La Ruta de los Conquistadores
Back For La Ruta Again
Cory Wallace / 12.11.2008
Tomorrow morning at 3am the alarm clocks will go off and 420 racers from 30 countries will embark on a 4 day, 380 km ride across Costa Rica. This will be the 16th edition of La Ruta and it promises to be full of hurt as all the Perennial favourites from Costa Rica are here including last year's winner Federico (Lico) Ramirez and Paolo Montoya (the 2004 winner). Over half the field is invading Costa Rica from foreign lands too challenge the Costa Ricans with Tour de France superstar Roberto Heras, and past Marathon World Champion Thomas Dietch headlining this bunch.
For myself this is my second time at La Ruta, last year finishing 13th overall I returned to what I consider one of the most complete bike races on earth. Apart from the endless climbing (14 000 m), almond butter type mud, and the muggy climate the riders need to deal with railroad tracks, loose dogs, herds of stubborn cattle as well as ridiculous Costa Rican traffic. Tomorrow is no doubt the most difficult day for most riders as many suffer to acclimatize and the amount of steep climbs and the hike-a-bike sections through the jungle tend to decimate the field.
How do you prepare for La Ruta? To start with you can ride your bike inside with a down coat on and the heat blasting to try and get used to the heat. For climbing try biking up a highway overpass (7 m) 2000 times and for descending ride down a mogulled black diamond run at a ski hill with 1.5 ft of fresh snow trying to dodge herds of moose as they stumble out of the woods. For the mud toss dirt in your eyes and rip around a cattle yard after it has just rained chasing down a young steer to simulate race pace. If a rider does all this they will have half the battle aced, the rest is up to the flip of a coin ...
Some highlights from the press conference this year include the initiation of serious doping control, a crackdown on outside help to all riders, especially locals who in the past had received large advantages from this as well as the notification that next years race will be 5 days long, have virtually no paved sections and entry for only 300 riders.
As for now its off for some shut eye as the fireworks are 9 hrs away ...
SleepMonsters
