November 13, 2007 (Jaco, Costa Rica) – Playa Jaco (Jaco beach), on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, saw the final press conference held for the 2007 La Ruta de los Conquistadores – to discover what the pros think about what is arguably one of the hardest multi-day MTB bike races anywhere in the world.

La Ruta, formerly a three-day event, has for its 15th anniversary expanded by 25% to include a fourth day. Not shy to throw the word “tough” next to “nearly impossible”, Day 2 looks to be almost as fearsome as legendary Day 1.

The first day, stage 1 of 4 begins tomorrow at 5am, and crosses 95 kilometers of jungle and gravel road, with climbs that have a cumulative total of 14,000 feet (most MTB World Cups are between 4-5,000 feet). The temperature will reach 35 degrees before the day is done and cut off time is at 12 hours. The stage finishes in El Rodeo just outside of San Jose. Last year’s stage 1 was won by Colombia’s Leonardo Paez in 6 hours and 30 seconds.

Some experienced riders like Tinker Juarez (Cannondale) have done this race before and are quite stoic about the first leg of this great journey. But others, notably France’s Thomas Dietsch (Gewiss/Bianchi), the world’s number 1-ranked marathon racer, and American Sue Haywood (Trek/VW), are a bit unsure and worried, with good reason.

Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain/Haywood), Andreas Hestler (Rocky Mountain/Haywood) and Kris Sneddon (Kona) are Canada’s favourites competing in the Open Men’s category. While the women’s event looked solid, some last minute plans have left some of Canada’s favourite women at home – Marg Fedyna and Hillary Harrison, both former winners of the event, and Melanie McQuaid will not be competing.

The general feeling as race registration takes place is subdued tension, not anticipation, but a “lets get on with it feel”. Wake-up call is at 3am, with race start at 5:10 am. How possible will it be to sleep with the knowledge of what awaits? Perhaps heading into the Carara Jungle half asleep – with tomorrow’s monster of a stage (and more) standing between each racer on the Pacific and the final destination on the Carribean – is the only way for a journey of this epic-ness to begin.

Ruta Notes:

– All 550 racers will be fully “caffeinated” by Costa Rican coffee as they brew a mean cup here.

– There are quite a few Canadians here from the Yukon, BC, Alberta and Ontario. Meeting fellow racers and countrymen abroad is always a pleasure, notwithstanding that all participants who challenge themselves at this event are champions. It’s a jungle out there “let’s go”.

La Ruta 2007 Stages

Day #1 – November 14
– Distance: 95 km (59 miles).
– Time to finish: 12 hours – 30 minutes at 7.6 km/h.
– Climate: Tropical Rain Forest, Sub-Tropical Rain Forest and Tropical Dry Forest.
– Last year’s winning time: Leonardo Páez. T: 06:00:25.

Day #2 – November 15
– Distance: 75.2 km (46 miles).
– Time to finish: 11 hours at 6.80 km/h.
– Climate: Sub-Tropical Rain Forest, Template.
– Last year’s winning time: N/A

Day #3 – November 16
– Distance: 66.7 km (41.4 miles).
– Time to finish: 11 hours at 6 km/h.
– Climate: Cloud Forest and Rain Forest. Wind and rain. Drastic climatic changes.
– Last year’s winning time: Leonardo Páez. T: 03:25:47.

Day #4 – November 17
– Distance: 120 km (75 miles).
– Time to finish: 11 hours at 10.9 km/h.
– Climate: Sub-Tropical Rain Forest, Montano Rain Forest and Tropical Forest.
– Last year’s winning time: Andrei Amador. T: 04:32:04.