Endless hiking with the bike Photo by Monilee Lloy

The race started November 14th, 2003 at 5:00am on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. 387 participants, eager to experience the 11th running of La Ruta, were jostling for position on the starting line. The race finished three days, more than 370kms and 25,000 ft of vertical climbing later on the Caribbean coast, where 222 official finishers celebrated the competition of their journey. The race led us through nine microclimates, into a jungle, over a volcano and through banana plantations. It tested us with steep climbs, thick mud, debilitating heat, long days, railroad tracks, and dilapidated rail bridges.

The memories I have are a patchwork of picturesque views, long climbs, crazy descents, amazing people, and of many small victories along the way.

Day one started with breakfast at 4am in the coastal town of Jaco where it was already hot and humid. The first day took us from Jaco to San Jose with 11,500 ft of climbing over a distance of 115km. Historically the hardest day of the three, this year was no exception as 150 riders were forced out of the race by the end of the day.

Within 5km from the start, we were into the jungle and coastal mountains. Only minutes after the climbing began the slope became so steep that everyone was off their bikes, pushing or carrying them up the hills which overlooked the ocean we'd left that morning. The grades were routinely over 20%, making them completely unrideable even in perfect conditions.

"Most of us walked our bikes down the hills as well as up; it was too dangerous to take advantage of gravity."

Just after cresting the first hill the soil turned into wet, slick, sticky clay; there were countless washouts in the trail, leaving three-foot deep gullies crisscrossing the trail. Most of us walked our bikes down the hills as well as up; it was too dangerous to take advantage of gravity.

As the sun rose the heat got worse. By the end of the day enduring the incredible heat would prove the biggest challenge for many of the competitors. Thankfully, there were several stream crossings in the jungle section and I took advantage of each and every one...soaking my head, trying to wash a few pounds of mud off of my bike...and sometimes laying in the stream to get a break from the energy-sapping heat and humidity.

Once through the jungle the race course took us along dirt roads through farmlands. This was our first introduction to the locals, who were amazing. They seemed to magically appear just when we needed them most with water hoses to cool us and cheers to encourage us.

While the riding became substantially easier, this section left us constantly exposed to the 35-plus celsius sun.

At one point I got goose bumps in the middle of a long climb and realized I was terribly dehydrated. "Drink more water. Take more salts." Reminding myself of this was a constant battle.

As the day went on and the climbing continued, my body started to feel fatigued. My constant exposure to the energy-sapping sun and the 11,500 ft of climbing was taking its toll. But I was determined to finish and was amazed to see other riders giving up despite being almost a dozen hours into the race and so close to the finish. I crossed the finish line completely exhausted, yet happy and amazed by it all.

The start of day two was quite memorable as we snaked through the streets of San Jose in a huge peloton. The route took us up to Tirrialba via the summit of Volcano Irazu with 8,500ft of climbing and descending over a distance of 105km. I was looking forward to day two as I love to climb and had heard the views on the ride up to the top of the volcano were amazing. And I was not disappointed. It took me four hours to climb the 8,500ft and I enjoyed every minute of it.