Over the last few weeks, Costa Rica has had more rain than usual, so needless to say, there was a lot of mud. Day one started at the Punta Leona Resort with a 4 km cobblestone ride to the Hwy. Everyone was talking about how dangerous it was going to be because it was wet (it rained most of the night), but I didn’t think much of it. Well, I saw at least 3 crashes. I was way in the back, but moved up gradually and missed all of the wrecks. Mike T from Phoenix missed one and had to ride into the 2 ft. deep gutter. He didn’t go down, but it slowed him down. Mario from Switzerland did go down and got a flat (I met Mario last year) and by the time he fixed it, only one rider was behind him and it was police officer on a motorcycle.

Another girl went down on a metal bridge, but I don’t think she took anyone else down. It was very disturbing to see how bad mountain bikers are on the road. They didn’t know how to feather their brakes, every time they would just lock their rear brake which would cause the people behind to panic. What a mess.

I managed to stay with the main pack (about 100 rider) until we turned off the Hwy onto a dirt road about 4 miles into the race. The first climb was different than last years – a little less steep – but there was no relief on this one. Right off the bat we started climbing for about 3 miles at an average grade of about 15 to 20 percent. I backed off when we hit the climb, but I started feeling better and started moving forward, but I kept a reasonable pace. It would be a long day.

About 20 miles to checkpoint 1, then 5 miles to checkpoint 2. Sounds like a piece of cake, right? The mud appeared about 10 miles into the day. The first time I hit mud, one thought came to me: “How the fuck do I ride in the mud?” As I was finishing ` my thought, my front wheel slid out and down I went. I had a smile in my face when I was going down because it was just too funny. I slid about 10 feet in the mud, got up, checked the bike, noticed I was bleeding a little from the knee, but figured the mud would stop the bleeding. OK, I’m dirty now. The procon team jersey will never look the same.

I arrived at checkpoint 1 after a couple more falls, mud related again and yes, I was smiling every time I went down. CP 1 to CP 2 is the hardest part of this race. Last year it was hard, but this year would be hell!!! But fun in a sick sorted way ?. There was ankle deep mud for the entire way – downhill and uphill. I was riding the downhills in a very innovative way. I would sit on the top tube, place my two feet out like outriggers, and then slide down the hill.

The mud was so bad that you had to wash your bike at every wash, river or creek crossing, lube the chain and then do it all over again. Some people were pushing their bikes, but the rear wheel usually wouldn’t turn due to the mud. The mud was horrible. You just wanted to get to CP2. It took me just under 2 hours to travel the 5 miles, but I was finally out of the mud and the jungle – kind of. The truth of the matter is that the mud never ended unless you were on pavement or indoors.

Just before you get to CP2, the mechanics were at a river crossing washing bikes. You can pay $70 and the mechanics would wash, lube and adjust your bike every night. Money well spent. They would also station themselves in different parts of the course and lube your chain, sometimes without you getting off the bike – You can imaging how steep it would have to be to be able to do that. Back to the wash – they had pretty much a fire hose, with lots of pressure. LOTS OF PRESSURE!! I tried to wash my gloves and they were almost ripped off my hands. Trever said they told him not to get too close as well. I could hear the bearings in my bike screaming “help me, help me”. Just another 2 days and everything will be all right.

Made it to CP2, now you start climbing. You climb for about 20 miles in what I would call an average grade of 15% with some short downhills along the way. CP3 is halfway up the climb and I’m feeling good when I get there. Wendy is there waiting and it feels good to see her. I sit down for about 5 minutes while I eat a tuna sandwich and take a drink and off I go. CP 3 is halfway in distance and I’m already into my 5 hours – it’s going to be a long day. My goal was 8 hours, but the increased the distance by 10 miles and 2400 ft. of climbing, so my new goal is 9 hours. Even 9 hours will be hard. I feel great on the climb, definitely not like last year when I got severely dehydrated and couldn’t start day 2. I stop every 2-3 hours and pee to check my level of dehydration and so far, so good.

I made up some good time on the downhill to CP 4. Seems like the locals or the Europeans don’t descend very well. The last leg from CP 4 to the finish is very deceiving because you think you’re only about 20 km from the finish (it was more like 25 km) according to the race bible, but you got some fucking steep climbs to deal with. You go through a little town, where last year my hopes were raised thinking it was the finish, but they send you through an alley and a steep short climb. It had a switchback that must’ve been about 25% grade, but it’s the end of the race so maybe it just felt like that. I got off and walked it. Finally on pavement, you think it would get easier, but it’s a bunch of rollers that go on for about 8 miles and when I say rollers, in Costa Rica, it means STEEP FUCKING HILLS!!! At one point, I was riding with another American and he asked me how far to the finish. Based on my computer it was about 1-2 miles, we kept riding for about 1 mile and ran into some locals watching the race and I asked how far to the finish and they said 7 KM. I turn around and tell my riding buddy that it’s 4 miles to the finish and all he said was “FUCK!!!” and almost went backwards. He finished about 20 minutes behind me.

I made it to the finish in 9 hours and 34 minutes. Not what I was I hoping for, but later I was to find out that the winning time – World Champion – finished in around 6:30, 90 minutes slower than last year’s pace. Trever finished about 45 minutes ahead of me and he confirmed my suspicion – it was a lot harder than last year.

Day two is the unknown for me since I didn’t ride it last year. We’ll see how the legs recover after today