La Ruta

La Ruta de los Conquistadores

Lester Pardoe represented Chipotle-Tius in the 15th editions of La Ruta this week. This epic adventure is a 4 day stage race that crosses Costa Rica from the east coast to the west coast. It is famous for it's hours of hike a bike, jungle heat, mud & steep climbs. Lester sent us posts from day 1 & 2 - & then had no energy to communicate. He finished the 360 km race with a GC placing of 114th in the masters. Total "ride" time was 34 hours, 23 minutes!

Day  1:  about 100 km with 4400 meters of climb (14500 feet) and unfortunately not nearly as much down. A jungle is a great place to be when you are sweaty and it is 90 degrees and 90 % humidity! I proudly ended up in last place at 8km after a mechanical issue. I had to turn myself inside out in order to make to the first check point before cut off & only made it by 6 min. Ended up almost bonking or heat stroke a little bit in the middle of the day, recovered and had a great  climb at the end. Cruised in in 11 hrs and some change...actual ride time according to the bike  computer was 8 hrs and change.  Ended up about 2/3 of the way through the pack. The  "highlight" - 10 km hike a bike for 2hrs in mud. Peak temp  was 41C.

Day 2: 75 km, 3600 meters climb (11,000 ft)
Legs felt like lead for the first 35 km, and then at the base of the 10 mile climb they felt much better, and rode well until the 3/4 km hike a bike at the end, that involved knee deep mud and vertical slopes The ride was beautiful; ridge lines and great downhills, the climbs...._ honestly the steepest things I have ever done.  I did not know it was possible to ride a bike uphill at 3.5 km/hr and not fall over.  Weather was good sun stayed in today. This stage has a lot of big climbs & 20% of the field missed the time cut & was eliminated.

Day 3: 67 km
This was a big day with the climb up the Irazo volcano. The weather was as usual - rain - but now it was freezing cold instead of sweltering.

Day 4: 120 km - to the beach
The 4th stage is mostly downhill but far from easy. After the descent there are miles of railroad track to test your suspension system & long railroad bridges that need to be walked. Lester moved up to 107th master on this stage.

306 km, over 34 hours. That is an epic adventure!