La Ruta de los Conquistadores
Costa Rica, November 17- 19, 2000
Jan Bear

Billed as the toughest mountain bike race on the planet, I figured that I should give it a shot. This year's race was scheduled for November 17-19, 2000 beginning in Punta Leona on the pacific coast and ending in Limon on the Caribbean coast covering three hundred miles of the volcanic country of Costa Rica.

My trip began on 11/15 leaving for San Jose, Costa Rica from Santa Fe, NM and arriving finally at the hotel in San Jose at about 1 AM on 11/16. The trip through customs went smoothly and my Litespeed bike arrived with me. After a couple hours of sleep it was time to get up, put the bike together and make sure everything was working well before loading it into a truck for shipment to Punta Leona.

My trip to Punta Leona began at about 10 AM with arrival at about 1 PM, but unfortunately I could not check into the hotel until 3 PM. Then it was time to go to the pre-race meeting at 5 PM, off to dinner at 6 PM and then to bed after again going over equipment and my bike one last time.

The first day began at 3:30 AM with a small breakfast then the race start at 5 AM. The first day's route was from the coast back towards San Jose in rain forest with lots of climbing; my altimeter recorded 11,260 feet. The temperatures hovered around 90 degrees with very high humidity, rain and 20-30 stream crossings and tons of MUD. It was a true grind that never seemed to end, for me it lasted 10 hours and 39 minutes, making me the 75 finisher of the day.

Then a post-race meal and bus trip to the hotel in San Jose. Shower and off to bed because it was already 10 PM. The second day's stage began right outside the hotel in downtown San Jose at 6 AM and headed directly towards the highest points in Costa Rica the Irazu volcano with an elevation of about 10,000 feet.

The stage start in San Jose is at about 2000 feet which doesn't sound too bad until you add constant rain and winds up to 45 MPH making the climb down right miserable. Many racers dropped due to hypothermia. After reaching the top of the climb, it was a 4,000 feet decent down VERY, VERY steep volcanic roads with more stream crossings and wading through standing water above knee level that may be 50 yards long. This stage ended in the town of Turrialba after an 8 hour and 30 minute ride; I was the 95th finisher of the day. The total elevation climb this day was 8,200 feet.

Time to eat then to a dorm at the agricultural college in Catie. The third day began with an early breakfast and the race began in Catie at 6:30 AM. We began with ascents and descents for several hours, about 2,500 feet of elevation gain. Next were the bone rattling flats which lasted a few hours and finally the railroad trestles and tracks which went on and on until the race for me ended in Limon 10 hours and 30 minutes later. I had been sick all day visiting several bathrooms of the locals along the route, couldn't eat and drinking was difficult but I survived the day and finished in a total time of 29 hours and 35 minutes to finish 3rd in the 45-49 year age group. A quick shower then on the bus for the return to San Jose a 2 and hour drive. I still could not eat or drink so I just went to bed.

The next day I slowly recovered and ate and by the mid afternoon I felt relatively OK. We went to a local Pizza Hut for food; I was craving junk food. Back to the race, my equipment performed flawlessly, the Litespeed Unicoi ran smoothly despite my minimal tune-ups each evening after the day's stage. My CamelBak held everything I needed, Phils Bars and JogMate and lots of tools, clothes and bug spray. I fell twice in the race and Cratoni kept my head safe despite my brain function being questionable.

The next couple days were reserved for a trip to the rainforest with its Iguana raising program, a Canopy Tour and finally a raft ride down the Picaure River. Thanksgiving was a travel day back to the US that went very smoothly, in fact so well that I made Thanksgiving dinner at my brother in-law's in Albuquerque. I was thankful to be back in New Mexico!

 

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This segment teammate, Slate Stern, trains for North Pole adventure

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