11-14-07 // Events: La Ruta Begins Today UPDATED

The complete La Ruta map including all four stages

On the eve of the start of the 15th La Ruta de los Conquistadores, the 520 starters were nervously shuffling through registration procedures in Jaco, Costa Rica. Bikes were unboxed and assembled, numbers were handed out, and organizers reminded competitors what they really didn’t want to know: Day one, the first of four, includes 15,000 feet of climbing. Oh, and breakfast will be served at 3 a.m.

It’s been raining intermittently since I landed in San Jose yesterday, including an impressive gully-washer that moved through the area last night. With that in mind, tire selection is a hot topic among racers, but veterans of this imposing 225-mile trek across Costa Rica seem to agree: It hardly matters. Just pick a tire that rolls well, they say, because no mud tire on earth will help much when you’re wading through rain-swelled rivers and scrambling up muddy volcano grades.

Not too long ago La Ruta was a fringe event, reserved for Costa Rican hardcores and a handful of adventure-minded, masochistic foreigners who were frequently crushed by the event’s inhospitable nature. What makes La Ruta so stunningly beautiful—a rich patchwork of natural elements here in a land that bridges North and South America and divides the Pacific and Atlantic oceans—also makes it a nasty beast.

Roy Wallack, an American journalist who writes for the Los Angeles Times, was one the few pioneering North Americans who had discovered La Ruta back in 1997. Like so many others, he was humbled by his first experience here, abandoning the race when his legs could barely hold him up after a monstrous first stage. But Roy keeps coming back. This year, as La Ruta celebrates its 15th year by adding one day to its previous three-day format, he is here to celebrate his own10-year anniversary of that first quest into the wilds of Costa Rica.

Unlike Roy, I’m a first-timer at La Ruta. One of many. Like so many other riders across the globe, I’ve heard all the legendary tales and seen the photos from this event that boasts of being “the toughest mountain bike race on the planet.” Now, finally, I’m here to experience it for myself.

After landing in the Costa Rican capital San Jose yesterday, I caught an airport shuttle with two other competitors who will also be tackling La Ruta for the first time. One was from Guatemala, the other Mexico City. As we endured a colossal traffic jam on our ride to the hotel, we chatted nervously about our bikes, our training and what might await us in the jagged green mountains that surrounded us.

Of the 500-plus starters, many are native Costa Ricans, but there are more and more international competitors every year. Last year was the first in which foreigners outnumbered the Ticos, and this year that trend continues. In all, more than 30 nations are represented.

While most come here with the goal of just finishing, a select few will strive to etch their names on La Ruta’s list of winners, which includes Thomas Frischknecht, Leonardo Páez and José Adrián Bonilla. Over its 14-year history, La Ruta has been dominated by Costa Ricans. Despite increasing competition from American and European pros, the natives won the first 12 editions of the race. Frischknecht, one of the classiest champions in the history of the sport, is the only European to win La Ruta, but last year he could only manage a tenth-place finish. This year there are a few foreigners among the favorites, including Frenchman Thomas Dietsch (Bianchi), Canadians Max Plaxton and Andreas Hestler (Rocky Mountain) and American Tinker Juarez (Cannondale). Costa Rican favorites include Paolo Montoya, Federico Ramirez, Deiber Esquivel and Manuel Prado, a native Costa Rican who lives in Bike magazine’s local stomping grounds of Orange County, California.

Manny has been in Costa Rica for a week and has scouted a good portion of the course. Stage 2 is entirely new, and after riding it, Manny reports that some people might be in for a surprise. Added this year to complete the link from the Pacific to the Caribbean, some might have expected stage 2 to be a transitional stage, a less-difficult day after the leg-breaking, soul-crushing opening stage which historically has been the end of the road for so many competitors. (More than 200 riders either abandoned or didn’t make the 12-hour cutoff last year).

But this is La Ruta, and we won’t be getting off that lightly. In addition to nearly as much climbing as stage 1, Manny says there’s a treacherous singletrack descent near the end of stage 2. Putting it in Orange County terms, Manny describes the descent as steeper than Stair Steps, a trail near Laguna Beach that’s as precipitous as its name, with the added fun of being muddy, slimy and downright menacing.

Now, while my mind is still relatively clear and unaffected by the crushing blanket of fatigue that awaits, here are some stats:

Number of stages: 4
Total distance: about 225 miles
Total climbing: close to 39,000 vertical feet
Longest day (distance): Saturday, stage 4: 120 kilometers
Longest day (time): Most likely Wednesday, stage 1, which is the one everybody’s been warning me about.
Wednesday's wake-up call: 3 a.m.

Other random notes from Jaco: • The race hasn’t started yet, and already I saw four crocodiles today. I spotted them from the bus, as we passed over a river gorge during our four-hour drive from San Jose to Jaco. The drive was supposed to be three hours, but we stopped at a local bike shop along the way, which must have experienced a sales spike the likes of which they’ve never seen. A couple hundred bike racers descended on the shop, cleaning them out of mud tires, tubes and CO2 canisters.

• Eight hours before the start, Trek-Volkswagen pro Sue Haywood still doesn’t have a race bike. The airlines lost hers, but a local Trek dealer is trying to bail her out with a replacement. It’s due to be delivered sometime before tomorrow’s start.

• During a press conference with the top contenders today, Costa Rican Paolo Montoya, winner of the 2004 La Ruta, didn’t exactly dis the gringos, but he sure seemed doubtful about the chances of any non-Costa Rican winning this year. History certainly backs up his point.

Rock Mountain's Andreas Hestler on the mic at the pre-race press conference. Give'er Dre!