It's all in your head

I am winding down on my time in Panama.  I would have liked to have had more time to prepare for today's loop, but you play the cards you're dealt. I took off today just before noon under a hot equatorial sun. There were some clouds knocking at the door boiling just over the crest of the hills that separate Boquete from the Carribean Sea. The predicted that the normal heavy afternoon rains were likely to arrive sometime before my ride would be over.  I put my raincoat in my little pack along with flat supplies and my Garmin, with a plan to ride the El Salto loop. I said to myself "I'm slow, but I will finish" and with that I pedaled off.

It was a rather enjoyable ride up the hill.  No rain today, (see yesterday's ride!)

I heard the rumble of thunder within a half hour of starting, so I was mindful of taking too much time taking photos, but I utilized the stops for rest!

The coffee plantations (fincas) were much easier to get a photo of today.

I was plenty warm riding up the hill, but with the rumbling of thunder (and the increasing altitude) came a noticeably cooler breeze. It was not enough to make me cold, but was keeping me focused on getting around the loop before the downpour started. Descending on a mtn bike without fenders is not all that enjoyable.

It is obvious that the coffee plants are tended to manually, no machines.  The plants grow right up to the edge of the fields with no room for machinery to turn or travel.  And again, it is on hillsides so steep that I'm not sure how people can walk there, let alone do work.

I kept hearing thunder, sometimes sounding very close, but only had a few large drips of rain so far. I continued riding up the hill, knowing that I was getting closer to smooth pavement that tipped downhill rapidly.  I remember rolling downhill to Boquete in just over 15 minutes last year.

The road I was on was paved, but not very well.  There were places where trees had fallen across and were sawed for access, but still very obviously there. The road looked more like a trail as I got higher up the hill. I knew I was getting close to the intersection where I would be turning down hill, but was still surprised as I rounded a turn and saw the intersection!  I grabbed a couple of gears and held on tight.  I also sat up high to help keep speed under control.  I'm not real familiar with the bike.  I still managed to hit 46.3 mph on knobby tires!  They were singing a song as I rolled along.

It took 19 minutes to reach Boquete from the turn today, so I guess I wasn't throttling the speed too much.

Once through Boquete I only had the climb to the house.  Not all that steep, it maxes out at just over 11%, but most is around 8-9%.  The thunder continued to rattle the skies, but no rain so far.

12.7 miles, 15.6% maximum grade, 2212 feet total climbing.

I managed to roll into the yard just as lightning struck close and the thunder rattled the windows of the house. A little rain is falling as I type this, but still no downpour as I expected there would be.

Other than eyes burning from the salty sweat running into them, I'm none the worse for wear.
I'd call that a success!


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

Today ......0.................0..................13....................0............13

Jan.........0.................. 0..................0.....................0..............0

Feb.........0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

March.......0.................0................0.....................0...............0

April.......0.................0..................0......................0...............0

May.........0..................0................61....................0..............61


YTD..........0...............0.................61.....................0..............61