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.