, prorated finish.
MOM Racoon Creek CX-Finished, not very well, + did first tandem cx!
MOM Grove City CX-Finished, not very well, + did next tandem cx!
WVCX Marilla-Fourth Open Wm, + did tandem cx.
LaRuta! MTB Stage-Finished!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Dan Chew's Endurance Stepclimbing Challenge
Cathedral of Learning-Dec 26th
Can you think of a better way to start the day after Xmas than by setting the alarm for 4AM, and heading to the Cathedral of Learning for a 6AM start, and begin climbing the sauna-like, dusty, stale air filled stairwell? Yeah, me neither.
So, Dan has been doing this for years (see his website for climbing records set, etc) , and recently a local untrarunner woman set a new record for the most consecutive climbs up the 36 flights of stairs. She finished 103 in 24 hours. A counterchallenge was arranged!
I saw the note about the challenge and was somewhat interested in the woman's new record and had fleeting thoughts of actually seeing how close I could get to her number. That thought went in and out of my head multiple times, often leaving as quickly as it would show up! The kicker was I just was not in the mind set to pull an all nighter for this right now & without doing that there of course no way to even come close to doing anything than just a long day of exercise.
I tell Dan I am in for the 6AM start, but I am just going to go for a good part of the day at my own pace, and not setting any goals for trying to get a record number of climbs. To myself, I am figuring about 20X would pretty much tire me out & be a good day of exercise! He replies that if I can get in anything more than 40X, I will actually be in a second place to the ultrarunner, as she initially only had 40X and so far no other women have done even that many (I don't qualify for the Rookie record, as I have actually been on the steps a few times in my life.....darn! I recently went there just a few times and at the most did a stretch of 8 climbs just for an evening of exercise, no record ideas in mind). Ok, I agree.......I am in to do just over 40X. Still in the back of my head was a dirty plan to see what my hourly pace was, and if good enough maybe consider to just keep going.
JP has absolutely NO intention of heading down to the start with me, as he HATES early mornings and plus it's quite a drive from our house. I get up and get going, planning on he will show up sometime during the late morning and do a few climbs with me. I get there along with Jon Pratt, we both get a few minutes late start, but before you know it we all run into each other and the party is ON! Along with Dan is his nephew and a few triathlete friends, 5 of us total, and lots of others come and go during the day.
The 36th floor is our functional transition area, with us each having a pile of boxes, bags, coolers, shoes, etc out for easy grabbing. The guys have family close by and during the day have some planned support to show up. I just have what I brought and JP for any emergencies, but he wasn't going to be around all day, but really I don't like too much help so this is ok.
The guys are setting fast paces, I try to keep mine toned back instead of worrying what they are doing so I end up doing several sets alone & a few with someone or other. After about 3 hours I start to feel settled in to a pace, but surprisingly my avg remains the same....5X/hour. This continues, until hour 6. I hit a accidental bout of dehydration with completely no sweating, along with some soreness was already beginning in various areas! I had been drinking, and more liquid felt just bloating so I just had to back off a little for one hour. That hour was the only one out of my total 9hrs that I dipped below my avg and got only 4X in. After that, I picked back up, although feet/knees/etc were taking a toll already.
Hour 6 and climbs 30-34 were the rough ones, JP was there making fun of my dwindling pace. He quickly stated he would see me around and took off to run with the guys. Cool, now I can have some peace and quiet:-) At this point I also ditched the tennis shoes and put on comfy fur lined crocs...not the easiest to walk in but sure nicer to my bunion feet!
Climbs 35-40 I got back onto 5X/hr, and at 40 of course felt SO relieved that it could almost be over. I still had fleeting thoughts of staying, as if you realize I could keep the pace even for just 3 more hours and then dropped to 4X/hr, I would have beat the women's current record! But it still kept nagging at me that I didn't want to have to recover from an all-nighter or be so sore I couldn't walk the next day! And I didn't want JP to spend what turned out a pretty nice day hanging around the cathedral being bored! Before he left, he brought me some extra food just in case, and I finished out another 3X just to be above the current 2nd place number, with total climbing time of 9hrs. Then it was time to sadly call it quits. I packed up & watched with envy as all the other 6AM starters were valiantly still going. Turns out they set some new records overall too!
I am pretty sure that next year, if not before then, I will be up to challenge the current womens consecutive climbs in 24 hours!! It's on my list of things to do.....maybe.
Can you think of a better way to start the day after Xmas than by setting the alarm for 4AM, and heading to the Cathedral of Learning for a 6AM start, and begin climbing the sauna-like, dusty, stale air filled stairwell? Yeah, me neither.
