La Ruta de Los Conquistadores 2006

It's official, I'm going back to Costa Rica this November to race La Ruta after opting to pass on last year's event. I thought I'd better get it in now as I probably won't be able to participate in '07 even though next year's race is supposed to be a special one; one day longer--four days of fun! The Ironbike race will be a top priority for me next year since I missed it this year. According to Lou, it makes La Ruta look like a walk in the park but that's a future post.

This year's race is looking like it's going to be the best ever. Frischi is returning to defend his title. Jeremiah Bishop and Tinker will be there too. In the women's category Rebecca Rusch and Marla Streb will be gunning for the top podium spot while La Ruta Lou will be going for a historic four-peat.

Check out Frischi's gearing for La Ruta

The La Ruta website has a couple of new videos and even a forum. We'll see how long the forum stays up this time. The last time there was a forum, the '02 race, it was taken down during the race because of a controversial decision made after 100 racers missed a turn on day one; many angry racers were posting their thoughts on the matter.

One of these day's I'll have to find and post my '02, '03 & '04 race reports. Here are a few La Ruta race reports by:
- Rich Dillen
- Tinker
- Jesse Epstein
- Brian Kimler
- Mireille Montminy day 1, day 2, day 3

Some cool photos:
'04 La Ruta pics
'05 pics from Ecosport Adventures

A couple of La Ruta videos including one of Brett Wolfe and a tico

La Ruta links at Peak Life Adventures

Thoughts of some folks that have done it here

My favorite quote about the race was made by Tinker: "It's not about how you feel in the beginning; it's about whether you can suffer for so long," Juarez told Sports Illustrated after the 2001 race. "As far as the races I've done, this is the toughest. The bottom line is I came here thinking I could win. But that was hard-core." -- quote taken from here