La Ruta is not a race for whiners, posers or delicate persons," reads a note of caution on the event's website. "It is not a ride in the park. The grades are steep, the climate can be extreme. You must be a true adventure lover and a great athlete to enjoy it.
Enjoy might not be the best word. Endure is probably more like it. That was certainly the case for women's stage 1 winner Sue Haywood whose bike was lost by Taca airlines during her trip south from Washington D.C. Luckily Haywood's primary sponsor, Trek, has a dealership in Costa Rica, and a shop employee showed up at her hotel in Jacó late Tuesday night with a replacement bike. Haywood said it was a size too small, but that didn't seem to matter Wednesday, as she cruised to a 16-minute win over second-placed Louise Kobin. Haywood was the only rider among the race's 43 female starters to come in under the seven-hour mark, posting a 6:54:26.
"The bike worked great," said a relieved Haywood. "I had to stop and raise the saddle after a couple hours and I got chain suck a couple times, but it was never bad. It was a really nice bike. I was really lucky."
Haywood might change that tune Thursday. Next up at La Ruta is stage 2's 46-mile grind from El Rodeo to Terramall. Riding from a horse farm to a shopping mall might sound like fun, but mix in 11,887 feet of climbing as the race wraps around the south side of the sprawling capital city of San Jose, and it's unlikely anyone will be in the mood to get a jump on the Christmas gift buying season.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment