TransCR: Party in the Jungle on Day Four

After four days of steep and loose racing, waking up to coyotes howling in the night, and getting mixed reports about the snake population, the TransCR ended with the final two stages and a party in the jungle. “This is the biggest stage of the race,” said Race Director, Jay Balabas. “It’s also our personal favorite.” With 900 meters of vertical, the course had a little bit of everything to offer including what was described as the ‘gnarliest steep section of the race,’ not because of the steepness alone, but because of the combined rockiness.






Janea Perry, who finished second in Pro Women, can attest to how challenging the courses have been – “It’s not at all what I expected. I expected more loamy jungle and it was a lot of dry, tight, gnarly downhill. [I’ve had] a lot of crashes, a lot of fumbles, but overall I’ve learned a lot so that’s most important.” On her first run of on the last day, Janea had a few crashes and even fell into a creek, but her second one was an improvement. “[It was] so much fun, except that I ran down the steep sections with my bike flipping everywhere. It was too risky [to ride] because I was so tired.”




The roughly 15-20 minute descent was exhausting and some racers opted out of their second lap. Even, Amy Morrison who won the Pro Women’s category had a challenging time motivating herself to go; “it was definitely hard to get myself back up the hill because I knew what I had to go and do again.” Even though the last stages were intense, she says that it was her favorite trail of the race. Her description of the trails as ‘steep chute, steep chute, chicane, the whole way down,’ is pretty accurate. Amy managed some good consistency throughout the foreign terrain and pulled into the lead after some bike issues and crashes in the first stages. “These last two days my goal was to only get off the bike if I had to, not to crash, and try to clean everything.”






Alvaro Hidalgo was the only Costa Rican local to be racing in the pro category and he spent the four days battling with Ludo May for the top step. If Alvaro had any kind of advantage he says it’s because he knows the dirt and the terrain here, but not because he’d actually ridden the trails. “Four months ago Paolo wouldn’t permit me to ride here. When they started to plan the race, they made it private so it was the same for everyone,” says Alvaro. “The only thing is that I am from here and I have the imagination about the trails.” As far as bringing this style of multi-day enduro racing to his country, Alvaro says it makes him happy. “It’s awesome and I like it so much that the people know that Costa Rica has this kind of trails and it’s very good to know the future about enduro and cycling here.”



After blowing a tire on the first day and running the track, Chris Johnston came back to third place after winning the most stages in the Pro Men’s category. “(I had a) super shitty first day. That stuff happens and it can happen super easy, it’s just not in my nature to give up and go home,” explains Chris. “I just wanted to win some stages and pull back as much as I could – getting a podium spot is amazing!” He credits consistency, not getting crazy, and just riding fast from start to finish as the secrets to his success. Refreshed after a post-race session of cliff jumping at the nearby waterfall, it’s possible that Chris is considering a new career in triathlons, but we will have to wait and see.








It would be Switzerland’s Ludo May who would take home the win with a 36 second lead over Alvaro. “It was crazy because on the first day we were three seconds [apart], yesterday it was seven, and so I didn’t know,” says Ludo of the battle for first place. “I just concentrated on what I will do and I gave my best and that’s it. If he won I would be happy for him, he’s a good buddy.” Ludo goes on to say that “if Chris Johnston didn’t get a flat it would have been another battle too, he’s on fire and he was a big rider here. I’m happy he came back to third because after the first stage it’s always hard mentally to bring it back up to the podium.”





“It’s an amazing race, to know that all the tracks are handmade and just made for the event – every day you’re like ‘wow, that’s amazing!’” Ludo expressed how much he enjoyed racing in the jungle, “but where we stayed, for me, was one of the highlights because everyone feels relaxed and every morning you wake up at six with the sun and you’re in the middle of nowhere and it’s calm. There is no electronic stuff to keep you up, no city or anything, and to me, that was the best experience of being here. I’ve done a few [other racers like this], but here you’re completely lost.”





Racers celebrated their wins, and for some just their survival, into the night drinking jungle juice under the stars. The next morning everyone was moving at sloth speed while we packed up onto our shuttle buses and started the harrowing journey back along the windy dirt roads out to the highway and finally to the city. While I’m sure none of us were sad to have flush toilets in our near future, being plunged back into the real world would prove to be a shock to the system. Those four days of fresh empanadas, broken Spanish, and a truly unique Costa Rican experience will not soon leave any of us. The riding was truly something special – remote and on private land, it’s an experience that will remain unique to the racers. There’s also a camaraderie that is built when a basecamp is isolated like this one was and especially because it included the beautiful faces of all the locals we interacted with daily – even if our communications were limited to smiles and appreciative nods. Once we were back in San Jose everyone scrambled to make flights or pick up rental cars; either returning home or extending their vacations, and our little community evaporated. But the dangerous cow, games of telephone, and epic jungle views will never be far from our memories. Pura Vida.








Full results here.

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MENTIONS: @dbaker / @parisgore

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