If I’m not going to be spending Valentine’s Day with Karen, a bike is the next logical choice 🤎
I arrived in Liberia yesterday afternoon. I’ll spare the rant about flying with a bike, suffice to say some certain westjet staff picked the wrong under caffeinated dude to screw with at 7 in the morning. I had a rare win against the inhumanity of modern air travel.
The airport in Liberia was bonkers. When I first started coming here the terminal was an open air, thatched roof structure. Now its a small, maybe 4 gate building. The immigration line wrapped around the building outside and once you got in there were 12 rows to wind through. Cheap direct flights from North America and Europe will do that. Especially when MAGA Florida is not looking super inviting.
Anyhow, I stayed at hotel javy because it was mentioned by many cyclists on the webpage about the route I’m riding. Nice place, great courtyard to put my bike together, and they are holding my bike box until the driver who will pick up Karen in a week grabs it and brings it to Samara. Bike assembly, sourcing camping stove fuel, 2 dinners then bed time. Also met a guy there who had just completed a similar route. He didn’t give me any spoilers.
Against every cell of my being, I got up at 6:30 this morning to start riding before the heat set in. Took all of 10 minutes to clear Liberia and get on some infamous Costa Rican dirt roads.
You know those days when you are riding terrible dirt tracks, uphill with grades approaching the high teens, in 30+ degree temperatures with a 30+ kph headwind? You don’t? Well here’s a tip: don’t do it. 1 of 5 stars and the one star is solely because I can now complain about it for the rest of my life.
Actually, it wasn’t so bad. But it was very slow going and for sure tougher than I expected. The heat was tolerable, partially due to the shade, partially the increasing elevation and partially the wind. The roads were rough but mostly fun (until I hurt my wrist). The grades were punishing but this was expected. The wind was a little cruel, but it all made sense near the end of the day.
Had a few first day failures. Lost a bandana because it wasn’t tied properly, bought a new one at a store minutes later. Had a strap pop off and wrap itself around my rear hub, amazing this didn’t do some damage to the bike or me. Lost my glasses after a crash but fortunately found them after 20 minutes of riding up and down some extra hills. Had a crash by hitting what looked like a little branch sticking out into the road. Wasn’t so bad but between that, and I think the bumpy road, my left wrist is a little swollen and tender. This makes it a tough to navigate and brake on bumpy downhills so I’m hoping it’ll sort itself out overnight.
Some wins: food.
I was primarily riding through farmland, ranches mostly I think. Crossed many rivers and about 5 of them I had to ride right through. Not much of a cell signal for most of the day but I passed through small towns about every hour and half so reapply was easy.
Because of how slowly I progressed today I fell well short of the national park where I planned to camp. Instead I’m at Cabinas Marilyn, a small, multigenerational family run place with super basic rooms. They took a picture of me with the dinner they provided that will be on their Google Maps profile any minute now 🤣. They’re super sweet.
G’night
You tell a good story me friend.
I’m just on my last coffee of the day and I’m sure you’ll be sipping your first in a wee bit. Hopefully your wrist has magically healed itself as you’re going to need it on some of those goat tracks. New bandana and a pair of glasses that look just like the ones you lost …a win I say… just how many times did you have to drop the bike – you kind of glossed over your crashes. Your rest stop looks alright – hopefully they send you off with a full belly. The last river I crossed in Costa Rica had crocodiles (or alligators) in it … make those river crossings fast or carry a chicken with you. Hope you have a grand day two!
I checked the google maps review for Cabinas Marilyn. There is totally a photo of you on it 😁
LOL. You can’t make this stuff up!
Wow! The texts you sent me yesterday did not reveal the rough side of this ride. Best I’m only now seeing your descriptives; punishing, cruel, tolerable…are all cyclists such masochists? On the other hand I can smell the wood smoke in the air, feel the hot wind blowing on my face and taste those delicious casadas all the way to Toronto. And I’m reminded of why you’re there. Savour all the natural beauty and sweet hospitality of the Ticos. xo
Yes I believe cyclist are all like this. Costa Rica is a good place to be!
Soounds like a great ride minus the crashes. I think you covered how rough the trail is. Hopefully it gets smoother and you can enjoy the surrounding views. Your food looks delicious just not enough for you. Bike safe today. Take care of that wrist. LY, Mom
So great to be back to getting to read these. I too check the Google Maps review of the place you stayed. Saved the photo. Ride safe.
Pura Vida! Hope that wrist heals up.
What’s that little curlicue on your brekkie plate? A Chicharon? Looks like they are getting stingy with the Lizano sauce too…
The meat ring was interesting. Pork of some sort. Not as good as bacon :(. I BYO hot sauce always so it’s all good
Happy Holiday, Chad!
I agree, your writing is so great – very descriptive and highly entertaining. It’s a bit surreal seeing such tropical summer type pics as the rain her creates monster ice slush of our snow heaps here in the city. The photo of you on google maps is fantastic! You do look a bit red though… do they sell any bandanas there that come with brims? Safe travels, buddy.
Escaping the snow is of course by design. My heart goes out to you and everyone else out there. I’m actually surprised that I’m not fire engine red yet 🙂