After sitting around on a boat for a week doing sweet FA I thought it was a good idea to go for a bit of a ride while we had the chance.
We’d spotted a bike hire place whose bikes weren’t completely rusted and had disc brakes and John had found some Strava segments he thought he could beat so off we set.
The cool thing in a town of 16000 people is they have a separated bikeway which is narrow but keeps the cars and you away from each other.
The problem with being on a volcanic island is you’re either go up the mountain or go down and seeing we’re at the bottom it was up for us.
After about 3 peddle strokes I was missing my bike. The bike must weigh 20kg and I’m already in my easiest gear on the middle chain ring..this is going to hurt.
Up we go to BellaVista and hang a right and ride a bit more and there’s a fork in the road. This must be the left we take…as we vere onto dirt road. It’s raining lightly (as it seems to do a lot here) and up and up we go.
Pull over after a bit to check the map but Google doesn’t have the road to Cerro Mesa on it…seems about right.
Ohh…a bit of downhill…and this is where I discover disc brakes aren’t all created equal. Silly me with my 2 bikes I look after and their awesome stopping power…this one…the back break barely works and the front is only slightly better and the brakes are arse-about to what we’re used to…hmm….better not need to stop going down in a hurry.
We haven’t seen any other cars for ages and I wonder if we are on the right track. I’m huffing and puffing and ready to give up. Poor John is trying to get me motivated. Then we come across a bit of a diversion in the road.
Eventually we see a side road which would be the one you’d come in on if coming from the beach so I think we’re on the right road and it starts to flatten out for a bit..yay.
Then in the distance (which isn’t far as its so cloudly up here) we see the top of the volcano and it’s steep. Once we reach the base John heads off but it’s too hard for me so I start pushing my bike and then stuff this and park the bike in the bushes and walk up.
John’s already hit the top come back to see where I am armed with the go pro to re-assure me it’s definitely the last hill.The top would be amazing if there wasn’t cloud everywhere.
At the base of the last hill is a Giant Tortoise so we get a picture with him. He’s got a big GPS tracker stuck to his shell.
Then he proceeds to walk over the go pro..you know with all that choice…
Now to return…and I suck at descending. I actually ride faster on flat than I do downhills. Eventually with sore hands we make it back to the hire place, covered in mud. So much mud I can no longer see the blinking rear light it’s covered so thick.
Good to spin the legs but man I want my light bike back. Good news is John got his KOM he was after.
Tomorrow we fly to Quito so that’s Galapagos done and dusted.