La Ruta de los Conquistadores Day 2

(See attached file: brake.jpg)

So after spending $60 for a new chain and having some time to lick my wounds from the first stage it was time to get ready for day 2. I forgot to mention that early during yesterday's stage that I had a small crash and broke my brake lever off. Lucky for me I was able to reattach it with some zip ties and some electrical tape. The checkpoints seemed well stocked and I decided to pack a little lighter for the second day. I also tried to study the elevation profile a little more, it helps knowing what's coming up next. Funny thing is just about everyone that I could talk to had different feeling and thoughts about the first day. Some thought the mud and hike a bike sections were super hard, others didn't think the climbs were to bad and didn't mind all of the pavement. For me I had mixed feelings about the first day, and I was hoping the second day was going to be a better for me. The climbs were hard and longer than anything I've ever ridden before but was disappointed with the lack of off road trail. But I was hoping the second day would be better than the first.
Thanks again to the super early and very insane start time of 6:00 I found myself near the back of the pack for the second time. Within the first half mile or so the lead group had separation from the part of the field I was in. I wasn't happy about it but there wasn't anything that I could do about it. Today's stage started off with a big climb early on the first few miles the grade was pretty tame. Then we turned off of the pavement onto a gravel road and it got steep quick. I'm not sure how accurate it is but I had my Garmin set to display the grade. It was going between 10% and 25% which is pretty steep. Then the surface changed from gravel to a very rough concrete with lots of rocks and broken bricks in it. Usually this would be a good thing but not today because it got steeper. I was already in my granny and didn't have many gears left in the back. I stayed on my bike and was riding but there were plenty of others that were already walking. I looked down at my Garmin and a couple of times the grade was 40%. I'm like WTF but finally I seen what appeared to be the end of this insanity only a few hundred feet away I seen lots of people standing and cheering. I made it and was happy thinking that worst was behind me now. I found out quickly that I was wrong and the first climb had 4 more sections like this. I rode as much of it as I could but had to walk some of the sections. Then we went back down quickly on some pavement and I reached the first check point and was feeling OK. Then is was up and down on shorter hills but not quite as steep but it was all pavement. At about hour three I had a mental meltdown of sorts and was like WTF. This sucks I'm riding my MTN bike on roads don't have a clue how much further or how much more climbing there is. At this point is when I just was content on finishing and no longer worried about were I was in the standings. Not sure how long I was in this state of mind. But then part way up a climb I caught up to a guy that was from Canada and spoke English. We worked together for a while and finally reached the last check point. After a short break I was ready to go and my mental lapse was gone. Then we hit a long off road downhill it was fun but was basically a long wide dirt jeep road that had a few rocks. At the bottom we went though a small village then up a few short pavement climbs to the finish. I was happy to be done but disappointed with another poor performance. 5:51 about two hours behind the leaders.
This is when things got a little interesting, I got to use the showers at the finish for the first time. Which basically sucked and what sucked even more was not having a towel. Then I was off to see the mechanics to try and get my tires changed for the next day. This would be super easy if we both spoke the same language. Then I seen Glenn from NC who we met a couple of days before. He was there supporting his wife Cricket who was racing and there friend Chris. I seen him and he said he left the last check and seen Ruth and she was doing OK and was ahead of Cricket. Then Cricket came across the finish line and I asked her if she seen Ruth anywhere and she said no. So after about an hour I'm starting to get worried wondering how Ruth left before Cricket and Cricket never past her and Ruth was still not back. Some of the event staff spoke a little English and they finally understood what I was trying to tell them. So I left with someone to head out and look for her. We finally seen one of the vehicles that were sweeping the course and they didn't she her either. Then we got a call on the radio and Ruth had just got in. When we got back I found out what had happened. Ruth missed a turn and on her way back onto course her freehub died and she had to walk the last 5 miles. That's why nobody seen her but she did get to have an exciting finish. When walking though town and getting close to the end she seen someone else that we met who was riding a motorcycle. He asked if she wanted towed to the finish and she said no because she wanted to finish. So he left and went to the finish and told them what happened. They said to go back and it would be OK to tow her into the finish because it's not safe to be walking though that part of town by yourself. So she came across the finish line doing 40.
Now we had to make a decision about what to do with her rear wheel. I took it apart and tried to fix it but didn't have any luck. There was a bike shop traveling with us that was pretty well stocked but very expensive. The cheapest wheelset they had was $200 and pretty crappy. The worst part about buying it was that we wouldn't even be able to take it home because it wouldn't fix in our luggage. So after searching and begging for hours we finally found a local that was working at the Giant booth that said she could borrow his sister's wheel for the rest of the race. Now it was time for a 30 minute shuttle ride to our hotel. This is when we ran into another little snag. We got our room key and went to the room and it already had people in it. While we were waiting everyone that came in after us was having the same problem. After the staff went and knocked on every door they found us an empty one it only took like 2 hours plus we got a roommate too. His name Phillip he spoke English and lived in Texas but was originally from Costa Rica. It was nice meeting someone form there to learn a little about the country. But it seemed like we didn't get to talk much because of mix-up and having to be ready to leave on the shuttle at 4:00 we had to get to bed early. Hoping the next day would better.

J