So, Dan has been doing this for years (see his website for climbing records set, etc) , and recently a local untrarunner woman set a new record for the most consecutive climbs up the 36 flights of stairs. She finished 103 in 24 hours. A counterchallenge was arranged!
I saw the note about the challenge and was somewhat interested in the woman's new record and had fleeting thoughts of actually seeing how close I could get to her number. That thought went in and out of my head multiple times, often leaving as quickly as it would show up! The kicker was I just was not in the mind set to pull an all nighter for this right now & without doing that there of course no way to even come close to doing anything than just a long day of exercise.
I tell Dan I am in for the 6AM start, but I am just going to go for a good part of the day at my own pace, and not setting any goals for trying to get a record number of climbs. To myself, I am figuring about 20X would pretty much tire me out & be a good day of exercise! He replies that if I can get in anything more than 40X, I will actually be in a second place to the ultrarunner, as she initially only had 40X and so far no other women have done even that many (I don't qualify for the Rookie record, as I have actually been on the steps a few times in my life.....darn! I recently went there just a few times and at the most did a stretch of 8 climbs just for an evening of exercise, no record ideas in mind). Ok, I agree.......I am in to do just over 40X. Still in the back of my head was a dirty plan to see what my hourly pace was, and if good enough maybe consider to just keep going.
JP has absolutely NO intention of heading down to the start with me, as he HATES early mornings and plus it's quite a drive from our house. I get up and get going, planning on he will show up sometime during the late morning and do a few climbs with me. I get there along with Jon Pratt, we both get a few minutes late start, but before you know it we all run into each other and the party is ON! Along with Dan is his nephew and a few triathlete friends, 5 of us total, and lots of others come and go during the day.
The 36th floor is our functional transition area, with us each having a pile of boxes, bags, coolers, shoes, etc out for easy grabbing. The guys have family close by and during the day have some planned support to show up. I just have what I brought and JP for any emergencies, but he wasn't going to be around all day, but really I don't like too much help so this is ok.
The guys are setting fast paces, I try to keep mine toned back instead of worrying what they are doing so I end up doing several sets alone & a few with someone or other. After about 3 hours I start to feel settled in to a pace, but surprisingly my avg remains the same....5X/hour. This continues, until hour 6. I hit a accidental bout of dehydration with completely no sweating, along with some soreness was already beginning in various areas! I had been drinking, and more liquid felt just bloating so I just had to back off a little for one hour. That hour was the only one out of my total 9hrs that I dipped below my avg and got only 4X in. After that, I picked back up, although feet/knees/etc were taking a toll already.
Hour 6 and climbs 30-34 were the rough ones, JP was there making fun of my dwindling pace. He quickly stated he would see me around and took off to run with the guys. Cool, now I can have some peace and quiet:-) At this point I also ditched the tennis shoes and put on comfy fur lined crocs...not the easiest to walk in but sure nicer to my bunion feet!
Climbs 35-40 I got back onto 5X/hr, and at 40 of course felt SO relieved that it could almost be over. I still had fleeting thoughts of staying, as if you realize I could keep the pace even for just 3 more hours and then dropped to 4X/hr, I would have beat the women's current record! But it still kept nagging at me that I didn't want to have to recover from an all-nighter or be so sore I couldn't walk the next day! And I didn't want JP to spend what turned out a pretty nice day hanging around the cathedral being bored! Before he left, he brought me some extra food just in case, and I finished out another 3X just to be above the current 2nd place number, with total climbing time of 9hrs. Then it was time to sadly call it quits. I packed up & watched with envy as all the other 6AM starters were valiantly still going. Turns out they set some new records overall too!
I am pretty sure that next year, if not before then, I will be up to challenge the current womens consecutive climbs in 24 hours!! It's on my list of things to do.....maybe.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Dirt Rag XX Punk Bike Enduro 2009
I think this year would be like my 6th time to go to the annual Punk Bike, not sure. Either way, it's close to home, local trails, always cold, always muddy, & always a fun day on your bike! This year was the XX anniversary & Dirt Rag overcame a major glitch with the usual start/end not being available & I think ended up finding an even cooler rental building right in Emmerling Park. Even closer to home for me so I'm not complaining! The course was shortened overall, and kept to a smaller area of trails, but looped around pretty well to get some good riding sections in.
