The climb off the start was challenging, the surface was lose enough that it was challenging to climb all of it. I dismounted in one spot as everyone in front was off, but if you had a clear shot it was probably rideable. No big deal, race isn't won in the first few minutes anyway.
Despite an absolutely badass cup of coffee to get me going in the morning, I climbed at a moderate pace... heat was the governor rather than legs or lungs.
The rolling hills out to the coast were great - my front tire was a little low I noticed after starting, so I couldn't round out the paved corners as I would have liked (hotel room check post race shows 18psi... I think for my weight for a tire to hold form I need about 20 minimum). A guy I rode with for a while seemed really sketchy so I decided to back off and ride my own lines instead of watching him... as it turns out on the super steep downhill u-turn he couldn't make it and went straight off the outside apex of the u.
An hour later we were at the bottom of the furnace of hell climb, at which point the above said guy had caught back up. At the bottom of the climb there's an iron grid bridge with loose rocks leading up to it, plus a gravel washout. He managed to overestimate his skills once again and bailed into the iron lattice structure of the bridge. What a dope, I honestly find all of La Ruta a no-crash zone. BC Bike Race might have a few technical things that are unusual enough to surprise someone into a crash, but here everything is visible and predictable.
That 30 minute climb was probably one of the hottest climbs of my life, it'd be interesting to know how much water I lost to sweat during that period. I've probably never sweated so rapidly in my life.
I coasted up to a pair of guys on the long paved downhill and as it seemed like I was the fastest coaster (note I also had by far the lowest tire pressure and we were on pavement), so they drafted off me for a while. Once it flattened out, they were determined to push a big ring hard enough to keep the pace up, then signaled for me to pull through. I did a few softer pulls before the other gringo of the three of us chastised me for being lame, at which point I said I thought it wiser to conserve energy as there was a long way to go in the heat. He told me he checked the route profile and that it was all flat to the end. I agreed. Not really my job to undermine his "we're almost there" euphoria.
Anyway, by the second set of train tracks, he blew, and I think I actually caught a look of surprise on his face as I ran along the outside of the trestles 3 at a time... I like that little trick (thanks to the boys of the Heart Akerson family for showing me that technique). I get a kick out of it, and it's actually easy and feels completely safe to me. One of the Costa Rican supporters shouted a line at me that made me feel good, and gave me cause to giggle at the same time. As I was running toward the end passing a last few walkers, he yells "this is your specialty, run awesome fast!". Not a bad second language vocabulary for bike race spectating.
The flat grind through the banana and pineapple plantations was pretty trying for me. I didn't have anyone around for pacing support, and ran out of fluids before every check stop today. I kept spinning and focused on finding the right times to eat before I got low on fuel. The river crossings were other spots to pick up a few places. The roadie types do well on this day, but a couple of euro guys were crossing the river like a pair of fairies; they were 1/3 across when I started I just sort of marched/jogged by. I shoulder checked when I remounted and they were only 2/3 across. Never saw them again till the finish.
The end portion of the tracks was less this year, they put us on more dirt road. I found the tracks pretty easy with my overly flat tires, my rear 1.8" wide tire was at 22 psi now in the hotel room check, and I didn't hit my rim a single time. I think I'll quit arguing the virtues of tubeless tires to the clueless masses and just keep it to myself as one of the few competitive advantages an under-fit person can have on a day like today.
There was less water on the finishing straight, but the water that was there was brown, salty, and hot like piping hot bathtub water. It's pretty unusual to feel something that hot splash up against your legs while biking outdoors.
After the last check stop, I rode in with a Spanish dude who TT'd it the whole way in. I think he was trying to drop me as he'd do these 30 second surges every 3-4 minutes, then I just pushed him up a small hill once his momentum was slowing down and I think he realized I was just trying to get to the end rather than set myself up to sprint. With a race as mediocre as this year's effort I wasn't concerned over being in front or behind him.
We coasted into Playa Bonita, with Drew Bragg giving me special welcome by name... made me feel good enough to buy him a cerveza later. That was my best stage, but that doesn't really say much. Not sure on position... I haven't really been checking last few days.
Andy and Craig were washing up, they had good race stories from the day. Cory had 2 flats but in the end finished 11th overall in the GC this year, one spot up from last year. He was pumped at the finish line and already talking about how great next year's race will be since they're moving it to 5 days. I'm happy for him, and will point out as well that he's the top unsupported racer - something that makes quite a bit of difference out there. Every other racer is carrying 1 bottle on the climbs, maybe 2 for some of the parts that venture into remoteness, whereas he has to carry 2 and occasionally 3, plus actually stop for food and drink at the checks instead of coasting through.
Tori came in 2 hours faster than last year with the sun still shining, so she got the experience of jumping in the ocean with all the Costa Rican beach goers hanging around. Steve had one of his harder days, but made it in in decent time.
Gerry came in later, suffering with sore butt problems today. His dented and cracked DeKerf frame looks like it's seen better days as well. Apparently it wasn't built up to his torture standards.
Sounds like a solid day - congrats on the strong finish.
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