Map of the Survivor Route, just the section of Lajas and Cabo Rojo.  Missing from the Map are Guánica and Sabana Grande.
 
 

          "El Survivor" is the Premier Endurance XC Competition in Puerto Rico.  This year edition covered 150 km, of which more than 90% of the route was XC terrain, the rest was paved road.  It included a couple of bridge and river crossings and a boat crossing.  This race is different to other XC competitions because it's a TEAM CHALLENGE!  Each team hast to be composed of 5 members, so there is no Solo o Duo categories .  Each and every one of the members had to cross every check point of the route at the same time.  If not, the whole team is disqualified, and had to abandon the race.   Also the teams can't be composed of all Elite cyclists, they have to have members of junior categories.  This year was the first time an all female team participated, and a couple of teams had a lady in their ranks.  Also, two teams from the Dominican Republic "enjoyed" the challenge .

          This race is one of the hardest XC competitions in Puerto Rico, if not the hardest.  In previous years more than 50% of the teams do not finish the race.   Last year edition was not realized due to scheduling conflicts.  As I could surely witness, the Survivor was the most awaited competition of this season.   I am not afraid to say that 99% of the Teams that participated in this race were not interested in finishing in a good position!  I am sure that 99.99% wanted to test themselves and wanted to finish the race.  They wanted to be able to tell anyone or perhaps their grandsons/daughters that they finished... better... That they Survived the Survivor.

          The Start / Finish line was in a nice and secure place in Sabana Grande, "La Plaza de Los Festivales".  The competition started sharp at 6:00 am, still dark.  Each Team departed ONE minute after the other, and a strict order was enforced.  If a Team loose their departure window, they are penalized for 30 minutes.  The last team permitted to finish arrived close to 8:00 pm.  For safety reasons they had a cut-off check point.  If a team didn't arrive to this check point by certain time, they were not permitted to continue the race.  This was for safety reasons and because they were not prepared to ride in the dark.  Many greatly disappointed, could-finish teams were stopped at this point.  But the CMPR had the best person for this job in this Cut Throat Check Point:  Waldo the Terrible (whit that name... do I need to explain?).

           In this competition I  just witnessed what most of Puerto Rico's Mountain bikers are always saying;  that Mountain Bikers in Puerto Rico behave like a big family.  The people in La Plaza were acting like it was a family party, not a competition!  The SURVIVOR for me looked  more like a rite of passage!   Perhaps they were writing in their minds the caption of their last Photo...  "this way they look last time they were seen a live"...  "ooh, they seemed so happy..."!

            Well... from me to you... The Survivor...