ARWC2014 By Team Ducati Bicycle Rideaway

Emma Forsell / 23.12.2013

Our biggest project of the year is over.

We travelled border to border and coast to coast in one of most toughest and most extraordinary races we have experienced. We missed 4 sections of the race but still managed to hold on and get ourselves over the finish line.

For us the race began when we made the decision to go to the World Champs.

The year has been a tricky road, with narrow turns and sometimes also dead ends. A lot of unexpected things, conflicts and dropouts made our preparation more stressful and energy consuming than we planned for. At a few points we were considering cancelling our dream, but made the decision to follow it through and make the very best out of it.

Just to get to Costa Rica, was a race itself.  We were so overwhelmed at the airport with the amount of people that were there to greet us.  It was with this support on arrival that we knew we had made the right decision.  We were happy to be on spot and ready to start the big adventure of our dreams.

The first day on the course … was a mess.  Our heads and bodies were not ready to race as we still were in project mode and not focused on our task of moving forward in the race. This cost us a lot of important time and distance to the rest of the competing teams. 

The first section was a mud fest, with more than 10 hours of steep climbing in narrow bush trails we carried our bikes all covered in mud. The navigation was at a level we had never experienced before. The maps were over 30 years old, and reality did very often not match the charts. It took us quite some time to navigate with a mind set 30 years back, where roads would have been and also be very precise on the compass direction. The mud gave our bikes a tough wake-up call of what was to come during these 9 days.

When we finally reached TA1, our bikes were a mess and we were far, far behind. We are talking around 20 hours from the leading team. The change of discipline gave us a lift and a new spirit to continue and we decided to rest for an hour before putting the kayaks in the river.

Another team had just turned around and came back to TA1, due to the darkness out on the river and got cut-off before we entered the water. They warned us for strong current and crocodiles. Only two teams ahead of us had entered the water in darkness. One was the leading team Sea ate and the other one this Costa Rican team which had just came back.  We knew we had good lights and confidence so we made the decision to get in to the water and start paddling.

We paddled with red crocodile eyes in the water and heard crocodiles tails splashing in the darkness (this is not scary for a second) before missing out on the tide and got stranded on the beach. Now night had turned to morning and we were stuck for a few hours before getting out on the open water.

After a full day of paddling the night hit us still out on the kayak section paddling along the coastline of southern Costa Rica.  We turned off our headlamps and enjoyed the mountain silhouette and glittery plankton in the water. We soon discovered that we were not alone on the water, we were escorted by dolphins! After some time around us they started to show off, jumping and spinning and it looked like they enjoyed the show as much as we did. Flying fish jumped in and out of our boats, in the beginning they really scared us coming out of nowhere but after a few fishes in our lap we got used to them. 

After around 55 hours of racing the race organisation decided to make a cut-off and move us ahead to the next bike section.  At this point we thought we would be taken out of the race, but with a spontaneous cut-off we really appreciated that they let us continue.

We biked up to TA8, where the long hike up Chirrpo was going to start.  During this period Anna got a really sick stomach and we worked hard to keep up the speed and the effort to catch up.

Anna entered our team 1.5 months before departure to Costa Rica and was now really starting to feel the reality of adventure racing. To get sick is tough and hurts but unfortunately there is only one way in a race and that is forward. We felt like we had gotten a second chance in the race and did our best to make her better as soon as possible.

When waking up after the 4 hours mandatory rest at TA8, packed and ready to start the hike, the organisation told us bad weather was coming in and highly advised us not to start the long trekking. The other teams had been told the same, and also if we started hiking, our race would be over when finishing the hike.

There were mixed feelings about this decision as we had been looking forward to the hike but didn’t feel like ending the race with it. At this point we had so much more to give and wanted to explore more of the country.

We and 12 other teams stayed at TA8 before being transported to the rafting section, a two day long wait! In a way it felt like we was about to start a new race within the race. During this time, we had the luck to get our bikes fixed, as 3 out of 4 had 1 gear each when arriving the night before. John from Team AXA Adidas became our hero, with his expertise and support. He managed to fix the 3 bikes and we started to feel that we might manage the last 100 km bike ride, hopefully without too much hassle.

