Normally, I compose a journal article after only one, maybe two, hours of weekend cyclocross racing and generally have more than enough interesting material to write about. But, last week I logged in more than 20 hours of chamois time, and depleted two tubes of Chamois Butter, during La Ruta de los Conquistadores in Costa Rica. There are so many things to write about, I feel like I could publish a book.

A few months ago my girlfriend, Heather, a wedding and event planner, got the opportunity to help a colleague with a wedding in Costa Rica over Thanksgiving and asked me if I wanted to tag along. I thought it sounded like fun and after Google-ing “Costa Rica” and “mountain biking” I stumbled upon the La Ruta website. As luck would have it, the race was the week before Thanksgiving and was an event I always wanted to do, so I convinced Heather to head down a week early and help me during the race. My Boulder Cycle Sport business partner, Taro Smith, who had also been pondering the La Ruta, and his friend Cameron decided to join us for the adventure, too.

Before I go any further I need to thank Heather for her amazing support before, during and after the race. She spent hours dialing in all the travel and lodging logistics before the event. And, during the race, she and Cameron planned race day itineraries, prepped race food, got us to the starts on time, gave us desperately needed calories at all the check points and kept Taro and I sane throughout four painfully long stages. These girls had to use the most worthless Costa Rican road maps to rally our rental truck through some of the gnarliest terrain to meet us at designated checkpoints and at the finishes. After each stage the Heather and Cameron had just as many hilarious stories as we did about navigating the Costa Rican countryside.

I blindly entered La Ruta with less than 10 hours of mountain bike miles in my legs and four of those hours were on the new Scott Spark I received a couple of weeks prior to the race. Sure, I had plenty of road bike mileage in my legs and have been racing cyclocross for a couple of months, yet with 40,000 feet of climbing over 225 miles in four days, let’s just say I felt just severely ill prepared. Luckily, I had a sweet race bike, thanks to Doug Looney at Scott USA, tricked out with new drive train goodies, thanks to Alex Wassman at SRAM, and lightweight wheels and tires, thanks to Gary Wolff and Geoff Kabush of Team Maxxis.

Even though my bike and support crew were dialed, I had heard all the horror stories, and was still a bit nervous. Prior to departing for Costa Rica, a few friends who had done La Ruta in the past told me to expect the worst. They explained in gory detail I would encounter heinously steep, muddy hike-a-bike climbs, never-ending ascents, deep river crossings, miles of bone-jarring train tracks, tenuous walks over train bridges, steaming molten lava and rabid crocodiles. Okay, maybe the lava and crocodiles were a little out of hand, but everything else was true.

This race is absolutely loco. I have ridden a lot of miles in my life, but I have never had such a wide range of diverse and challenging terrain thrown at me in the span of four days. For a few select men and women this is a race. For the rest of us, it is just a physical and mental challenge just to reach the finish line. We spoke to a guy after the race and he said he has competed in four Ironman triathlons and one La Ruta and he claimed the Costa Rican adventure is the most challenging race he has ever done. I’ve never done an Ironman because I would likely drown, but I can’t imagine a race being much harder than La Ruta.

The actual organization of La Ruta is, well, organized. Registration was a breeze. The start of each stage, at least by Costa Rican standards, was on time and everything hums like a fine tuned machine at the finish. Now, what happens in between the start and finish is more or less controlled chaos because daily life in Costa Rica does not stop for La Ruta.

Have you ever seen one of those pictures of a rally car race or the Paris Dakar, which show a super turbo vehicle motoring through a far off village with a couple natives standing on the side of the road with a goat in hand or some large parcel balancing on their head? At times, I felt like the driver in that picture. Sure, the majority of the La Ruta race-course is on remote back roads and trails which weave across the beautiful Costa Rican countryside, but when the course reaches populated areas, such as villages and town centers, here is where the fun begins.

If I wasn’t getting cut off by crazy taxi drivers or dodging stray dogs and chickens, I had to keep an eye out for potholes big enough to swallow a small car. And, while looking for these bizarre road hazards, I had to keep on eye out for course markings, which consisted of fluorescent green directional arrows spray painted on random trees, rocks, buildings, stone walls and the road. Some were obvious, others were not. Just ask Rocky Mountain’s Andreas Hestler who went off course during one stage and lost close to an hour. Although I was lucky to stay on course throughout the event, at times I was riding alone for miles with out a person or green arrow in sight, and would often wonder if I was still on track. But, just as I would start to second guess myself, an ATV, motocross bike or four wheel drive truck would come ripping by and provide reassurance I was still on course. You might think one of the aforementioned vehicles where part of the official race caravan, but in fact, these are vehicles supporting fellow Ticos throughout the race. Ticos, native Costa Ricans, make up close to half of La Ruta’s field and it seems as though all of them have plenty of friends on the course to lend a hand.

According to the race rules, riders are only supposed to receive support within 200 meters of designated checkpoints and at no time can riders accept supplies, such as food or drinks, from moving vehicles or from support personnel running along side. It seems as though these rules do not apply to the Ticos because numerous times riders would drop water bottles at the bottom of climbs only to get an ice cold, full bottle at the top. And, here I am with an oversized hydration pack filled with water, repair supplies, Nutella and banana sandwiches, and enough Clif Bars and Clif Shot to feed a small army strapped to my back. To be honest the fact that many racers, Ticos and non-Ticos, get outside support does not bother me. In fact, it adds to the allure and mystique of the event.

It’s almost like home field advantage. Even though I wasn’t getting food and water hand ups at the top of every climb, I did have an amazing support crew who helped me every chance possible. Heather and Cameron, as well as some Canadian friends they met, did there best to find as many check points as they could with what little information they had. As I mentioned before, at the end of each stage they had as many crazy stories as we did about getting from the start to the finish.

The question I have been asked the most since the finish is, “Are you gonna race La Ruta again?”

The short answer is no. The long answer is, if I was trying to win, then yes, I would train hard and try to come back and be more competitive. And, since I have no chance in hell of ever winning this race, I will just chalk this one up as an amazing life experience and start looking for the next one.

Like racing cyclocross in a new area in the U.S., La Ruta gave my friends and I the chance to experience a different culture, meet new friends and have a great time. Not to mention afterwards we have been able to log in some beach time and catch a few Costa Rican waves! If you are considering La Ruta in 2008, go for it. The race is an amazing adventure in one of the most beautiful, ecologically diverse places I have ever been. The locals are unbelievably friendly and the food is incredible, too.

Special thanks go out to Juan Carlos and his lovely wife for the local La Ruta knowledge and for hooking us up with Carlos and Glen of Ciclon Bike Shop. To Rodrigo for helping us out with directions and moral support! “Hey, it’s Costa Rica, man!”

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for reading.

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Brandon Dwight lives in Boulder, Colorado and is part ownerof Boulder CycleSport. He is also the founder of Doperssuck.com.Sponsors include: Time Bicycles, Scott Bicycles, SRAM, Zipp, Crank Brothers,TRP Brakes, Clif Bar, Challenge, Squadra, Sock Guy, JBV Coaching, and ifhis Time needed an external headset, Chris King.