Click, click, click, click. 5am wake up call for day 3 pre-ride came a half hour early thanks to a crazy lizard that lives outside el casa de Prado. He replicates the Costa Rican knock, which is a tapping on the door or window with a coin. This day was going to be exciting. Climb 10,000 feet up a volcano, then traverse to another volcano and descend for an hour. I know the climb sounds painful, but everyone says the descent is worse. Dodging cattle in dense fog while manipulating volcanic boulders for a couple hours takes its toll on you, mentally and physically.

Naturally, the warm up lasts about 3 minutes before we slip into our friendly 28-36 gears. After another 10 minutes, Manny gives me the race 411, “Okay, Ben, the race winner attacks here every year.” The translation is, “I am going to do a race simulation here.” Sweet. After that short hell, the pace is relaxed and the enjoyment begins. Some short hike-a-bikes allow us time to see the beautiful farms and take in the amazing views, before we disappear into the fog. At our slack pace today, it took nearly 3 hours to reach the long awaited coffee shop at the summit (sub 2 hours is the race day plan).

With the intermittent rain cooling us off a little too much at high elevation, this cup of joe was exceptionally welcoming. The small café was a site to see in itself, with thousands of business cards from people around the world pinned to the walls. Two cups of coffee, a full plate of rice and beans and we are on our way to the dreaded down hill, and down hill it was. Within minutes, I understood why we hauled the extra weight of the rear shock all the way up here. Descending 10,000 feet on this typical La Ruta road would require a trip to the dentist without it. After 30 minutes, I could not believe that a 20-pound mountain bike can take this beating, and take it well, at that. Kudos to Specialized!!! I am running a full-suspension 29er, while Manny rocks the Epic full-suspension two-sixer. I cannot help but think we have an advantage here, especially our butts;).

As expected, the rain begins to fall, then, flush the toilet on us. Literally! As buckets of rain and fog obscure our vision, so does the stench of cow urine and crap that is being washed off the dairy farm hills onto the road. I am now cold, covered in piss and cow dung and trying to maintain focus so not to end up of laying in the mess. Nearly running off the road and into Manny, who has been waiting quite a while for me, I get a much-needed stop and laugh. Our conversation is short and sweet, “Manny, I am completely saturated in fecal matter and urine.” [Manny] “Yes Ben, u must keep your mouth closed.” We then continue on. The smiles of Nikki and Choco at the bottom of the descent, was a welcome site. In no mood to worry about on- lookers, Prado and I stripped down out of our team Sho-Air kits butt-naked, on the street. We were laughing, trying to put Nik and Choco in our previous predicament.

Later that evening, we heard on the news that the volcano we had just visited had some eruptions earlier in the day. It was said to be burping sulfur dioxide into the air, creating acid rain. Because of this, they did not allow tourists to drive up to the volcano on the common roads. So, maybe the ammonia of the cow’s urine was actually being pH- balanced quite well with the acid rain. By the way, they say drinking cow urine is good for weight loss. No joke. I think 4 days of La Ruta is a better program, though.

The race is going to be epic. I hope my words justify the experience for everyone. Thanks for following and stay tuned, for more race updates here on Team Sho-Air blog.

Thanks for reading,

Manuel Prado & Ben Bostrom