Bike Trip Day 2

(along the way)

Our second day was considerably shorter than the first, but I think that it was by far the most difficult day of the trip. As I mentioned, hills make all the difference when riding bikes, and day two was almost all hills. We rode from Monterrey along highway 4 until we reached ‘Muelle San Carlos’ and then those of us in the lead group headed up the road for five kilometers, until we arrived in Platanar, the community of Allan W. a community economic development volunteer in Tico 21. This ride wasn’t too bad, plenty of hills, but nothing too rough. We were supposed to give a presentation there about the trip as well as exercise and good nutrition. So, we got the tables and benches set up and as we did so were met with a nice surprise, Patty (who I had stayed with) and Kristi, another volunteer nearby, showed up with a bunch of fruit for us to gorge on while we waited. And wait we did, but no one showed up for the presentation (a common result for such presentations, I’m told), so we finished up our snack, filled up our water bottles and headed back down the road to where we’d come from, joined by Allan.

(the lead group, PCV friends, Allan, and some friends from his community)

It was during this part of the ride that things got tough. We were headed to Venecia, the site of Katherine K., another TEFL volunteer (and the one I traveled around Panama with). Her site is situated in the beautiful highlands on the eastern side of the Central Range. This means that it’s nice and high, and there was plenty of uphill riding from the low plains of Platanar. It was a good, solid day of riding, I rode most of the day with Eric, Beth, and Allegra (a staff member). We took plenty of short breaks-which is the way I like to ride, so I was happy. All the group reunited in a restaurant parking lot at the edge of Aguas Zarcas, a very nice town with gorgeous views—and at the top of one killer hill. Eric was a beast and charged all the way up it without stopping. I stopped once and was so exhausted I didn’t realize I was blocking the sidewalk from a cute girl until after standing there for five seconds staring at me she asked if I could move. Or, maybe I was just mesmerized by her attractiveness. Either way, I mounted up and made it to the top of the hill. As we looked back and saw one of the support vehicles going the wrong way, we called to see what was up. The rest of the group had decided to get lunch, but we were feeling good, and having just rested, wanted to keep going. 

(after a tough day's ride)

So the two of us rolled through the beautiful hills and grunted as we ascended towards Venecia. I jumped off my bike, totally wiped out, at the edge of town-Eric soon followed. We made our way to Katherine’s house, rested a bit, went out and had the biggest casado I have yet to see in Costa Rica (we both easily licked our plates clean) and then headed back to meet the rest of the group. We had a delightful afternoon hanging out, washing clothes, washing bikes, getting more snacks for the days to come, and enjoying a delightful teriyaki chicken noodle dinner that Katherine made for the whole group. The staff stayed in the hotel, but the rest of us piled onto borrowed mattresses that covered all of Katherine’s little house. In the end, we rode 69 K on day two, and the route can be seen below.