• Mountain
• News

La Ruta: Mud, mechanicals, misgivings … and a strong repeat business

by VeloNews.com

• November 14, 2007
• Comments Off

Ramirez, Haywood take opener

By Fred Dreier

Each of this year’s 520 participants will receive the famous yellow gear bag

Photo: Fred Dreier

Andy Rollin says he still has nightmares about his muddy introduction to Costa Rica’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores. In 2005, the 45-year-old from Golden, Colorado, found himself bogged down on the opening stage from Jaco to El Rodeo. Thick mud clung to his rig. He snapped his chain four times and suffered a flat tire. The disasters set the tone for the remainder of the race, and while he finished, the mid-pack result was below his standards.

“It was a flat nine miles of muddy jungle that just ruined the bike,” said Rollin. “Nothing worked right for the rest of [the race].”

Rollin says he has come back to La Ruta for 2007 to right the wrongs of that first experience. He believes the disasters from 2005 taught him a thing or two about racing Central America’s most infamous mountain-bike event, which, thanks to the addition of a fourth stage, boasts its longest, toughest parcours in history.

“I’m definitely walking and carrying my bike on sections that I would have tried to ride before,” said Rollin. “I’m listening to the bike. If something’s wrong, it probably needs to be fixed.”

Rob Quinn of Denver, Colorado, rode La Ruta in 2003, and after finishing, swore he would never do it again. After racing in Colorado for four seasons, Quinn says he was coerced to return by his Jefferson County riding buddies.

For this year, however, he’s doing a few things differently — namely, not relying on the race organization to handle his personal belongings.

“This year we hired our own truck with our own guide to haul our stuff. [In 2003] you’d finish and be sitting around in your wet shorts for an hour waiting for your stuff to come,” said Quinn. “It’s awesome to have a guy waiting for you at the finish line with a fresh pair of shorts and a cold beer.”

[nid:41404]James Love, a 37-year-old engineer from Albuquerque, New Mexico, is also back for a second crack at La Ruta. Love first rode the event in 2006, and while he didn’t face any mechanical calamities, he was one of the 239 of 483 starters not to finish the first day. He finished the remaining two stages, but caught a stomach virus on the final stage into Limon. The bug sidelined Love for the remainder of his vacation.

“I’m pretty cautious about what I eat and drink this time around,” said Love. “There’s some things you can’t plan for. We rode miles through one giant cow pie. You gotta figure it was pretty easy to pick something up after that.”

Repeat business at La Ruta has helped the race boast its biggest numbers ever. For 2007, the event is celebrating its 15th birthday with a starting list of nearly 600 athletes from across the globe. It’s the second consecutive year in which foreign riders have outnumbered local Ticos.

Some riders come to escape the cooling temperatures up north; others pursue the challenge that La Ruta represents. The race markets itself as the world’s toughest mountain-bike race — a boast that many finishers say is simple fact.

Jonathan Nutbrown of Calgary, Alberta, completed his first La Ruta in 2006. The 26-year-old is a two-time finisher of British Columbia’s seven-stage TransRockies Challenge and a regular on Canada’s endurance and ultra-endurance mountain-bike scene. He cited the hellacious day-one haul as his reason for coming back.

“I think a lot of people come here to test their limits,” Nutbrown said. “Last year the first stage itself was, by far, the hardest thing I had ever done. I guess I came back to have that experience again.”

The anticipation of that challenge could be seen on the faces of riders lining up for race registration at the Best Western hotel in Jaco Beach, the race headquarters. Worried stares abounded among those making last-minute adjustments to their gear.

“I admit it, I’m a bit freaked out — everything I’ve heard makes this thing sound tough,” said Gabe Carbajal of Phoenix, Arizona. “I just want it to start now.”

With the race boasting a fourth day and a full entry list, race promoters raised the registration fee to $999 for 2007. The added price still puts La Ruta some $700 to $800 cheaper than North America’s other two stage races, the TransRockies Challenge and the BC Bike Race. La Ruta does offer several additional services, including mechanic and massage. Including airfare, hotel fees and transportation fees, many North American athletes estimated their total costs in the $2500 to $3000 range.

“This year I’m going all out, I paid for the jersey and the [mechanical] service — it’s worth it,” Rollin said. “It’s my vacation. I mean, I’m going to Costa Rica to race. I want to do it right.”

Ramirez, Haywood dominate opener
Fedrico Ramirez of Costa Rica and American Susan Haywood (Trek-Volkwagen) won the opening stage of the 2007 La Ruta de los Conquistadores. The 59-mile trek from Jaco Beach to the El Rodeo ranch included nearly 15,000 feet of climbing. Riders hit the tarmac promptly at 5:10 a.m.

Ramirez, La Ruta’s only three-time victor, and Costa Rican Polo Montoya separated themselves from Swiss Sandro Spaeth (Texner-BMC) and Frenchman Thomas Dietsch (Bianchi-Agos), Americans Bart Gillespie and Jason Sager (both Monavie-Cannondale) and Canadians Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain-Haywood) and Kris Sneddon (Kona-Les Gets) on the first muddy descent.

Ramirez dropped Montoya midway through the 59-mile trek for the win. A resurgent Dietsch later rejoined Montoya; however, cramps on the final climb into El Rodeo relegated the Frenchman to third. Spaeth picked up fourth place, and a late-charging Tinker Juarez (Cannondale) crossed the line as the top American in seventh.

Sneddon and Plaxton both struggled with stomach issues, and both admitted they suffered on the climbs, not having brought a 22-tooth granny gear.

Haywood, who won the 2007 TransRockies Challenge alongside Hillary Harrison, is a newcomer to Costa Rica’s most famous stage race. The 36-year-old West Virginian crossed the line with a 16-minute advantage on three-time La Ruta champion Louise Kobin (Sho-Air).

Haywood is racing on a borrowed Trek hardtail — Taca airlines lost the American’s racing bike on her flight from Washington, D.C. Haywood said the bike fits well, although it is a small and she generally races on a medium frame.