So I decide to dress all crazy, but in my overzealous costumeness, I get all mixed up. Colors aren't matching (I AM colorblind, remember?), and you really can't tell what the heck I am! The idea was that a small group of other girls my own age (you know, 'Cougar'-age) display our proudness for being so well middle aged. Each was a 'Cougar', but with personalities, mine was of a Dominatrix. Yeah, that went together real great! Well, I need to keep in mind next time.....'Keep it Simple, Stupid' & it will probably be better! Anyway, here are three of us that got the theme together:
Dirt Rag write up, pics & vids of 2009 Punk Bike:
http://www.dirtragmag.com/blogarific/punk-bike-enduro-xx-edition
So I decide to dress all crazy, but in my overzealous costumeness, I get all mixed up. Colors aren't matching (I AM colorblind, remember?), and you really can't tell what the heck I am! The idea was that a small group of other girls my own age (you know, 'Cougar'-age) display our proudness for being so well middle aged. Each was a 'Cougar', but with personalities, mine was of a Dominatrix. Yeah, that went together real great! Well, I need to keep in mind next time.....'Keep it Simple, Stupid' & it will probably be better! Anyway, here are three of us that got the theme together:
(Me, Kim B., & Elizabeth L. dressed up)
So, EVERY year I say I am not even getting sweaty to just stand around between the stages and every year I do it anyway. This year included, although I sat out 3 stages, I attempted to get a good start at the rest and picked my way through the mud without any major damages. Sharon L. came out this year, and MAN she was goin' for the points! Until a horrible run in with a divet:
(Sharon's bike with bent rigid fork & tacoed wheel)
She got a loaner and was back in the game but missed a few too many stages in the downtime for overall points, otherwise I am pretty darn sure whe would have cinched it this year!
Unlike the far past, JP gets dressed up nowdays too. But like the past, he also is really looking forward to carrying as much alcohol in his backpack as possible & making sure he finishes all of it before the end of the ride. This year he really also wanted to have a GREEN face for some reason, I heard about the green face for weeks. So, he accomplished his goals & here is what he came up with, HULK, whose growling sounds got louder & wipeouts became common as the backpack got lighter(!):
(JP as the HULK)
Thanks for another year of putting on a fun event in the burgh!Dirt Rag write up, pics & vids of 2009 Punk Bike:
http://www.dirtragmag.com/blogarific/punk-bike-enduro-xx-edition
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
La Ruta de los Conquistadores Summary
Thoughts about this trip, why I went, what I learned, what I am thankful for, how we did it, & my afterthoughts:
-what is it?
-Mountain Bike Stage Race from the Pacific Coast to the Caribbean, crossing Costa Rica in (4) days & covering ~250 miles, 43,000ft of climbing.
Day 1: 108km, 14,000ft, (max alt:1170m) Pacific Jaco Beach to San Jose
Day 2: 75km, xxxm, (max alt:1856m) San Jose to Tres Rios
Day 3: 85km, xxxxxm, (max alt:3025m) Tres Rios to Turrialba
Day 4: 121km, xxxxm, (max alt:840m) Turrialba to Limon Carribean Beach
-frequently rumored by below sources + others to be one of the hardest annual MTB stage races in the world with a few scary tidbits thrown in, and also an awesome life experience:
event website: http://larutadelosconquistadores.com/info/
top endurance listings: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1869820,00.html
other articles:
http://www.adventureworldmagazineonline.com/cycling/the-17th-edition-of-la-ruta-de-los-conquistadores-is-two-weeks-away/
http://www.epic-mountain-bike.com/laruta.html http://www.naturelandings.com/articles.php?article=164
http://www.dirtragmag.com/print/article.php?ID=1172&category=features
Mountain Bike Magazine, 11/09
Velo News Race & Ride Guide 2009
This is one exerpt I really liked:
"They keep it real in Costa Rica. For how long this will continue I don't know. Probably not too long. But as of today, in La Ruta you can get really lost, dehydrated, break all your teeth, and get run over by a train. No bright orange sign with block letters will warn you of this and no lawsuit will make your heirs rich. Thank God for la Ruta and those who keep it wild, cruel and wonderful."
-photos?
there are not many, part of the challenge is that it's held during the RAINY season in the RAINFOREST, hence the cameras didn't get pulled out too often & the event only had one photographer which didn't provide numerous photo ops. What photos I do have are posted on Facebook at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176746&id=621536207&l=95e99d3321
-why?
1-if you know me you know the rainforest is one of my few dream trips. Along with all the inherent dangers that might be lurking, I wanted to get as deep in it as I could but yet feel somewhat safe with the structure of an event that had at least had some support in place, at a cost that didn't totally break my savings. This did That.
2-again if you know me, you know I laugh when something is described as hard. Multiple definitive sources say this race is hard. Hard means you might actually DIE trying to do it, basically if 1,000+ peeps have finished the event & no one has DIED it can't possibly be all THAT hard to at least finish!! Plus it might be fun to be really scared.
3-again if you know me, you know I am terrified of getting older & having a second midlife crisis I fear if I don't do a few things now my body is not going to hold out much longer & I will lose my chance! I decided last year a few Stage Races were something to do to combat my aging self!
