Route change!!

Guatemala will have to wait until 2010. Due to issues flying into Guatemala City, concerns for safety and lack of time, we have decided to alter our route and follow last years ride from Cancun to San Pedro. Depending on interest, some of the group may split off and continue from Corazol onto Belize City where they will take the water taxi over to the island. Plans are to spend some time on Caye Caulker also. Please check out the latest blog at bikingtobelize09.blogspot.com for continued updates.

We are booked!!

There are 5 confirmed riders on Novembers adventure, myself, Kerry, Greg, my neighbour Scott and Barry, a friend/co-worker from WestJet. Not sure who else may have booked in the last 24 hours but the seat sale we are on ends on the 23rd at $514 return taxes in. The confirmed dates are as follows; leave Vancouver Thursday November 12th at 7 am, arrive Edmonton at 9:20 am and then depart for Cancun at 10:40 am. We arrive Cancun at 5:30 pm and then pick up our gear/bikes, work our way through customs and then find our van ride to Puerto Morales as it will be to dark to ride. We return on November 26th with an overnight stay in the Edmonton terminal arriving back in Vancouver in the morning of the 27th.
Lots has happened in the past couple weeks on the riding/training front. Scott and I have managed to ride for the last 2 Sundays to and over the new Golden Ears bridge. Greg joined us today and we continued on to ride the Albion ferry over to Fort Langley, before it is dry docked for good, and then home, 48 kms.
Kerry on the other hand has taken on a more strenuous ride with his brother. They left last Tuesday to ride the 3000 kms to the Mexico border from Surrey. I rode with them to the border at 3:30 am Tuesday morning to see them off, 50 kms. Reports coming back are they ride approximately 200 kms daily, 15 hours and the last phone call included the term "pure hell" whatever that means. I suspect that Kerry may want to hang up the bike for a couple weeks after he gets back!
The countdown has begun with 115 days to go until we leave the ground from YVR!

Galiano island training trip

Kerry and Roger rode from home to the ferry and ended up on Galiano island Friday evening where we met Greg and his friends Darlene and Jim. After a great evening of food and beverage we woke up to an early morning of riding to the end of the island. For those of you that have never been to Galiano, it is up hill everywhere you go!! The five of us rode the 40 kms to the end and back which included some walking/pushing the bike up hill.
We rewarded ourselves with an excellent lunch at the local pub and spent the afternoon at a park watching the ships cruise through the pass on their way to Victoria.
Kerry and Roger caught the 5:40 boat back to the mainland and rode home. Total distance covered for the 2 days was 145 kms.
Greg is planning a couple more outings including a wine tasting trip close to home which may prove interesting.

First ride of the season.

Well summer has finally decided to arrive, which allowed Kerry and I to take our first distance ride of the season last weekend. We rode 50kms to Fort Langley and back to check out the fiberglass trailers that had gathered at a local campground. On the ride home I quickly found out how the winter has treated me.
Kerry is presently in San Pedro, on vacation and getting a taste of things to come next November when we will return to the island on the bikes.
Still have 10 confirmed for the ride and if Guatemala is difficult to get to, Kerry and I have discussed a repeat of last years ride.
For those of you that are counting, there are approximately 182 days left until the adventure begins!!!
That`s it for this time and stay tuned.

Status update

It has been several months and a few updates are in order.
Kerry, Jordan, Greg and myself attended a 2 hour maintenance class 2 weeks ago, at Caps Cycle in Delta, to figure out some of the intricacies of our bikes. We were educated on removing the rear wheel free wheeling hub or cassette depending on application, replacement of spokes and proper bearing torque. Tomorrow we will be joined by Perry, who has emerged from his hiding, for further instruction on derailleur adjustment.
We have at least 2 more individuals interested in joining our adventure, Shawn from Calgary and Scott from Abbotsford who work with WestJet.
Riding has been minimal due to the frequent crappy weather, but as usual, Kerry seems to be able to pick the nice days to ride to work. Today was not one of them, with the snow that blanketed the lower mainland.
Hoping for better weather soon as I need to " get back on the bike" as the saying goes... 8 months and 5 days or 250 days to go!!

Out of shape and riding.

