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Whistler riders take on La Ruta

Three Whistler riders will be in the field when the annual La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike stage race gets underway on Nov. 12 at Jaco, on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast. The race ends on Nov.
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Tony Routley

Three Whistler riders will be in the field when the annual La Ruta de los Conquistadores mountain bike stage race gets underway on Nov. 12 at Jaco, on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast.

The race ends on Nov. 15 at Bonita Beach on the Caribbean Coast after 376 km of hard riding up and down volcanoes and through the rainforests on a mix of roads, trails, rail beds and other terrain.

Tony Routley will be riding La Ruta for a second time after placing second in his age category last year. Racing for the first time are Mike Charuk, who has been training in Costa Rica for the last few weeks while taking Spanish lessons, and Dr. Cathy Zeglinski.

From start to finish the course has close to 12,000 vertical metres of climbing, with over a third of the climbing on the very first day. The high point on the third day is over 3,000 metres, and it can be cold and wet. Depending on the weather — it’s the rainy season — temperatures at lower altitudes can also be as hot as 40 Celsius and humid.

Routley’s goal is to win his age category, and if all goes well to place in the top-20 overall.

“The whole reason I’m going back is that I got sick in last year’s race and was second, so it’s unfinished business for me,” he said. “Even when I was racing at the Test of Metal, Cheakamus Challenge and any of the races around here I was looking at my age category, as well as the other age categories. I want to beat the 40 year olds or 30 year olds if I can, and I want to be in the top-20 at La Ruta — although looking at the field that’s going to be pretty tough.”

Routley estimates that he has been riding his bike up to 18 hours a week to train for La Ruta, and he hasn’t taken a break from riding since the start of the season. Lately he’s been wearing extra layers to simulate heat, but is more concerned with the cold at higher altitudes.

“Last year I didn’t find it was that crazy-hot, somewhere in the 27 to 30 degree range, but there were also days when you’re climbing forever and it gets quite cold with the rain,” he said. “We were lucky to have one day without rain last year, but for the next two days it rained pretty steady — hard enough that it hurt, getting pelted in the face with raindrops.”

Routley was also tipped off about Costa Rica’s infamous clay, and last year chose tires that were made to shed mud and have a low-profile tread pattern that is good on the road sections.

“It wasn’t any harder than I expected. The mud was very sticky, the climbs were long, but I asked a lot of questions before I went down there the first time from people that had done it before, so I actually fared quite well. The only thing that will be different is nutrition, because I was sick last year and want to be more careful,” he said.

Routley rides on Team Whistler/Ryders/Rocky Mountain Bikes, along with Charuk. Routley says Charuk has been pre-riding sections of the course over the last three weeks to train to win his category, and sending regular updates on the conditions so the other Whistler riders know what to expect when they get there. So far the story has been rain, and more rain, which means mud, swollen rivers, sticky clay and cold riding at higher elevations.

Zeglinski is competing for the first time. Unlike the men, the women compete in a single category, pros and age categories, but she still intends to give it her all.

“Technically I’m qualified as a master, but for the women, because there are not that many of us, we’re all in the same category,” she said. “I’ve never raced against any of the women, but my goal is the same as it is for local races and that’s to win. I was third overall in the Cheakamus Challenge, third in the Soo Valley Rumble against riders 20 years younger, so I know my fitness is there. A podium (at La Ruta) would be a dream, but I’m in there to push my limits and leave everything on the course.”

Zeglinski says she has spent more time on her bike the last three months than the past three years training for this race, and that a typical day involves riding up to the snowline and back down again. Training for the heat has been impossible, but she says she generally handles hot weather well.

“I’ve got lots of training in the rain and mud, so I’m well prepared for that,” she said. “The heat is something that could be a little bit of a challenge, I haven’t done any sauna riding or anything like that, but I’ve always done reasonably well in the hot weather. I also generally do better the longer a race is, and the longer stages are. Some riders are better in short races and are good at putting down the pace, but I do well when it’s a longer ride, or a stage event.”

Zeglinski has talked to Routley about her race setup and nutrition, as well as Fanny Paquette who raced La Ruta last year. She knows exactly what she’s in for.

“This is a holiday for me, and it’s battling it out for five to 10 hours a day in the mud, rain and mosquitoes, and I think it’s going to be an epic good time,” she said.

“You never really know what to expect in an epic-type of race like this, but in Whistler it’s all about getting yourself fit and then pushing yourself past that to the next challenge. It’s really an alternative to sitting on a beach in Cancun, which I did last year and was bored to tears. I’m actually pretty excited to get out there.”

Zeglinski is riding for her practice, Northlands Medical Clinic, and hopes to create a fun team of women to ride next year. For her, La Ruta is just a launching point to take part in other multi-day races over the next few seasons. Next year she wants to find a riding partner to race in the TransAlp Challenge in Europe, and she’s interested in the B.C. Bike Race and TransRockies Challenge as well.

“This is just the start for me,” she said.

Updates from La Ruta will be posted online at www.adventurerace.com.