Today was a really enjoyable day of cycling that I needed, though it was not without its challenges still. The day started off nice and cool, in fact, as I left, I saw some locals on the streets wearing sweatshirts and crossing their arms - almost shivering. It was probably about 60°, and I had a lot of shade since I left early and the time change of an hour earlier as well plus some of my clothes were still wet so I had that evaporative cooling going on. But I did not have anything extra on. I was not cold, it was just much cooler. Last night was the highest elevation of the trip, at about 4,500 feet at the hotel.
I started off the day going downhill on a really nice quality, new road with a decent shoulder, no debris on it, and absolutely no potholes whatsoever, Volcan did a really good job of considering bicycles in their town and outside of it – best designed town for cyclists that I’ve seen on the whole trip (see pics below). Well done City of Volcan!
I went down 5,500 feet, and up 4,500 feet for the day. Even though it was a mostly downhill day, there were still lots of small hills as I went around the base of Volcan Baru from the west side to the east. At the bottom of a lot of these up-and-down mountain roads was often a river that, for whatever reason, they make super steep just before and after (maybe they hired some transportation people from Costa Rica!). My first big river crossing was so steep on the way up that I had to walk it again. But not a huge deal, as I was in the shade and it was cool still. I was working really hard, but I don't think I broke much of a sweat. Although after walking my bike up the third such hill, I was sweating a lot. Still, my legs are feeling these hills, as this is the third day of strenuous mountain elevation climbs.
As I have written before, I have no idea what to expect every day. Like yesterday, I had no idea I was going to be taking the pickup truck ride into town - and quite a thrilling ride at that! Today was definitely some of the prettiest bike riding I’ve experienced in the whole trip, if not my life. Much more so than I ever expected while researching. The lush green country roads with not a lot of traffic and really nice roads without potholes were just to absolutely die for. It would be amazing to come back here and ride these hills for months in a little carbon fiber bike - without an additional 80 pounds between my legs like I have now.
So Google had a different route to get to Boquete then Komoot. Komoot was definitely shorter and less elevation total, but after yesterday's surprise of no bridge over a river, I didn't want to take any chances. And Google didn't even recognize the route that Komoot had. The biggest difference was this long leg downhill and a U-turn back uphill. Going down that was fun - about 7 km and most of it I did not cycle at all. When I did, I was in gear 30 and damn near over cycling at that. And as my ears popped from going down in elevation so fast, I felt it get noticeably warmer. Like walking down in the Grand Canyon from the top; you have two things going against you - the day getting later, and going down in elevation. Once I made a U-turn back up to Boquete, I was dripping in sweat. It was a constant slope back to Boquete though of about 4-5%, and I will take that over the potential Komoot route that would have had ups and downs, and probably me walking my bike up some of those up hills still. A real bonus; the road from David to Boquete is really nice for cyclists; about an 8 to 12 foot shoulder, no repaving “curb”, a little bit of road debris, but otherwise real nice. No shade though. The sun just beat down on you on that blacktop, but with every passing minute, I was gaining elevation, so that was helping the temperature situation. I could slowly feel the water flowing off my chest turning into a trickle, then, just a drip, but still dripping with sweat all the way up to Boquete. Finally, a breeze came over and some clouds, and that breeze turned into quite the headwind as I got into town, which completely dried my clothes out. I got into town early enough that I missed the rain today. Definitely made much better time today for mileage covered.
My legs are definitely spent though. Three days of massive hills. My legs are just not made for this, especially with all weight. It will be nice to have a day off from cycling tomorrow!
My hotel last night - the Hotel Volcan Inn, must have had a couple hundred little potted plants out front.
Yes indeed, there is a dedicated bike lane between where cars park off the road, and the sidewalk. Very interesting layout, but well thought-out for everyone!
Volcan, you get a 9/10 for cycling accommodations - way to go!! The only way to get that last point would have been to have some signage about cyclists.
Going from left to right, that big leg on the right was all downhill to the lowest point of the day at around the number 2, at ~33 miles. That part was fun, even though I knew I'd be paying for it on the way back up, as you can see with that slope to finish the day (in the hot sun).