Took the bike for a quick spin to the grocery store and just found out how out of shape I am! Mystifies me how I managed to ride 780 kms less then 2 months ago and today's short jaunt was a challenge . Looks like I need to lay off the junk food, Cerveza and exercise regularly.
The streets of Surrey are bare and some of the side roads are slippery where the sun has not reached the ice.
Kerry rode his 25kms to and from work today so he seems to have started his regime.
The bike is performing flawlessly, after replacing the rear derailleur and broken front brake handle from the Belize/Mexico adventure.
Looks like we may have a tentative 8th rider and waiting for Barry to introduce him to the rest of the crew.
We have been slightly tweaking the agenda and have added a few interesting links for enticement.
That is it for the update, so check back occasionally.

Here we go again...

La Aurora International Airport, Guatamala City

This is a photo of Roger, Kerry and Perry on the beach in San Pedro, Belize in 2008.

For those who followed last years adventure, bikingtobelize08.blogspot.com here we go again. We have been throwing around some ideas and Kerry has come up with an interesting ride. The plan is to leave Vancouver around November 14 and return on the 28th give or take a day depending on flight and personal schedules. As usual, we will update this space over the next 10 months and daily when we are riding. So far there are 7 riders with 4 of them classified as rookies. Kerry, Perry and myself (Roger) will have to lead the inexperienced for a small initiation fee :-) and warn them of the possible dangers especially on San Pedro, as we would not want anyone to be taken advantage of.

Now.... for our adventure. We have deliberated over it for a while and think we have come up with an interesting plan. It takes in a lot of different elements but not to many hills to go up but, hopefully lots to go down. There will be some rough roads and some good roads and even some dirt roads. We have allowed for several days on the islands of San Pedro and Caye Caulker in Belize, but we can always give up an island day if we need an extra travel day for some reason. Naturally the plan may need to be tweaked a bit here and there depending on flights and connections.


Here is our updated Itinerary ....

Day 0 - Drive to Seattle in the evening after work so this day doesn't really count :-)

Day 1 - Fly from Seattle to Guatemala City, find a hotel for the night. Assemble bikes for the next day of riding.

Day 2 - Depart Guatemala City and ride 132 kilometers to Rio Hondo and spend the night at a hotel. Our first day will be our longest but there is no way to avoid it as there are limited places to stay in Guatemala.

Day 3 - Ride from Rio Hondo 109 kilometers to La Ruidosa and find a hotel.

Day 4 - Ride 52 kilometers from La Ruidosa to Puerto Barrios and catch the 2:00 pm boat (the last one) to Punta Gorda, Belize, find a hotel and take in the Garifuna culture.

Day 5 - Be on the road by 7:00 am and Ride to 102 kilometers to Independence to catch the 4:30 pm ferry to Placentia and find a hotel. Placentia is an interesting place where the main street is a sidewalk that is billed as The world’s narrowest main street. http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0505/explore_reefs_in_belize.shtml

Day 6 - Ride 90 kilometers from Placentia to Dangriga.

Day 7 - Ride 70 kilometers from Dangriga to Ian Anderson’s Jungle Lodge in Caves Branch.

Day 8 - Take the tubes down the Caves Branch River from Ian Anderson’s Jungle Lodge, http://www.cavesbranch.com/adventures/caving.html and then catch up with our bikes and equipment at Jaguar Paw, ride the 65 kilometers to Belize City and catch the last water taxi to Caye caulker and find a place to stay.

Day 9 - Hang out in Caye Caulker

Day 10 - Catch the water taxi to San Pedro.

Day 11 - Hang out and party in San Pedro.

Day 12 - Hang out and party in San Pedro.

Day 13 - Catch the first water taxi from San Pedro to Corozal Belize, ride to the Mexican border and then on to the Chetmal Mexico bus depot. Take bikes apart, pack them up and ride the bus to Playa del Carmen. This ride would take us 3 days by bike and some of us have already rode it so no need to cover it again. Find a hotel and party in Playa.

Day 14 - Get a shuttle to Cancun airport and catch a plane back to Seattle and then drive home.

As you can see, we have scheduled some island time to enjoy the local customs, menu and beverage options.
Once again, this is not a race and more of a leisurely ride of approximately 650 kms and a little shorter then last year.

If you are up for a unique vacation and can handle the pace...join us, as last year was an unforgettable experience and this should be just as fun.