A train of ten fully loaded Land Cruisers delivered the racers up to the barren moonscape of the 4,800 mt. “aeropuerto,” surrounded by massive mountains of scree. The anticipation of the imminent two wheeled stampede made for an electric atmosphere that was surely heightened by the dizzying effects of altitude.
Lining up below the launching pad, the riders once again gave the shout and charged up the rise to their bikes and proceeded to drop the massive descent that would take the faster riders just under an hour to reach the plaza of Sorata. Spreading out across the slope, it was every rider for himself.
Ben dropped into a sneaky left hand line on the scree, with Andy leading the rest of the pack to the outer right entrance of the funnel shaped slope that would be a black run at any ski area. Though wide at the top, it all leads into a one lane runout at the bottom. The racers have to battle it out elbow to elbow to hit that track. Coming in from the left Ben won the test of nerves and made it out of the scree ahead of the pack.
Ben proceeded to pin it down the bermed turns of the chocolate anaconda section we cut in, flying across freeride meadow and onto the jeep road for the 4 km sprinting traverse. Leaving the rest of the riders behind he arrived first to the ridge and the steep hike up to the start of the freeride funpark section of flowing ridges and grassy open slopes. Here again Pedro got off line, getting to far to the right and into an area above a massive landslide where crevasses open up out of nowhere. He went flying over the bars and came down hard, but recovered quickly and returned to the chase.
From there Ben maintained his lead into the dwarf forest, a twisty trail through a lichen shrouded pocket of cloud vegetation that opens up into the fairway section of long gentle grassy slopes that allow for blistering speeds. Dropping into the village of Laripata, he continued to lead down the final 400 mts of descent on the technical path that descends alongside the farmers’ terraces of maize before popping out onto the road across a small valley from Sorata.
The end of the trail means the suffering begins, as it’s a hot and steep 15 minute climb to reach the village. The climb is a great equalizer, and typically decides it. This year was no different. Ben was in the lead, but Jubert and Pedro were not far behind, and they were looking to reel him in. They were able to pass him on the first section of the climb, and the two riders representing La Paz and El Alto were locked in a dual to the finish. In the end it was Jubert who emerged victorious, descending the steps into the plaza and airing the stair gap to the finish line. Pedro came in about 20 seconds behind, with Ben rounding out the podium.
It was good to see Jubert, having paid his dues competing every year we’ve run the race, not to mention guiding hundreds of trips per year down the death road finally win one. In the end, though, with his margin of two minutes from day one, it was Pedro Ticona who earned the title of Jacha for 2010.
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