Well, that was a ride!

I accepted an invitation to join a group of ex-pats on their weekly Sunday ride.  Today's ride began  from the tourist center about a mile....downhill...from where I am staying.  As it ended up, over half their folks were either out of the country, or had other plans today. As I rolled down to the tourist center,  David was waiting on a carbon bike with disc brakes and 32mm Gatorskin tires on.  Before 7:30 AM (local) rolled around, another cyclist arrived.  John was on a knobby tired E-bike.  Here I was a terribly out of shape gringo who's only biked 9 miles, mostly downhill, since last November, riding a heavy mountain bike that did not shift well.  I was going to have my work cut out for me.
They assured me that they were in no hurry and wouldn't drop me.  I assured them that I had two GPS devices tracking the ride today and I would be able to find my way back home.

As it ended up, we took a better route through Boquete, less traffic, than I had taken before, but once out of town we took the road out toward the 3 Waterfalls Trail. This was a road that I pedaled several times when I was here last year.

True to their word, they did not drop me.

With Dave on a lighter, easier rolling bike, and John on a bike with electric assist, I was definitely having the toughest time of it today, and it certainly didn't help that I was by far the weakest engine.
It was still fun to share their company, and see some sights again.  It had been a year since I was out this way.

It was a steady climb away from Boquete.

Our first stop was at some basalt outcroppings.  Common in Oregon, but rare in Panama, where they only have one volcano............the one we were riding on!

When we got to San Ramon waterfall a few miles in they gave this old guy a longer rest. Though to be fair, David is 70 and I think I remember that John was 60, that puts me just about in the middle of these two guys.

Shortly after this stop David turned around and went back.  He had some other commitments, and while not stated, I think I had delayed them too much. 

 I had ridden their intended loop several times last year, and knew that I was in no shape to do it now, or at least if I did it would be painful!  I told John that I would pedal with him for a short distance yet, before I too would turn around. John and I continued on by ourselves.

It was a nice day for a ride.   I continued along at my snail's pace. It helped that there were many sights to take in.

John reminded me that the "castle" was just a short distance up the road and that might be a good goal for me. I agreed and pedaled to the abandoned home.

A sad story of broken dreams accompanies this derelict home

John continued along, crossing the river and climbing ever increasing grades to make his loop. I was at 4900 ft elevation and knew there would be a couple more thousand feet added to that if I continued on.  I also remembered that I would have an equal distance to ride back, plus a 300 ft climb in the last mile or so.

It was a fast roll back down to town, only punctuated by a brief photo stop as I crossed the Rio Caldera.

And I would be remiss if I rode bike in coffee country and did not get a photo of coffee plants clinging to the hillside.

Coffee plants on the hillside in the center of the photo

I had both my Garmin Edge 305 along, as well as the RWGPS app on my phone enabled.

Garmin says 14.1 miles, 1767 ft climbing
RWGPS says 15.1 miles 1942 ft climbing
Maximum speed was 38.7 mph
Maximum gradient was 17.2%
I obviously was using some brakes coming back down since I'm not famiiliar with the bike.

It seems I timed by return just about right. Within 45 minutes of finishing up a tropical downpour started that is continuing as I type this 3 hours later, and my "saddle interface" can feel that it was riding on a wide "tractor seat" style bike saddle.

Thanks John and David for letting me tag along, and thanks to Murray for allowing me to ride his bike and also for hooking me up with these guys.


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

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

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..............23......................0..............23


YTD..........0...............0.................9.....................0..............23