Racing rain, slowly

I was fighting with some race navigation issues this morning, and not making much headway.  Given the history of late afternoon downpours lately, I decided I should get out on a bike sooner rather than later. I had some groceries on my shopping list, but wanted to get more miles than that. Finally at noon, EST, I rode down to town and scoped out the goings on. As I pedaled by the turn that would bring me up Volcan Baru I decided that might be a good ride.  I knew I would not have time to get up to the top, but I thought that maybe to the end of pavement would be a good goal.  I started up the hill.

The temperature was in the low 80's as I pedaled along in low gear.  I don't have bike clothes along, and in a relatively short time my cotton T-shirt (NCOM!) was soaked.  I soon passed Dos Jefes, a coffee farm with a story behind it.

I continued on upward.  The hill gets steeper as it progresses, and I got a little slower,  Plenty of time to take in the beauty.

With the altitude, and the changing of weather, it was getting cooler.  I could see Volcan Baru from time to time, and noted that it was socked in with dark clouds.  When I got to the turn to El Salto, it was obvious that continuing toward the mountain was probably a bad idea. It was only 0.7 miles to the end of pavement, but the 534 ft of climbing in that short distance meant it would take some time to get there.

 There were a few big drops of rain as I made the turn toward Volcancito. I knew that if I returned the way I came up that I could be down in 15 minutes. (I had done just that on a previous ride), but today I gambled that I might be able to keep away from the rain.

I had biked the loop I was now committed to in the opposite direction previously.  It didn't take me long to realize that would have been the preferred direction.  The climb today was steeper but smooth, and the descent was less steep and very rough. I rode the brakes all the way down to avoid hitting a pothole or rough asphalt patch.  It would have been better to be riding slowly uphill on that stuff, and flying down the steeper road back to Boquete.

I was tempted to stop and let some air out of the tires. I was just getting  hammered as I braked my way down the hill.  As I neared where the road intersected with the main road between Boquete and David, the road finally smoothed out.  I made the turn toward Boquete and hit my high speed of the day, 38 mph. Obviously still braking some, but allowing the bike to roll a bit more,

I got back into town, made a stop at the grocery store and headed back up the little 400 ft hill with a full backpack.

When I finished up, I noted that my legs were tired.  I had only biked 14 miles, but climbed 2328 ft, and 1600 of those feet were achieved in 4 miles as I pedaled up toward Volcan Baru.  If I were a real cyclist I would have pedaled that last .7 mile to the end of asphalt, and added another 534 vertical feet.

Some other day.   As it was, I timed it just about right.  Distant thunder was rolling over the hills within 30 minutes after I finished up.  Just a few drops of rain is falling as I am typing this.


........Road Bike........Rollers.......MTB..........Lifecycle......Total

Today ......0.................0..................14....................0............14

Jan.........26................ 0................0.....................0..............26

Feb.........7..................0................0.....................0...............7

March.......5.................0................0.....................0...............5

April.......0.................0...............66.....................0...............66

May.........0..................0..............22......................0...............22

YTD.........38...............0................94.....................0.............132