-some things I proved are true/what I learned:
1-real fear IS completely in your head. No moment is ever really as bad as you think it is at that given moment. I had a few really scary and BAD moments on this trip, but now they are over and I can have some more!!
2-bikers are not necessarily your friends, they are other people that ride bikes. Period. Along with all the genuine and maybe not so genuine "good lucks" there were some 'why would you do THAT, it's something only pros would do'. Coming from people I have encouraged, cheered for, and even took to initial races, I feel bad for these ones because they have a lot of eye opening to occur yet in their own life! In addition, this is right on the event website:
Are most of the riders experts? NO! most are regular folks that train very hard and have the willpower to finish. It is not an easy race, but anyone who knows their body and listens to what it tells them can finish. If you go out too fast, you may not make it, so pace yourself. Plan on being on your bike for 10 or 11 hours with very few stops.
3-unfortunately, it proved that a bike event is something I will never be able to do 100% independantly, this of course is not a stunning revelation, but one that will affect some future goals.
-what I am thankful for:
1-JP offering to help me go when no one else wanted to go. Even though, at times, he probably didn't want to go!
2-good advice from racers who had done the event before.
3-being allowed to tag along at a stage race earlier in the year with the SVBC for practice.
4-lots of last minute help from the following:
-Tim Carson (pro bikes)-for getting in some last minute orders & super quick bike work.
-TJ Platt (top)-for home delivery service with a smile in our hectic last minute's of packing.
-Richie Rich/Bill Alcorn-Bikeflights.com-for getting their first ever international shipping quote for us in only a few days! Ship your bikes with Bikeflights!!
-how we did it:
1-of course the pro crowd has expected support the entire way, and amateurs wanting to finish follow suit and typically place heavy emphasis on having a support crew. (as we soon learned about every 10 feet on the course!) We knew this and knew we were not having, nor did we want, support people other than the checkpoint basics & ourselves. This was going to be a disadvantage, but we were willing to risk it. We made sure parts were new on bikes, packed as many of the common spare parts as we could and the things that didn't get packed we crossed our fingers were the right decision to make! That's how we did it.
-my afterthoughts:
-I did not expect to place well, and with all that went on, that part came true! I finished far at the back but am ok with it. I got to do what I wanted to do & the trip was worth it.
-I thought this before and I still think it now, I think it's more charactor to not have a constant support crew. It might mean you actually don't finish which would bite because it's expensive, but I think it ruins the self fulfillment portion of the challenge. I mean pro riding is different, they are guts out to get a good time against each other, but for the rest I would not feel as if I accomplished something if a carful of food and cheering was along my side the whole way? Not to mention the extra traffic was quite bothersome to the rider field. Most of the event I was riding more/less alone, lots of time to focus on myself & really challenge myself on every obstacle that came up and make it by myself. That was sweet.
-Would I do this event again? It is a great event, but hhmm, for a few reasons, probably not.
I was disappointed in the amount of road.
The RR bridge crossings were a little much for me to cope with.
I would rather do this again as a buddy system, as I will write about later on why.
-Would I do another stage race again? hhhmmm, for a few reasons, yeah most likely.
The constant go-go-go day after day is like a different time zone. Nothing matters except sleep-eat-ride-mechanics-eat-sleep-eat-ride, repeat.
So now you know all that, on to the gory details!
-what is it?
-Mountain Bike Stage Race from the Pacific Coast to the Caribbean, crossing Costa Rica in (4) days & covering ~250 miles, 43,000ft of climbing.
Day 1: 108km, 14,000ft, (max alt:1170m) Pacific Jaco Beach to San Jose
Day 2: 75km, xxxm, (max alt:1856m) San Jose to Tres Rios
Day 3: 85km, xxxxxm, (max alt:3025m) Tres Rios to Turrialba
Day 4: 121km, xxxxm, (max alt:840m) Turrialba to Limon Carribean Beach
-frequently rumored by below sources + others to be one of the hardest annual MTB stage races in the world with a few scary tidbits thrown in, and also an awesome life experience:
event website: http://larutadelosconquistadores.com/info/
top endurance listings: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1869820,00.html
other articles:
http://www.adventureworldmagazineonline.com/cycling/the-17th-edition-of-la-ruta-de-los-conquistadores-is-two-weeks-away/
http://www.epic-mountain-bike.com/laruta.html http://www.naturelandings.com/articles.php?article=164
http://www.dirtragmag.com/print/article.php?ID=1172&category=features
Mountain Bike Magazine, 11/09
Velo News Race & Ride Guide 2009
This is one exerpt I really liked:
"They keep it real in Costa Rica. For how long this will continue I don't know. Probably not too long. But as of today, in La Ruta you can get really lost, dehydrated, break all your teeth, and get run over by a train. No bright orange sign with block letters will warn you of this and no lawsuit will make your heirs rich. Thank God for la Ruta and those who keep it wild, cruel and wonderful."
