The Genesis

The idea of a January bike trip started when Scott called around looking for interest in August 2009. Scott is a veteran traveler of faraway places and more recently has participated in, or organized, several exotic bike tours: he has ridden the Tour d'Afrique; he and a buddy rode through China; and he rode with another friend from Geneva to Copenhagen a few years back. Knowing this, when the call came I figured any trip Scott was organizing would be both rare and fun. Having worked with Scott for a few years I also knew it wouldn't be over organized - there would be enough slack in the plan to encourage flexibility and spontaneity. I jumped at the chance and so did a few of his other friends.

The original idea was to bike Cuba. There is a fair amount of information on the web about riding in Cuba (e.g. this one) so we started working on it. We planned on starting in the east, in Santiago, and riding to Havana - about 1300 km. It would be hilly, rural, and a great way to see a large part of the island. Scott's research indicated we would find pretty good roads, a few big towns along the way and probably plenty of accommodation in the form of 'casa particular', or B&Bs. The lack of frequent shops for food and drink along the way was a potential negative.

But 'Destination Cuba' bit the dust in late October. The exceptional piece of foreign policy known as the Cuban Embargo got to us. Of the seven guys (yes we were all guys) who were still interested, most were holding various positions of (ir)responsibility in our businesses or in our communities - and we collectively decided to succumb and obey The Law, even though skirting it would have been easy enough by routing our journey through Mexico or the Dominican Republic. We'll politely call it the perils of middle age...

Scott wasn't daunted and quickly proposed several alternatives in Central America. "The Tour of Central America" would wind about 1000 kms from Managua, Nicaragua through Costa Rica and finish in Panama City. This route would have plenty of places to stay, some interesting sights like Lago de Nicaragua, and would be pretty flat the whole way. The big negative was most of the trip would be on the Pan American Highway. Ugh.

"The Mayan Circuit" would start in Belize City and loop through many of the archeological areas in eastern and central Guatemala, finishing back in Belize City. Some hills on this route but no real mountains and even a ferry boat ride back into Belize. No major negatives. Nothing too exciting either.

"The Coast to Coast" route would also start in Belize City and initially follow the Mayan route, but instead of looping back into Belize it would continue on to the Pacific. It would traverse the wilds of Peten and cross the Guatemalan highlands before descending to the ocean. Rural roads and small villages would keep our attention and we liked the idea of a point to point route.

Coast to Coast got the votes. Riding the Pan Am Highway did not sound like fun. Belize too excited no one and the idea of a loop route that entailed more time there was uninspiring. On the other hand the benefits of quiet roads, hard climbing in the mountains and a swim in the Pacific won the day. Scott began pouring over maps, elevations, weather statistics, etc. in trying to come up with The Route.

We were making progress.

(kgb 2/01/10)