On The Pegs January 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 1 | Page 67

On The Pegs VOL. 5 ISSUE 1 - JANUARY 2020 67 to be out on the move all day and stop for lunch in the middle of the event.” Pat said that they stopped and smashed sugar cane at one point along the trail. “It took like four people to spin this big, wooden, crazy machine to smash some sugar cane which made the sugar water which was really tasty along the loop,” said Smage. “We stopped for refreshment there. One night they even had dinner out on the beach. Set up tables and everything out on the sand on the beach. Tried to go all-out to make it a full Costa Rican experience.” According to Pat, the majority of the riders were from Europe, around 60 riders. “Prob- ably I would guess ten or so, maybe fifteen from Central America, one from Canada, one from the US, one from Australia, and the rest from Europe,” said Smage. “It’s much easier for people from the US to do than those from Europe. “For me it was the same time zone,” said Smage. “A lot less travel time and jet lag compared to someone from Europe. So they really want to promote it to American riders to come down and do it.” After three days of competition, Pat fin- ished third overall. “Another huge part of it was the scoring,” added Smage. “There’s no score cards. The observers just write what they think you got on their page, and then that gets submit- ted at the end. So I know what I felt I got, and that was not what I ended up getting. I just say I had some bonus points in there for something.” Of course, there were different classes and two lines in the sections for different levels.