-photos?
there are not many, part of the challenge is that it's held during the RAINY season in the RAINFOREST, hence the cameras didn't get pulled out too often & the event only had one photographer which didn't provide numerous photo ops. What photos I do have are posted on Facebook at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176746&id=621536207&l=95e99d3321
-why?
1-if you know me you know the rainforest is one of my few dream trips. Along with all the inherent dangers that might be lurking, I wanted to get as deep in it as I could but yet feel somewhat safe with the structure of an event that had at least had some support in place, at a cost that didn't totally break my savings. This did That.
2-again if you know me, you know I laugh when something is described as hard. Multiple definitive sources say this race is hard. Hard means you might actually DIE trying to do it, basically if 1,000+ peeps have finished the event & no one has DIED it can't possibly be all THAT hard to at least finish!! Plus it might be fun to be really scared.
3-again if you know me, you know I am terrified of getting older & having a second midlife crisis I fear if I don't do a few things now my body is not going to hold out much longer & I will lose my chance! I decided last year a few Stage Races were something to do to combat my aging self!
-some things I proved are true/what I learned:
1-real fear IS completely in your head. No moment is ever really as bad as you think it is at that given moment. I had a few really scary and BAD moments on this trip, but now they are over and I can have some more!!
2-bikers are not necessarily your friends, they are other people that ride bikes. Period. Along with all the genuine and maybe not so genuine "good lucks" there were some 'why would you do THAT, it's something only pros would do'. Coming from people I have encouraged, cheered for, and even took to initial races, I feel bad for these ones because they have a lot of eye opening to occur yet in their own life! In addition, this is right on the event website:
Are most of the riders experts? NO! most are regular folks that train very hard and have the willpower to finish. It is not an easy race, but anyone who knows their body and listens to what it tells them can finish. If you go out too fast, you may not make it, so pace yourself. Plan on being on your bike for 10 or 11 hours with very few stops.
3-unfortunately, it proved that a bike event is something I will never be able to do 100% independantly, this of course is not a stunning revelation, but one that will affect some future goals.
-what I am thankful for:
1-JP offering to help me go when no one else wanted to go. Even though, at times, he probably didn't want to go!
2-good advice from racers who had done the event before.
3-being allowed to tag along at a stage race earlier in the year with the SVBC for practice.
4-lots of last minute help from the following:
-Tim Carson (pro bikes)-for getting in some last minute orders & super quick bike work.
-TJ Platt (top)-for home delivery service with a smile in our hectic last minute's of packing.
-Richie Rich/Bill Alcorn-Bikeflights.com-for getting their first ever international shipping quote for us in only a few days! Ship your bikes with Bikeflights!!
-how we did it:
1-of course the pro crowd has expected support the entire way, and amateurs wanting to finish follow suit and typically place heavy emphasis on having a support crew. (as we soon learned about every 10 feet on the course!) We knew this and knew we were not having, nor did we want, support people other than the checkpoint basics & ourselves. This was going to be a disadvantage, but we were willing to risk it. We made sure parts were new on bikes, packed as many of the common spare parts as we could and the things that didn't get packed we crossed our fingers were the right decision to make! That's how we did it.
-my afterthoughts:
-I did not expect to place well, and with all that went on, that part came true! I finished far at the back but am ok with it. I got to do what I wanted to do & the trip was worth it.
-I thought this before and I still think it now, I think it's more charactor to not have a constant support crew. It might mean you actually don't finish which would bite because it's expensive, but I think it ruins the self fulfillment portion of the challenge. I mean pro riding is different, they are guts out to get a good time against each other, but for the rest I would not feel as if I accomplished something if a carful of food and cheering was along my side the whole way? Not to mention the extra traffic was quite bothersome to the rider field. Most of the event I was riding more/less alone, lots of time to focus on myself & really challenge myself on every obstacle that came up and make it by myself. That was sweet.
-Would I do this event again? It is a great event, but hhmm, for a few reasons, probably not.
I was disappointed in the amount of road.
The RR bridge crossings were a little much for me to cope with.
I would rather do this again as a buddy system, as I will write about later on why.
-Would I do another stage race again? hhhmmm, for a few reasons, yeah most likely.
The constant go-go-go day after day is like a different time zone. Nothing matters except sleep-eat-ride-mechanics-eat-sleep-eat-ride, repeat.
