It's a rare treat to have both time to write and a good internet connection with which to post on our blog. Thanks to the hospitality of our host, Alex, we have been blessed this combination, allowing me to play catchup a bit. To begin, Rebecca has been interviewed a couple of times recently and the first of pieces has now made its way online. In the interview, she shares her thoughts about traveling by both sailboat and by bike,…
I remember reading, back when we were still in the planning stages for our cycling tour, about how certain cyclists, upon reaching a destination where they planned to stay for a few days, would unload their bikes to go for trail rides in the area. I recall thinking that it was a strange idea, to go riding for fun after having just spent entire days, if not weeks in the saddle. Interestingly though, we now find ourselves doing exactly the…
Que le vaya bien. This expression is called out to us numerous times each day as we pedal along the Mexican backroads, or leave the tiny stores that are an integral part of the pueblos that dot the countryside. A Google search says that the expression translates to "I hope things go well for you," and it's one of the things that I've come to love about cycling through Mexico. Perhaps it is just the equivalent to our "Have a…
Adventure of a lifetime sounds a bit cliché, doesn't it? It's hard to come up with another way to describe what we're up to though. The last few days we've found ourselves the guests of a university professor / cycling advocate in Xochimilco, climbing the famous Paso de Cortés, and exploring the ruins of the largest pyramid on the planet! If not such an adventure, how would you describe it? Last Wednesday, we cycled south from the center of Mexico…
It was one week ago that we rode into Mexico City, the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere. Since that time, we've ridden our bikes near end to end of the city, visiting museums, exploring, and eating more tacos than I can count. Every Sunday a number of streets are shut down so that cyclists, rollerbladers, pedestrians and others looking for a safe place to get active can get out and about. We rode over 24 miles on Sunday,…
Most of the time riding on quiet dirt roads brings incredible smiles to our faces. There was, however, a point during our last stretch when I would have given anything for a bit of smooth pavement to ride on, just to get me into town quicker. Once you're committed though, sometimes you just have to ride it out. Our destination from Tula de Allende was the town of San Juan de Teotihuacán, a little bit north of the Mexico City…