Stage 03 – Rancho Margot to Bijagua

84,3km – 1557m up – 1680m down – 4424kcal

stage.03

Today was a challenging and technical ride. The arrival board read:

Well done!  Congrats for surviving a brutal stage

This stage was said to be the hardest of the tour. Not from distance, but from the challenges that lay ahead. At first we had to cross a river that has swollen up by the heavy rain in the past days. The following 18km thereafter where a constant fight with mud, poodles, boulders and more creeks to cross.

            river-1120a  river-1120b

           no-roads-1120  boulders-1120

50km out of the 84km where off road on gravel or worse. A Challenge for bike and body. However the weather was with us and we got some sunshine in the afternoon after we had left the lake and climbed into the scenic highlands. Cristiano managed again to find place for the lunch stop that blow you away. If you ever consider to build a Wind Farm, ask Cristiano, he will definitely find you the windiest place to put up the generators :-)

The Mystic Restaurant offered excellent Costa Rican coffee and a hammock combined with relaxing Spa music that I couldn’t resist.

coke-stop-1120

Tonight we sleep in a church camp. Very basic again, however the food is good and our bikes are locked in the church. Imagine a foreign cycling club comes to your country and asks to ‘park’ the bicycles in a church for the night ;-)

So far everything is o.k. with me and my bicycle. I have overcome my German cold and I am getting stronger and stronger with every day in the seat. Tomorrow is the last day in Costa Rica before we enter into Nicaragua and dive into the Pacific Ocean on our next rest day!

 

We are hopefully out of the wet area, getting a chance to wash and dry our stinky, sweaty and wet cloths.

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