Coast to Coast Adventure Race
Stage 2: Cycling through the jungle
Jackie Windh / 01.03.2006
I drove around with some of the race crew to PC4 – a cable crossing over a small but deeply canyoned river. Race instructions fore-warned teams that they might have to wait here some time, if they arrived while another team was using the cables – the deliberate bottlenecks that Mike had programmed into the race.
POZO AZUL – MUNDO AVENTURA (CR) arrived first – at 8:31 pm, just one minute ahead of AVENTURAS DE SARAPIQUI. I am not sure when they moved ahead of BATTERY, but they only passed SARAPIQUI about 5 km back – they must have been aware of the strategic advantage that they would have, not having to wait for anyone at the cable.
Oh, how I wished I could see where we were, and what they were doing! It was pitch black, as one by one the team members hooked up and crossed the river, sending their bikes across two by two. This is a cable that has been set up by the locals – their typical way of getting across the river. A local man showed up on our side, waiting for his wife. She arrived on the other side when only two of POZO AZUL’s members had made it across, and they had to stop their own crossing to let her by (seems locals get priority here). She got stuck halfway, but Captain Franklin Chavarria glided out to her rescue and brought her safely home. Between rescuing the Senora, and a few problems with tangled cables, POZO AZUL took about an hour to get themselves and their gear across, as SARAPIQUI waited impatiently for their turn on the cable – by then BATTERY had arrived too, and were taking advantage of the rest period that they would have while awaiting their turn on the cable.
SARAPIQUI were great on the cables, and had their whole team as well as the bikes across to the other side in a matter of minutes. Team NEMO arrived around 10:00 pm, the first international team past. They are a really cheerful team, and as usual they showed up in great spirits, in spite of a wound in Julie’s butt from a dog-bite sustained while riding.
ROCK N’ROAD CYCLE passed through at some time in the middle of the night (while I was sound asleep in my tent!), and then, at 6:20 am I awoke to the sound of wheels and brakes and voices shouting “CARIBE has arrived! Good morning!�. While I was packing up, ready to head to the next TA (where I will do a portion of the hike with the teams), the last two teams TEAM TOW and THE GOPPERS came in, both looking tired but with smiles on their faces. All three of these teams had stopped to sleep – a decision that Race Director Mike Lapcevic said was very wise for any teams who want to finish this race.
It was great to have some light in the morning, to be able to see where we actually were – a little canyon about 10 m deep, with steep muddy banks almost vertical, held together by the dense jungly mass of trees and vines. I woke up to the sound of howling, so I was convinced that there were howler monkeys all around, but the locals tell me that they were wild pigs. As I packed my gear into the truck, a toucan flew right over us.
I am now at the TA in the village of Horquetas. The three lead Tico teams had already passed through when I got here, and ROCK N’ROAD has arrived as I have been typing. There is a rumour that SARAPIQUI missed one of the PCs (there are a few unmanned PCs, where teams must drop a laminated card in a locked box, as well as take a digital picture of themselves at the spot). Apparently they couldn’t find the box in the dark. If this is true, it will be a big blow to them – they are a strong team, an amalgamation of some of the strongest racers in this country, and they clearly had their sights on a win here.
ROCK N’ROAD expect to be here for about an hour and a half (taking advantage of the warm meals and coffee available here), so I will head out on the trail with them. This next hike is something like 40 km, mostly on faint trails through the jungle. I will do the first half with them – very exciting for me, as I have not spent much time in tropical environments! I am passing this file and photos on to others from the race organization to post for me... will write again after the hike.
SleepMonsters
