La Ruta de los Conquistadores serves up adventure aplenty
By Jamie BatePublished Oct. 30, 2012Updated 13 hours ago
JACO, Costa Rica (VN) — When the notion of racing a mountain bike across Costa Rica was conjured up 20 years ago it was about more than riding a bike; it was about the adventure to be had between the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Adventure and then some is exactly what 500 riders will have in store starting Thursday when they set out from the Pacific coast town of Jaco en route to Limon on the Caribbean three days later during the 20th running of La Ruta de los Conquistadores.
“I feel La Ruta is like the Paris Dakar (rally) on a bike,” said Roman Urbina, the race founder. “It is held in a developing nation, which will not stop because of a race — no matter how important. So riders have to adapt and be careful with traffic. There are many factors riders have to overcome to make it to the finish line.”
Traffic in a mountain bike race? Yep, an full-on Central American traffic at that. But Mother Nature will also be on hand to help kick butt on the 161-mile trek.
Expect thick jungle mud, climatic changes from 90 percent humidity and 90-100 degrees to subfreezing temperatures on the side of a 10,000-foot-plus volcano. Then there are the long stage distances, climbing, descending, river crossings and hike-a-bike sections.
All that, said Alex Grant, a two-time La Ruta runner-up, is what makes La Ruta different than the shredding of singletrack in the Northern Hemisphere.
“You have to look at it as an adventure, an epic point-to-point across Costa Rica,” Grant said.
La Ruta is not about riding IMBA-approved mountain bike trails, he said.
“In fact,” he said, “there are virtually none. It’s an incredibly challenging route across the country.”
And that’s why defending La Ruta champ Todd Wells is returning after 2011, his first and only attempt at what’s been dubbed “one of the toughest endurance races” on the planet.
“I like the fact that in La Ruta you actually ride somewhere other then just in circles. It is very different from the events I normally compete in,” Wells said. “Who wouldn’t want to do a race that crosses an entire country; starts at the Pacific Ocean, ends in the Caribbean and is only three days?”
It all harkens back to the roots of mountain biking, Grant said: “Exploration, where you took out a map and said, ‘I am going to try to get from here to here.’ Along the way you get to experience Costa Rica in a way that you never would otherwise.”
And this year is no exception. When Urbina first staged La Ruta he decided that the biking adventure should also have some kind of aquatic aspect, as Spanish conquistadors crossed from ocean to sea on the country’s many rivers. So the early years of La Ruta included rafting as well as riding. Over the ensuing decades the rafting was dropped and the three-day format turned to four.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary, Urbina has dropped a day and brought rafting back, a feature that likely will last just this year. Stage three will start with riders trading bikes for rafts, followed by the official start of the final stage.
“We will have a section of rafting, which will not be mandatory but highly suggested since the Pacuare River is considered one of the five greatest rafting rivers on the planet,” Urbina said.
Riders not interested in hitting the rapids can shuttle to the midday race start. As for Grant, he said he isn’t sure about hitting the rapids, even though it sounds like fun. But it is La Ruta, and one never knows what will occur.
“If for some reason something happens and it looks like I am well off of the podium after the first two days maybe I will see if they have room [in a raft],” Grant said. “I have heard it’s one of the coolest rafting experiences anywhere.”
La Ruta 2012 November 1-3
Distance: 161 miles / 259km
Elevation gain: 20,000+ feet
Stage 1, 68 miles: Herradua to Universidad para la Paz. Elevation gain for the day is approximately 12,000 feet.
Stage 2, 49 miles: Tres Rios to Turrialba. The day includes about 6,000 feet of climbing up the Irazú Volcano, where the riders will top out at about 10,000 feet. What follows is one of the gnarliest jeep-road descents to the finish.
Stage 3, 44 miles: Siqurries to Limon. The day includes the option to raft the Pacuare River. When the rafting is done, the riding will start,. The course includes La Ruta’s two notorious train-trestle river crossings.
