The Route

For a map of our trip click here. (Click on the markers for ride info.)

A proper bike trip needs a great starting location and an even better destination. In between, it is supposed to be fun.

When we pivoted from Bike Cuba to Biking Coast-to-Coast, it meant that most of the trip would be thru Guatemala. None of us knew much about Guatemala – death squads in the early 80’s, Mayan ruins, relatively poor, and plenty of mountains -- was about the extent of our knowledge. From a biking perspective, the only thing that really mattered was the mountains.

It makes no sense to start climbing 5000 feet on the first or second day of a 2-week bike trip. So, it was an easy decision to start in Belize and head west into Guatemala. The roads would be flat and we’d be able to gain fitness before hitting the Guatemalan highlands. From the coast in Belize there are two main roads going west towards Guatemala – the Western Highway and the Hummingbird Highway. Sight unseen, this was also a no-brainer decision, we’d ride the Hummingbird Highway starting from a town called Hopkins on the coast. A speck on the map, Hopkins with its grand, but quiet beach was the perfect spot to start our bike trip.

Rest days are a crucial element in any multi-week bike trip. Ideally, rest days should be at interesting spots along the route and after (or before) difficult stretches. Our route was flexible enough to allow for 3 rest days over a 12 day period. The first rest day after two days of riding was at Flores in Guatemala. Modest hills on the Hopkins-Flores stretch did not provide an accurate preview for the next stretch which would take us south to Coban. Even the numbers don’t accurately portray the extent of the hills, but for the record: Flores is at 374 feet while Coban is at 4353 feet. Initially, we thought we’d be able to ride from Flores to Coban in 2 days, but it ended up taking 3 days. Aside from the hills, an extra day was needed because of a long stretch in the route where there were no places to stay. One is definitely off the beaten track when riding between Flores and Coban.

From Coban, the route would see us bike thru Chichi (7125 feet) to Santiago Atitlan (5269 feet). The maps indicated this stretch would be the most mountainous and challenging section of the ride. We’d also be riding on dirt roads which inevitably would slow our pace. Initially, we thought it would take 3 days just to get to Chichi; in fact, it took 3 days to cover the entire distance from Coban to Santiago Atitlan where we took our third rest day. