[post publish edit] I had taken a bus a week or so ago on a scouting mission to David. I was amazed that there is no real schedule. They leave when they get enough people in the bus, and when asked arrival time, they respond "Oh senor, we will get there when we get there". I was even more amazed that once on its way, the bus still didn't move along. It never got out of first gear for the first hour. Several groups of bicycles passed us! Today I did the passing. As I made my way through Boquete I caught up to a bus slow poking its way along the road. I rode my brakes for a bit on the gently downward slope, but finally tired of it, gave a couple of good pedal strokes, and passed that bus!
Once that job was done I continued on my quest.
I learned my lesson the last time I rode the lower portion of the route and took it clockwise today. Slower uphill on the rougher road, faster downhill on the smoother road. ;-)
On the way up I noted that the expat neighborhoods here are upscale.
I continued onward in the bike's low gear most of the time. (24x34) What can I say, the bike is heavy and my legs are out of shape! The grade is fairly consistent but I did make use of higher gears when I could.
About half way up I had a interesting meeting with a motorist. A couple was coming down the hill, and stopped in the road as I approached. The only spoke Spanish, but I got enough of what they were saying to know that they were wondering if the road continued down to Volcancito. I responded "si" and they were grateful. Then they let me know that they were impressed that I had biked up here. If they only knew what my planned destination was today!
I passed Pedro's farm, but did not see him today.
I was warm from the pedaling uphill, but could feel that the air was getting cooler because of the elevation. Today's ride would exceed 6000 ft.
I was obviously going uphill and it was getting more mountainous. There were some side canyons with coffee bushes clinging to the steep canyon walls.
I arrived at the intersection where I could put this crazy climbing to an end and roll all the way back to Boquete, but I looked up toward Volcan Baru.
The weather looked promising, and I knew that if that changed, the 538 ft of climbing in the next 0.7 mile would make a fast retreat very likely if needed.
I pointed the bike up the hill. It started out reasonably enough.
I knew from mapping the route that the center portion of the .7 mile section was the steepest.
Truth be known, I stopped from time to time to rest my legs and catch my breath.
I successfully reached the end of pavement at the Volcan Baru National Park boundary.
I was so close to the park's official entrance, that I continued up the rock road. It was steeper than it looks in the photo. I stood on the pedals and powered onward. I wasn't sure I'd be able to come back down on the bike, as the surface was loose, with large rocks.
Not too far beyond the range of the photo above I arrived at the "ranger station"/official entrance.
Fee for entry
Residents, $3
Foreigners, $5
Retired, $1.50
Students, $1
Solo entry is not allowed, not that I planned to continue today anyway.
I rolled carefully down the rock road, and finally got off and walked it when it started getting dicey. Even with the rear tire sliding, I'd have to apply the front brake to keep it from going too fast. From time to time the front wheel would roll a rock. A better mtn biker would likely be able to cope, I however decided that discretion was the better part of valor. I walked the bike down the last 50 yards. Once I got to the pavement I put on the windbreaker I had carried up in my backpack. Being warm and wet after the climb I didn't want to get cold on the descent. I rolled down the hill, reaching 38 mph, even though I was sitting tall and feathering brakes from time to time. I was back to Boquete in less than 20 minutes.
Like most places, it got noticeably warmer as I descended. When I got back into town I took off my windbreaker and pedaled around just a bit to see some roads I had not been on.
I pedaled back up the hill to where I am staying. I had pedaled 16 miles, but like most rides here, it is not the miles that are noteworthy, but the elevation gain. I had climbed 3043 ft, most of that in a 7 mile segment. It would have been the same elevation gain in 5 miles if I had gone counter clockwise! My momma didn't raise a complete idiot!
........Road Bike........Rollers.......MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ......0.................0..................16....................0............16
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..............38......................0...............38
YTD.........38...............0...............110.....................0.............148
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