Notable names:
Defending La Ruta champ Todd Wells (USA)
Multiple-time champ Federico “Lico” Ramirez (Costa Rica)
Two-time runner-up Alex Grant (USA)
Louis Leao Pinto (Portugal)
Defending women’s champ Adriana Rojas (Costa Rica)
Pua Mata (USA)
Sonya Looney (USA)
TOP TEN ELITE MEN // TOP TEN ELITE MASCULINO:
1. Paolo Montoya (CRC) 05:01:19
2. Todd Wells (USA) +02:08
3. Alex Grant (USA) +10:01
4. Deiber Esquivel (CRC) +13:31
5. Milton Ramos (ESP) +16:04
6. Dennis Porras (CRC) +18:26
7. Federico Ramirez Mendez (CRC) +19:53
8. Jose Alfredo Montoya (CRC) +20:20
9. Alexander Sanchez (CRC) +27:03
10. Enrique Artavia (CRC) +27:04
Rom Akerson que llegaba en 3ª posiciòn, ha sido descalificado por los jueces por recibir asistencia fuera de la zona autorizada. .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
milton ramos
TOP 10 ELITE MEN AFTER STAGE 2 // TOP 10 ELITE MASC ACUMULADO - PRELIMINAR
1. Paolo Montoya 8:45:34
2. Alex Grant +13:15
3. Dennis Porras +13.37
4. Deiber Esquivel +17.55
5. Todd Wells +19.05
6. Federico Ramírez +19.08
7. Enrique Artavia +23:41
8. Milton Ramos +27:03
9. Moises Hernandez +36.59
10. Jose Montoya +44.52
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Stage 3 preliminar results / resultados preliminares, etapa3 >>
1 12 ARTAVIA Enrique 0 CRC ELITE 01:47:42 00:00:00
2 3 RAMIREZ Federico 0 CRC ELITE 01:47:43 00:00:01
3 1 WELLS Todd 0 USA ELITE 01:47:44 00:00:02
4 5 GRANT Alex 0 USA ELITE 01:49:29 00:01:47
5 120 PORRAS Dennis Manuel 0 CRC ELITE 01:50:15 00:02:33
6 4 RAMOS Milton 0 ESP ELITE 01:50:21 00:02:39
7 9 HERNANDEZ Moises 0 CRC ELITE 01:52:09 00:04:26
8 8 SANCHEZ Alexander 0 CRC ELITE 01:54:07 00:06:24
9 123 SANCHEZ Pablo 0 CRC 30-39 01:54:49 00:07:06
10 407 VEGA Misael Serafin 0 MEX ELITE 01:54:49 00:07:07
11 372 INKINEN Sami 0 FIN OPEN MASC 01:54:51 00:07:09
12 10 PERRIN Damian 0 SUI ELITE 01:54:52 00:07:10
13 6 MONTOYA Paolo Cesar 0 CRC ELITE 01:54:53 00:07:10
14 159 RAMIREZ Eddie 0 CRC ELITE 01:54:53 00:07:11
15 16 ESQUIVEL Deiber 0 CRC ELITE 01:54:54 00:07:11
16 156 GUTIERREZ Miguel Angel 0 MEX ELITE 01:54:54 00:07:12
17 152 ZUMBADO Edgar 0 CRC 30-39 01:54:55 00:07:13
18 501 MONTOYA Jose Alfredo 0 CRC ELITE 01:57:43 00:10:00
.-.-.--.-.-.
La Ruta de los Conquistadores Stage 3 Final Report, Results, Photos – Montoya and Mata Win Overall
release by La Ruta de los Conquistadores
November 05, 2012 (San Jose, Costa Rica) – Paolo Montoya (CRC) snagged his second overall victory at La Ruta de los Conquistadores after winning the challenging stage race for the first time in 2004.
Montoya finished the 20th edition of the race in 10 hours, 40 minutes, and 27 seconds. He said he did a lot of suffering over the three days.
Alex Grant (USA) took second overall. “I’m very happy, this position is an honor for me. Today’s stage was shorter than in previous years, but much faster and very hard,” said Grant. “The first day was very difficult because of the heat and Paolo pulled far ahead on that stage.”
Dennis Porras (CRC) took third place overall on the stage race that took riders from Herradura Beach and finished in Bonita. His overall time was 10 hours, 49 minutes, and 26 seconds.
Enrique Artavia finished first on the final stage, arriving in Playa Bonita in 1:47:44. Federico Ramirez (CRC) and Todd Wells (USA) crossed the line separated by only one second for second and third place, respectively.
Ramirez opened his gap on Wells on the railway tracks.
Pua Mata (USA) cinched the final stage of La Ruta, becoming the undisputed winner of La Ruta in the women’s category in a cumulative time of 12 hours, 35 minutes, and 28 seconds.
“I didn’t know what to expect on the first railway bridge. It was quite stressful, at various times my shoe slipped. The start was chaotic with sharp turns and the rain. You could hear the brakes squealing and tires locking and I didn’t know what was happening.”
“It’s wonderful to be here in a beautiful country with beautiful people…. The entire world should come challenge themselves with this unique experience,” said Mata.
Todd Wells (USA) enjoying post-race refreshments © A. Vargas – Lead Adventure Media The 2013 of the world’s toughest mountain bike race will take place from October 1 to November 2.
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