The rafting was an adrenalin section, we paddled through rapids of class 3 and 4. It was a great re-start and we felt strong again, eager to continue the course.  We were a little bit disappointed about being 10 rafts in the river, but as we guessed this section turned out to be a transport section to get all the teams out on the course again.

After rafting we pumped the kayaks and headed out on an 89 km paddling mission, that turned out to be one of our best sections in the race.

We had good speed, great atmosphere and stunning nature around us. Once again we saw red eyes in the water and heard a lot of noise coming from the jungle. We paddled all night, with 1 sleeping and 3 paddling at some points to keep the rhythm and move forward.

Just before the sunrise, we heard hundreds of monkey’s screaming over the channels and we were stoked to be in the middle of this spectacular act.  When reaching the checkpoint at the beach on the Caribbean side, we cracked a coconut and high fived.

When entering TA10 we deflated the kayaks and started the 18 km hike to the bikes.  We started with knee deep mud trekking before coming out on the country side roads. The heat was insane, 36 degrees and no wind and very limited spots of shade.

We stopped at a local store for a cold coke and some foot treatment. Emma discovered some bad rashes on her ankles and a strong itch up her legs. She started feeling dizzy but and kept going.  When reaching the TA11 she needed medical treatment as the allergic reaction had increased all over her legs.

Tanja and Linnea got injections as well as they showed signs of rashes, to be safe for the last section before the finish line.

After some food and an hour rest, we got on the bikes ready to reach the Nicaraguan border. vJust 10 minutes after we left a snake came to our sleeping spot. The staff had to kill it and found it full of poison. Imagine waking up with a snake crawling around you… Lucky us we had left in time.

We teamed up with another team after being told we would enter an unsafe area and it would be good to stay together with more people. Afterward we heard that apparently the criminals had an agreement with the tourist board of Costa Rica about leaving the competitors alone, which we were very grateful for.

 The last bike ride was tough. The mud got in our way and ruined our bikes once again, stones and rocky roads made our hands and arms go numb, the heat and temperature of 34 degrees mixed with unrealistic maps made some parts of the navigation a challenge.

But with only 30 km of the race to go we got told the last checkpoint  that the canopy/rafting section was cancelled due to the darkness and the organisation asked us to go straight to the finish line.

We got a little bit confused when meeting other teams that had not received the same information, but we had an idea of why they made us cut-off the last checkpoints.

When arriving at the finish line there were other teams around, journalists and photographers.  [Ed; They arrived during the race party which was taking place on the football field where the finish was set up.]

It was a bit surreal really and we got the idea that they wanted us to reach the finish before midnight, by which time all the people would have gone home - which would have been the case it we had gone for the last check points.

People cheered us on, applauded and welcomed us. They were very happy we had made it and so were we! After 9 long days on the course the finish line was a more than welcome. A sight we had imagined for many months finally became true.

Even though we got cut-off at some sections we played by the rules the organisation set up for us.  We were far from the only team missing sections and we were not the first team to get a cut-off during the race. 

We finished the Costa Rican challenge the best way we could, together as a team. Just like we had said from start, we were there to challenge ourselves and fight the course as a team, crossing the finish line as a team.

We did not come to race against Thule, Seagate or Haglöfs/Silva but to learn from them. We came here for the same reason as many other teams in the race –to explore the country and be a part of the world’s toughest competition.  To watch and learn from the more experienced teams, get inspired to develop as individuals and as a team within the sport.

We also added some variation to the race, which has been very positively received by the media and race supporters. We are very happy to see how many people are following us!  That support that means a great deal to us and that has given us lots of energy out on the course.

We love to race, we love to explore and we love to push the limits.

Our minds and bodies are keen on revenge as we have learned a lot from this experience, but first we are going to have a white Christmas and relax.

­

See All Stories On This Race