I am looking into doing the La Ruta de Los Conquistadores in Costa Rica, but wondered just how hard it is to do. How does it compare to an Ironman? I am not an expert biker by any stretch of the imagination and have this image of biting off way more than I can chew…
I too am interested in this, have done IMC 8 TIMES, never very fast, last year in 13 hours. Looking for a different challenge. anybody done both who can compare?
Yeah, let me know if somebody has done it. Would love to hear more about it.
According to my friends who have done both, it is notably harder for a few reasons:
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If you get a muddy year (likely), you’ll be hike-a-biking with an MTB (weighing 40 lbs. due to mud) for HOURS each day.
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Technical skills diminish as you get fatigued (read: each day, you fall down a little more frequently adding to soreness)
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Repeated 6+ hour days
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Travel to a foreign country (Canada doesn’t count for Americans:-) adds stress and adaptive challenges
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It’s a bloody hard course (not as technical as BC Bike Race)
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You need to be mechanically proficient and take care of your gear
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You need to be self-sufficient (many less aid stations)
Just my $.02,
Puskas
I would stay clear of ‘La Ruta’ until you do a few shorter epic MTB rides/races first. I ride with Harlan Price (first North American to finish at La Ruta 2008) and he is a super talented mountain biker and he gives me all the horror stories from the race. The first day took him almost 7 hours and had 16,000 vertical feet of climbing.
Try a ‘50-miler’ or ‘Marathon’ MTB race first, look for one that has 6,000-9,000 feet of vertical climbing …this should give you a ‘taste’ of what mountain bike suffering is all about.
Harlan beat Roberto Heras (one of Lance’s teamates, Vuelta winner) two out of the four stages this year!
Cheers.
I’d agree completely.
I wouldn’t even consider La Ruta unless I’d finished multiple solo 12 hour races and probably a solo 24… Of course, maybe I’m biased because that’s what I’ve done.
I definitely wouldn’t race the event if I was uncomfortable with my MTB technical/mechanical skills.
It is much harder than an IM. There is massive vertical and you must be able to technically ride well. Aid stations are far apart not like at an IM where they are every 10-20 min. I suggest doing some 1 day epic Mtn bike races like the CreamPuff or Leadville 100 bike, if you can ride Leadville in 10 hours and not feel bad the next day you are ready to race La Ruta
Creampuff… Nice!
100 miles of singletrack with 18000 feet of elevation (if you finish)
In addition to the other posts, the extreme humidity makes it very hard. It’s an event where one would have to show up quite a few days in advance to acclimate.
And the bike… it doesn’t take long before most of the bikes are single-speeds. As the above poster mentioned, knowing proper bike maintenance is key(replacing: brake pads, cables/housings(derail/brake), chains, etc. Most of these have to be replaced daily)
Buddy who finished IMFL sub-11 ended up in a ditch in the fetal position in tears miday through day 1 of La Ruta. He finished the remaining three days but it was brutal.
The website www.cyclingnews.com, as well as velonews.com have rider diaries from folks who have done it. The ride is brutal, and very hard on the machines. Good luck !
Very interesting questions, and I think it speaks to a broader issue of the difference between sports and what the experience would be like. I’ve done adventure races all over the world, from Antarctica to the Middle East (during a time of conflict, which is always there…) to Southeast Asia (Raid Gauloises, Vietnam) and I’ve done Ironman (5X, or is it 6?).
Here is how I would compare and contrast:
Ironman: Repeatable events with set courses. Significant resources and litereature about preparation and training. Detailed information about the course and weather conditions. Generally hospitibal setting with pavement, aid stations, etc. Aid on the course- lots of it. Readily available first aid on the course. Course is well marked and requires no navigational capabilities for competitors to negotiate.
Ruta del Conquistador: Route must be adapted to frequently changing conditions, including changes taking place *during *the event. Responsibility for route finding and navigation may rest to a much greater degree on the athlete as opposed to course marking. Extremely limited resources for technical support. Virtual guarantee of adverse weather (mud, precipitation) do to tropical environment. Limited aid on course. Impetus for medical/first responder/emergency response rests (largely) with cadre of athletes: You must support other athletes in the race as they would you. Exposure to local adversities (as opposed to downtown Lake Placid).
I’ve sort of always thought that adventure races like the Ruta are the logical “next step” beyond Ironman. Interestingly, once you do the very long races like the Ruta (which I am talking out my butt about, since I’ve never done it…) it really doesn’t make Ironman seem any easier. Ironman is bastardly difficult. It’s almost like the long adventure races (those I have done) are a trifle more friendly and leisurely since a predominant component of them is simply *surviving *the experience. That exposure to real risk tends to de-emphasize your time or competitive performance.
I’ve done La Ruta but I’ve never done a full Ironman. The longest triathlon that I’ve done is a ½ IM. I did the ½ IM in Kona in about 6 hours. La Ruta took me at least 8 hours every day. It’s definitely a challenging race but I’m sure it’s very doable for anyone here. *Responsibility for route finding and navigation may rest to a much greater degree on the athlete as opposed to course marking. *
I thought that La Ruta course was marked very well. They had staff and/or police at all of the questionable intersections. Some people got lost on the first day, but that’s it as far as I know. They have motorcyclists going back and forth amongst the competitors making sure that everyone is ok. *Extremely limited resources for technical support. *
You can buy mechanical support as part of the race package. They repair and tune your bike at the end of each day. Lucky for me, the only problems I had on the course were a few flats, broken chains, and a damaged rim. In each instance, I was able to fix the problem myself, but plenty of riders and staff offered to help. *Limited aid on course. *
They have 4 aid stations every day as well as the motorcyclists and intersection watchers. *Virtual guarantee of adverse weather (mud, precipitation) do to tropical environment. *
In addition to hoses when there isn’t enough mud for their liking.
Puskas/Chubbly/Philly Fan/anyone else I may have overlooked,
Thank you so much for your helpful comments. I am now not going to touch that race with a ten foot barge pole. In fact, it seems that I would be in way over my head.
I know you’ve already written this off, but if you want to do any more reading about the subject, I really liked the article bike magazine did on La Ruta back in '04:
http://www.bikemag.com/features/laruta/index.html
It seems to me the website for La Ruta used to have a training program on it. I don’t think it does anymore, but the program, I believe, progressed to about a 70-mile off-road ride with a steady stream of running alongside it.
Nonetheless, I think they just added a fourth day to the race, didn’t they? So it’s even longer and harder this year than it has been before. I agree with the posters who said to try a few domestic races first. There are a lot of fantastic U.S. MTB races that won’t exist soon if we don’t support them.
I know a few racers who have taken on La Ruta. Quite simply from what I have heard it would make Ironman seem easy. You have extreme heat and humidity on the first day, the days up in the mountains are cold and wet, you have massive elevation gain, most of it in mud, my friend Zack said it was sloppy mud over the top of peanut butter mud that had everybody pushing their bikes. The last day you have to ride over the railroad trestles and down the tracks slamming the sleepers over and over and over. When he returned we had to completely tear down his frame and fork to empty out the water and mud. It destroyed several sets of brake pads and a bottom bracket. Tinker Juarez rates it as the hardest MTB race he has done.
To top it all off all three racers I know who went down for La Ruta came back with some nice intestinal parasites for their trouble…
Kevin