Andy:
Leaving the big city this morning was fairly effortless but busy at the industrious hour of 7:45 am. The low clouds looked foreboding even at that hour but never lived up to their promise. Leaving the big three lane road out of town we entered a number of small but busy pueblos in a very rich farming area. The names bear mentioning because they are such a mouthful: Mexicaltzingo, Tianguistensco and Xalatlaco were three of the memorable ones. Shortly afterwards we began climbing again in earnest. Somehow we just took it all in stride even though we probably were on some of the steepest pavement yet. The scenery just kept getting more and more beautiful with very tall moss covered pines, big rocks, cliffs and a lake all mixed in with misty clouds but no rain. We don't really know how high up we were but we would guess ten to eleven thousand feet. We were breathing hard but not overly so. Coming into Cuernavaca rates as the best ever descent for either of us. The payback for all of that climbing came in a very long and sinuous descent right into ther very heart of Cuernavaca. We had a place picked out to stay only to find out that it no longer existed so we found another rather lovely place to say. Cuernavaca is a very old city dating way back. Montezuma II's (of Hernan Cortez fame) grandmother came from here and Cortez built his HQ here in the 1520's. You can still see his midieval place in the middle of town. This is a hopping city that hosts a lot of tourists and students very clearly. On another note Ted's chain broke for the second and third time today. The first time was as we left the bus station in Guanajuato last week, literally on his first pedal stroke. With two breaks today I figured it was a pretty clear sign to replace it. The trouble is that, with his nine-speed rear cassette, his chain has to be pretty narrow so I didn't think we would be in luck. I hunted around for a bike shop (usually they are everywhere) and could only find one in the municipal market, cramped low and narrow. The old woman running the shop has two types of chains -- wide and narrow, so I took a narrow one and paid 35 pesos for it. It almost fit Ted's bike but was giving a few problems. I felt particularly brilliant when I realized that the new chain would do fine on my 7-speed freewheel and my chain would do well on Ted's bike. Time will tell if the 35 peso chain is up to the job so stay tuned.
Ted: Today was pretty cool. I must have finally gained enough muscle to keep up with dad on the hills. I've noticed a lot of shoe stores around in all the larger towns and cities. In Toluca, almost every third store was a shoe store, and I mean that quite literally. The interesting bit is that we probably couldn't buy new biking shoes anywhere short of Mexico City, or Guadalajara. We did see another biker today, dressed for riding, and pedaling something besides a rusted single speed. The sight of another guy in lycra and a helmet makes me feel slightly more normal, however with our blue eyes, 1.25 beards, and 6ft statures, I think we'll stick out no matter what we're wearing. The ride today was scenic, and super awesome. We broke records, and wishes became fact. By that I mean that we shattered our previous to p speed of 64.3km/h (?) with a brand new top speed of 82.4 km/h. It was awesome. However, at the end of that beautiful fast straight steep stretch was a terrifying corner, after which we thanked whatever god is up there that we had good brakes. Prior to this wild acceleration and deceleration was a different kind of downhill. We hung on to our slight metal frames, down a demented series of corners which would have satisfied the most knee dragging motorcyclists. We each tested the new tires on our bikes to their limits around corners which, had we been going just a little faster would have thrown us to the pavement. A few corners were taken too fast for comfort, and others were taken excruciatingly slowly, stuck behind a pickup truck creeeping along with its cargo of cement all in all, a most excellent day.
(editors note: we will be very careful in future descents, we really were not out of control as much as Ted says we were on the edge of it)
Distance today: 94 Km
Riding time: 5 hrs 18 min
Total trip dist. : 568 Km
Leaving the big city this morning was fairly effortless but busy at the industrious hour of 7:45 am. The low clouds looked foreboding even at that hour but never lived up to their promise. Leaving the big three lane road out of town we entered a number of small but busy pueblos in a very rich farming area. The names bear mentioning because they are such a mouthful: Mexicaltzingo, Tianguistensco and Xalatlaco were three of the memorable ones. Shortly afterwards we began climbing again in earnest. Somehow we just took it all in stride even though we probably were on some of the steepest pavement yet. The scenery just kept getting more and more beautiful with very tall moss covered pines, big rocks, cliffs and a lake all mixed in with misty clouds but no rain. We don't really know how high up we were but we would guess ten to eleven thousand feet. We were breathing hard but not overly so. Coming into Cuernavaca rates as the best ever descent for either of us. The payback for all of that climbing came in a very long and sinuous descent right into ther very heart of Cuernavaca. We had a place picked out to stay only to find out that it no longer existed so we found another rather lovely place to say. Cuernavaca is a very old city dating way back. Montezuma II's (of Hernan Cortez fame) grandmother came from here and Cortez built his HQ here in the 1520's. You can still see his midieval place in the middle of town. This is a hopping city that hosts a lot of tourists and students very clearly. On another note Ted's chain broke for the second and third time today. The first time was as we left the bus station in Guanajuato last week, literally on his first pedal stroke. With two breaks today I figured it was a pretty clear sign to replace it. The trouble is that, with his nine-speed rear cassette, his chain has to be pretty narrow so I didn't think we would be in luck. I hunted around for a bike shop (usually they are everywhere) and could only find one in the municipal market, cramped low and narrow. The old woman running the shop has two types of chains -- wide and narrow, so I took a narrow one and paid 35 pesos for it. It almost fit Ted's bike but was giving a few problems. I felt particularly brilliant when I realized that the new chain would do fine on my 7-speed freewheel and my chain would do well on Ted's bike. Time will tell if the 35 peso chain is up to the job so stay tuned.
Ted: Today was pretty cool. I must have finally gained enough muscle to keep up with dad on the hills. I've noticed a lot of shoe stores around in all the larger towns and cities. In Toluca, almost every third store was a shoe store, and I mean that quite literally. The interesting bit is that we probably couldn't buy new biking shoes anywhere short of Mexico City, or Guadalajara. We did see another biker today, dressed for riding, and pedaling something besides a rusted single speed. The sight of another guy in lycra and a helmet makes me feel slightly more normal, however with our blue eyes, 1.25 beards, and 6ft statures, I think we'll stick out no matter what we're wearing. The ride today was scenic, and super awesome. We broke records, and wishes became fact. By that I mean that we shattered our previous to p speed of 64.3km/h (?) with a brand new top speed of 82.4 km/h. It was awesome. However, at the end of that beautiful fast straight steep stretch was a terrifying corner, after which we thanked whatever god is up there that we had good brakes. Prior to this wild acceleration and deceleration was a different kind of downhill. We hung on to our slight metal frames, down a demented series of corners which would have satisfied the most knee dragging motorcyclists. We each tested the new tires on our bikes to their limits around corners which, had we been going just a little faster would have thrown us to the pavement. A few corners were taken too fast for comfort, and others were taken excruciatingly slowly, stuck behind a pickup truck creeeping along with its cargo of cement all in all, a most excellent day.
(editors note: we will be very careful in future descents, we really were not out of control as much as Ted says we were on the edge of it)
Distance today: 94 Km
Riding time: 5 hrs 18 min
Total trip dist. : 568 Km
1 comment:
yeeeeesh but that sounds like fun keeps ya on your toes though or knees
Post a Comment