I was sadly out of contention for day 3, but I still wanted to ride. I was surprised where the race started. We pulled into an extremely poor neighborhood. Instead pangs of guilt took over as I saw how the people there lived, and we were all showing up with our expensive bikes. The race started in a fenced in area.
It was actually nice not to be stressed out about where I was lining up, I just stationed myself by my friends and was planning to ride with them for the day. I remember for stage 1 and 2, I was stressed because there was no official staging and I found myself far from the front. This can be a liability and in other stage races I’ve done, there has been staging based on your place or your cumulative time. Stage 3 was touted as being flat and fast. That was no lie. I was most excited about the infamous railroad bridges.
After awhile, we came to the railroad bridges.
I was closer to the back, so there was a long wait by the time I got to the bridge!
This is sketchy, but as long as you pay attention, it’s fine. The railroad ties were wet and you could slip and almost fall through.
There was some relief with a plank. The trick was to not look in between the railroad ties or you get vertigo. It was fun!
It was raining for a lot of Stage 3, but the stage was over in about 2 hours!
Finish on the beach
Even though I could not officially finish La Ruta, I had a really great time. Costa Rica is a beautiful place to race a bike with lots of great people.
Post La Ruta, I started my off season and took 3 weeks completely off the bike. I focused on getting started with some of my favorite off season activities and traveled to visit friends and family.
i would have had a hard time with the bridges,vertigo bothers me when looking down.but great pictures.
That looks so scary! Bummer about the sickness but great job!