So now you know all that, on to the gory details!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
La Ruta Day #4
Well, this day is supposed to be roll-out-of-the-mountains & RAIN-to-the-sunny-coast day and everything will be golden. I knew that couldn't be true and of course it was not. This is what turned out to be what seemed at the time, a string of bad scenes. Even though the climbing total was less than any other day & all bunched in the first half, it was steep gravel that went on & on & on.....in the pouring RAIN. I took all this day's climbing a little too easy not realizing how much time it was taking, but feet were sore and I thought it would be ok since the end of the day was flatter. Once at the final top, it was fast gravel/road descending in blinding pouring RAIN. I didn't see many people here or get passed much, so I figured I am pretty close to the back. agh.
This continued until we got out of the mountains & went through a huge banana plantation (a jungle in itself!) and several small 'ghetto'-like countryish towns that were scary enough you did not want to go very slow. Hoofing it through these I saw lots of racers here and there so wasn't too worried, I just tried to keep others in sight since I figured I was near the back and didn't want to get stranded out here alone for some reason.
BRIDGES!! I hit the famous railroad bridges, one after another, 6 total, each scarier than the previous. Pictures don't do these any justice, they are much sketchier than I imagined. Although local kids are running on them barefoot and I come up on lots of racers boldly walking across, I slow to a snail pace as I recheck my footing continually for fear of slipping to my real death. There are no sides on the bridges, the ties are wet, not all straight, some are rotting & some are soooo far apart I doubt my legs can reach let alone take a step towards & make it, and multiple feet below are raging muddy rapids and we all know if you survive the fall by some odd chance, downstream are waiting 15 foot crocodiles(!) I use my bike for balance with each step. Just when you think you are the end of the pack since for the last 50 miles you've seen few racers, suddenly a million people come up behind me on these and....seriously.....they NEED TO PASS! This frustrates me to no end. In their rush to cross many take the optional 'bike taxi' device across when it's available. This device sits on the tracks and is pedaled across, not much safer but faster and you don't have to walk. So the taxi wants to pass me, but there is not actual room to pass! They hold on to my sleeve so I don't fall in, I rudely state 'if I go in, so are YOU!' I really want to cross all these by myself and just take my time, but on the two big ones with the taxis I could not tolerate the bike taxi continually passing me, so on these two after about half way across I ended up jumping on it to get done. That was disappointing to do, but I really thought it passing was going to cause me to fall! The other 4 bridges had no taxi but were not soooo long so at least I got to be scared and almost crap my pants on those ones! JP later tells me he attempted to ride across all the bridges and made a few.....he insists that a bike could not possibly fall through the ties, I completely disagree along with the other 1000 peeps that walk across! Needless to say, I need to check the safetiness of rides before he is allowed to go on another one!!
So, that finally being over, back to the ghetto beach towns, riding off and on the tracks suddenly I am riding & talking with 5 costa rican-like boys. I am happy to have some people for a bit. Other than them I don't see anyone else around now. I begin to check the mileage, there should be a checkpoint at mile 64, I am at 62, I ask them if they have the same mileage and if the checkpoint is near. They report 'oh, we don't know anything about the course, we are not racers, we live here and just riding this section'. I glance at their bikes.....NO RACE PLATES(!) OMG. We were very warned to not trust or listen to locals not related to the race. The next word out of their mouths is asking me all kind of personal questions, like who I am here with, what I know about where I am riding to, etc. I get a puke feeling and try to not make it obvious as I keep checking to see if any racers are coming up behind that I can get with. No such luck. Agh. They all just passed me on the bridges! So now the mileage gets past 64 & no checkpoint, I wonder if I missed a turn again. Inside I start freaking out figuring I am now lost in the caribbean coast jungle with strangers I do not know & there is nothing I can do to fix it. And if I miss the checkpoint, I am DNF. Why am I here??? The statement, 'This was crazy' crosses my mind again.
Suddenly, an arrow!! I AM on course, but the mileage/checkpoint issue is confusing me. I make the turn and ahead I see two racers making the next turn onto the last dreaded stretch of the tracks of death that are supposed to be super bumpy and lots of miles. I take off to keep them in sight and ditch the locals ASAP. I know the end is not far off now. Once on the bumpy tracks made with cement rails I keep going as fast as I can to catch the two racers, I am looking down and look up....they are gone! huh? I can see the tracks for miles, and I see nothing else. Geez, they must have speeded up so I speed up, a little bell going off already that something is not right. I am desparate to NOT get those locals by me again, this section is deserted jungle coast, with swamps everywhere, and I am still not quite sure why I never saw mile 64 checkpoint. Not where I want to be with a group of strange boys. Eventually, a track section is covered in sand....but NO bike tracks. Oh crap. Big bells are going off now. How I have done this again?? I hesitate on backtracking, afraid of seeing the locals, but in a few minutes I see them through the swamps and they yell that I missed a turn and they will help me. I tell them NO, keep going, I will find it. I trudge back looking frantically for YELLOW arrows, scared to death the locals are backtracking too and I will be stuck with them. For the second time on the trip my eyes well up, and something I don't do often I start hysterically bawling my eyes out as I walk along. There are no racers on the tracks anywhere, there are strange animal noises everywhere, there are huge salt water swamps on both sides of the tracks, & I see no marks!! More than anything, I am now at mile 70 and wonder if I am not going to get to the finish on time on the final flipping day?!?
