November 7th, 2012 4:55pm
After three days of competition, we can now call ourselves Conquistadors of La Ruta 2012. Months of planning and preparation came down to last Wednesday when we finalized the last couple of details and headed down to Playa Herradura for the start of the race. Over the next three days we would get used to really early wake up calls (3:45 am) in order to be ready to race as early as 6:00 am then we race across mud, waist high river crossing, dirt, gravel, paved roads and railroad tracks all the way to the Caribbean side. The accumulated race time was 12 hours and 38 minutes which put me in 16th place overall in the always competitive Elite category which included many foreign riders. Among the Costaricans, I ended in 10th place overall which was one of our goals.
Day 1 is always the toughest day. The distance, the humidity and the elevation gain combined are the reason most people fear this stage. We took the start and stayed with the lead group for the first part of the race before settling into my own pace. The crossing of the Carara National Park is always difficult and I was even more difficult this day due to an early crash that bruised my left hand followed by a broken chain near the end of the Carara section which includes several river crossing and muddy hiking sections due to the thick mud. After this I managed to recover some ground and made it to the finish in 15th after almost 6 hours of racing.
Day 2 came too soon as my body was still somewhat recovering from the previous day effort, however this is the stage nearest to my house and I was hoping for a good result. The long climb from Tres Rios to the Irazu volcano went really well and I improved my time from last year by over 7 minutes. I rode smart on the treacherous, rocky downhill to Turrialba and that was enough to move up another spot in the overall standings, so by the end of day 2 I was in 14th overall.
Day 3 was a short flat day, that shouldn’t have influenced the results too much, however that’s the beauty of racing, that you can’t ever know what would happened. This day featured a non-competitive, optional river rafting from Turrialba to Siquirres. Knowing I get cold easily I opted not to do this portion to focus on the final day of racing. We got underway just past noon under rainy skies with a controlled start on the pavement highway. The group swelled on this section so when the race officially started the pace went up really fast. I got stuck behind a lot of riders then had to work really hard to get to the front where the leaders were. I had made great progress until a rock broke a spoke on my rear wheel. I had to stop and fix it but lost a few minutes then I got going again and passed at least a hundred riders until my rear derailleur broke. I tried fixing it, however there wasn’t much I could do. I was able to pedal my bike but on every bump of the road or rock the chain would jump off, forcing me to dismount to fix it. This day also features long sections of railroad which cause the chain to jump off more often. I tried not to get frustrated to not damage the bike even more so I could finish. Eventually I was the 184th rider to make it to the finish line. Even with all the time lost I only dropped two spots in the overall standings to end La Ruta in 16th place.
I really want to thank all my family, friends and sponsors for all the support to make this race possible. La Ruta it’s a tough event and it would be even tougher without all the support I have received from all of you. Although I was hoping for a better result, I am satisfied with what we have achieved, especially knowing that I gave my best effort not only during the race but in preparing for it and I hope you are all proud of what you have helped accomplish.
NOTE - Jeff Herrera was the defending 30-39 Elite division champion last year coming from over nine minutes back on the last day to win. Bicycle World TV is proud of the effort that Jeff continues to put forth in every race he enters. This year we were glad to see Jeff get some more help from the business's in Costa Rica. Both Palmex and ProMTB stepped up to make this race possible for Jeff again this year. La Ruta and similar races takes an enormous amount of time and financial commitment and without the help of such support it is not always feasible to earn a living and train enough to be an elite cyclists.You can follow Jeff on his Blog and even get in touch with him if you are making a trip to Costa Rica.
Location: News >> La Ruta 2012 - That's Racing..the Recap From A Seasoned Pro
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