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The Steamroller

Cory Wallace / 14.11.2008

Under blue sky’s the riders entered day 2 of La Ruta and were immediately treated to a very steep 10 km off-camber climb. After 3 flats and suffering hardcore the day before I managed to stick with the leaders through the opening climb and witnessed the two leaders (Paola Montoya and Fredrico Ramirez) ride away from the pack as if it was standing still. These two Ticos proved to everyone, including Thomas Dietch (3rd overall last year) and climbing legend Roberto Heras, that they are in a league of there own. Within 30 seconds these 2 riders were out of sight and on to a 1 (Montoya) 2 (Rodriguez) finish.

After the sufferfest that Day 1 was, the stage today was a lot shorter at 75 km, but with 4050m of vertical on steep (12%) to very, very steep climbs (21%) the riders were in no way in for an easy spin. Throughout the day riders stuck much closer together and I found myself anywhere from 8th to 13th as riders would fade and then reappear again. Asides from the epic climbs, this day was pretty tame as most of the ride took place over paved and gravel roads through some spectacular scenery just south of Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose.

One of the reasons why many riders travel a long way for this race is that it is never boring, one never knows what may be around the next corner. Chasing a Tico down the last decent I came around a corner to find a one-way bridge with a steamroller coming across. My Tico competitor must have slid through just in time as he wasn’t implanted into the pavement - but I had little choice but to hit the thickly vegetated ditch. The next problem came at an intersection at which a semi was parked in the direction sign and many riders were sent off on a tour up into the next village before being turned around by the locals.

As for tomorrow, it is a La Ruta classic as the riders will ascend 32 km up Volcan Irazu followed by a 28 km descent through disastrous conditions of mud, rocks, cows and sketchy course markings. In the past this day has always had a huge effect on the overall race results as riders either make the cut or get swamped from the fatigue that has built up over the first 2 days.

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