As I look around, one thing is nice though, the tracks parallel the ocean here and are only like ~8th of mile from it, it's all black sand & the palm trees grow right out into the waves. It was one of the prettiest calming beach scenes I ever saw. I was so happy to be getting to ride through such a wild part of nature that I otherwise would never get to do.
Ok, back to reality, look for the arrows!! Back to bawling, I look up, there is a racer!!! I RUN towards him, hysterically telling my story of getting lost & have no idea where the turn is. Thank god he is a nice guy from Belgium and has great English!! He calms me down, and points to a telephone pole right beside me.....GREEN arrows!! Geez, they switched the colors here (?), and in my defense, I am a little color blind so the green barely stood out on the dark pole. He agrees I should not be in this section alone, he is riding slow with some mechanicals & he has done the course before. He is unsure of the checkpoint issue too, but he is sure we are on course. He escorts me down the stretch of black sandyness & through the deepest salt water bogs I ever thought existed! Several miles later, ~74 miles, we hit the check, somehow it was moved but we made the time cutoff with no worries!! whew, that was close.
So, now a few more miles to the road, and then a nice finish right out to the Caribbean Sea at Limon Beach. Did I mention that it is still RAINING! Yep, the one year I do the event, even the notoriously sunny finish seems to vanish.
So, JP knows right away something happened as I got in sooo late, so he is there with my damp duffle bag & helps me get all situated for cleaning up a little and eating. We opt for the late shuttle back to San Jose which ends up being very late! We arrive to the hotel beat and hit the hay. We have a few days to relax & pack our bikes up before our flights home.
In our last few days there we tried to do a few things, but driving directions are bad here in the city areas so we didn't get much done. On one RAINY afternoon, we did a touristy hike around Paos Volcanoe, which is 'transitional forest', it was ok but we would have like to do a lot more with the time we had. During our trip home, we repeatedly said:
'never again'
'too much aggrevation for a bike ride'
'too stressful'
'jp has to worry too much about my bike stuff that he can't spend time on himself'
Needless to say, now all recovered, we are already planning a next adventure to somewhere! hehe.
This continued until we got out of the mountains & went through a huge banana plantation (a jungle in itself!) and several small 'ghetto'-like countryish towns that were scary enough you did not want to go very slow. Hoofing it through these I saw lots of racers here and there so wasn't too worried, I just tried to keep others in sight since I figured I was near the back and didn't want to get stranded out here alone for some reason.
BRIDGES!! I hit the famous railroad bridges, one after another, 6 total, each scarier than the previous. Pictures don't do these any justice, they are much sketchier than I imagined. Although local kids are running on them barefoot and I come up on lots of racers boldly walking across, I slow to a snail pace as I recheck my footing continually for fear of slipping to my real death. There are no sides on the bridges, the ties are wet, not all straight, some are rotting & some are soooo far apart I doubt my legs can reach let alone take a step towards & make it, and multiple feet below are raging muddy rapids and we all know if you survive the fall by some odd chance, downstream are waiting 15 foot crocodiles(!) I use my bike for balance with each step. Just when you think you are the end of the pack since for the last 50 miles you've seen few racers, suddenly a million people come up behind me on these and....seriously.....they NEED TO PASS! This frustrates me to no end. In their rush to cross many take the optional 'bike taxi' device across when it's available. This device sits on the tracks and is pedaled across, not much safer but faster and you don't have to walk. So the taxi wants to pass me, but there is not actual room to pass! They hold on to my sleeve so I don't fall in, I rudely state 'if I go in, so are YOU!' I really want to cross all these by myself and just take my time, but on the two big ones with the taxis I could not tolerate the bike taxi continually passing me, so on these two after about half way across I ended up jumping on it to get done. That was disappointing to do, but I really thought it passing was going to cause me to fall! The other 4 bridges had no taxi but were not soooo long so at least I got to be scared and almost crap my pants on those ones! JP later tells me he attempted to ride across all the bridges and made a few.....he insists that a bike could not possibly fall through the ties, I completely disagree along with the other 1000 peeps that walk across! Needless to say, I need to check the safetiness of rides before he is allowed to go on another one!!
