Red Bull, Mud and Montezuma’s Revenge - one story of La Ruta

November 28, 2007 on 6:39 pm | In Mountain Bike Racing |

As I reflected on the week long trip to Costa Rica during the final flight in to Columbus, I was quite surprised, even amazed how well everything had worked out. I would certainly have expected at least one or two major glitches, with a minor catastrophe thrown in to mix it up. However, the trip had gone almost too easily. That was until I could no longer ignore the grumblings, cramps and pains coming from my abdomen, followed by the first of many trips to the bathroom in the rear of the plane, but more on that later.

This year marked the 15th anniversary of La Ruta de los Conquistadores, a now legendary mountain bike race that traces the route of the conquistadors across Costa Rica from the Pacific to the Caribbean Ocean. La Ruta is widely known as the toughest mountain bike race in the world, and this year was the first year it would be a 4 day race instead of 3. The extra day was an additional stage, not just the original distance now spread over 4 days. The additional stage ended up being the 2nd hardest day.

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