Today we went to purchase a new sofa.

And the World’s Toughest Bike Race the Ruta de los Conquistadores went by our house all day long.

We missed it.

But we got the new sofa.

That’s irony..

As we drove down our road this morning, it was hard not to notice the Ticas sitting with grills and coolers, ready to spend the day. We didn’t have a clue the race was today – let alone going by Sedolsoder.

The route begins in Jacó, the central Pacific beach town in the middle of Puntarenas province, and winds its way to the National Technical University in Atenas, a coffee town northwest of San José. (Most commuters don’t enjoy driving this distance, much less biking it). The race resumes in Tres Ríos, Cartago province – skipping much of the Central Valley, presumably because the congested traffic and multi-lane highways aren’t really condusive to mountain bikers – and ends in Turrialba, about 60 kilometers east of the capital. The third day’s ride is a straight shot from Turrialba to Puerto Limón, on the Caribbean coast, although you can’t really call that leg straight, exactly. The total distance is about 260 km (or 161 miles).

At 9:30 when we left, there were just a few cyclists and when we returned home at 3:30 we saw a few more. Checking with Maricela, we learned they had been passing all day long. Young and old, men and women. All with state of the art bikes and bikeware.

Nazareth, Moises and Gabrielle spent the entire day at our gate yelling “Si, se puedo” (Yes he can or If he can, not sure which, but both are accurate) to all the riders.

I enjoyed my new sofa.