So, that finally being over, back to the ghetto beach towns, riding off and on the tracks suddenly I am riding & talking with 5 costa rican-like boys. I am happy to have some people for a bit. Other than them I don't see anyone else around now. I begin to check the mileage, there should be a checkpoint at mile 64, I am at 62, I ask them if they have the same mileage and if the checkpoint is near. They report 'oh, we don't know anything about the course, we are not racers, we live here and just riding this section'. I glance at their bikes.....NO RACE PLATES(!) OMG. We were very warned to not trust or listen to locals not related to the race. The next word out of their mouths is asking me all kind of personal questions, like who I am here with, what I know about where I am riding to, etc. I get a puke feeling and try to not make it obvious as I keep checking to see if any racers are coming up behind that I can get with. No such luck. Agh. They all just passed me on the bridges! So now the mileage gets past 64 & no checkpoint, I wonder if I missed a turn again. Inside I start freaking out figuring I am now lost in the caribbean coast jungle with strangers I do not know & there is nothing I can do to fix it. And if I miss the checkpoint, I am DNF. Why am I here??? The statement, 'This was crazy' crosses my mind again.
Suddenly, an arrow!! I AM on course, but the mileage/checkpoint issue is confusing me. I make the turn and ahead I see two racers making the next turn onto the last dreaded stretch of the tracks of death that are supposed to be super bumpy and lots of miles. I take off to keep them in sight and ditch the locals ASAP. I know the end is not far off now. Once on the bumpy tracks made with cement rails I keep going as fast as I can to catch the two racers, I am looking down and look up....they are gone! huh? I can see the tracks for miles, and I see nothing else. Geez, they must have speeded up so I speed up, a little bell going off already that something is not right. I am desparate to NOT get those locals by me again, this section is deserted jungle coast, with swamps everywhere, and I am still not quite sure why I never saw mile 64 checkpoint. Not where I want to be with a group of strange boys. Eventually, a track section is covered in sand....but NO bike tracks. Oh crap. Big bells are going off now. How I have done this again?? I hesitate on backtracking, afraid of seeing the locals, but in a few minutes I see them through the swamps and they yell that I missed a turn and they will help me. I tell them NO, keep going, I will find it. I trudge back looking frantically for YELLOW arrows, scared to death the locals are backtracking too and I will be stuck with them. For the second time on the trip my eyes well up, and something I don't do often I start hysterically bawling my eyes out as I walk along. There are no racers on the tracks anywhere, there are strange animal noises everywhere, there are huge salt water swamps on both sides of the tracks, & I see no marks!! More than anything, I am now at mile 70 and wonder if I am not going to get to the finish on time on the final flipping day?!?
As I look around, one thing is nice though, the tracks parallel the ocean here and are only like ~8th of mile from it, it's all black sand & the palm trees grow right out into the waves. It was one of the prettiest calming beach scenes I ever saw. I was so happy to be getting to ride through such a wild part of nature that I otherwise would never get to do.
Ok, back to reality, look for the arrows!! Back to bawling, I look up, there is a racer!!! I RUN towards him, hysterically telling my story of getting lost & have no idea where the turn is. Thank god he is a nice guy from Belgium and has great English!! He calms me down, and points to a telephone pole right beside me.....GREEN arrows!! Geez, they switched the colors here (?), and in my defense, I am a little color blind so the green barely stood out on the dark pole. He agrees I should not be in this section alone, he is riding slow with some mechanicals & he has done the course before. He is unsure of the checkpoint issue too, but he is sure we are on course. He escorts me down the stretch of black sandyness & through the deepest salt water bogs I ever thought existed! Several miles later, ~74 miles, we hit the check, somehow it was moved but we made the time cutoff with no worries!! whew, that was close.
So, now a few more miles to the road, and then a nice finish right out to the Caribbean Sea at Limon Beach. Did I mention that it is still RAINING! Yep, the one year I do the event, even the notoriously sunny finish seems to vanish.
So, JP knows right away something happened as I got in sooo late, so he is there with my damp duffle bag & helps me get all situated for cleaning up a little and eating. We opt for the late shuttle back to San Jose which ends up being very late! We arrive to the hotel beat and hit the hay. We have a few days to relax & pack our bikes up before our flights home.
In our last few days there we tried to do a few things, but driving directions are bad here in the city areas so we didn't get much done. On one RAINY afternoon, we did a touristy hike around Paos Volcanoe, which is 'transitional forest', it was ok but we would have like to do a lot more with the time we had. During our trip home, we repeatedly said:
'never again'
'too much aggrevation for a bike ride'
'too stressful'
'jp has to worry too much about my bike stuff that he can't spend time on himself'
Needless to say, now all recovered, we are already planning a next adventure to somewhere! hehe.
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