Up, up and up!
Yesterday was a day when many of the ARC participants took off to explore a bit of what the island of San Cristobal has to offer. Jason was scheduled to take part in a day-long dive trip, and left early in the morning before I had even gotten out of bed. When Rebecca and I made it to shore to get breakfast, some friends on another boat described what they had planned: to rent bikes and have a taxi drive them and the bikes to the top of the volcano, and then ride down the mountain. This sounded like a great idea so after updating the blog, Rebecca and I rented some bikes too. Unfortunately for me, the key detail of taking a taxi to the top was forgotten. When I suggested riding to the top instead, Rebecca was, of course, all over the idea.
As has happened many times in the past, I completely underestimated how hard this would be. It took us a little over two and a half hours to ride to the top, and it was 99% up hill. Shortly before reaching the top, my legs began to cramp up, and even after we got to the parking area at the base of the hill, we still had another walk/climb to make it to the water-filled crater. Oh well.
Lesson of the day: If you haven’t ridden a bike in several years, don’t start off trying to ride up a mountain!
The good news is that the ride back to town was downhill virtually the entire way. It took us less than 45 minutes to retrace our path back to the bike shop, wearing out the brakes on the bikes in the process. All in all, it was a fun and rewarding day. I can easily say that now because it’s over, and I’m sitting in a cafe by the shoreside, enjoying breakfast instead of sweating in the sun, peddling up a mountain!
Sounds like a lot of work! I rode in Cuba this year but mostly flat roads. Great riding. Is the water in the crater swimmable? I’d be in if it was.
I think it would have been and we’d have gone in too but it wasn’t easily accessible. The land around it seemed very marshy.
We went to the same site 11 months ago. I never saw that bike path you rode on, I wonder if its new? We carry two folding bikes on the boat and often use them when we’re “parked” during hurricane season, depending on the location.
WADE – what bikes do you carry? We are carrying Montages.
D
We carry the “West Marine” Port Runner. I don’t know if they still make them. A folding bike is desired as we want to keep the bikes below deck during a passage. We don’t take them out at every destination but do take them out when we’re stopped for months at a time.
The bike path ended at El Progresso. It did seem quite new.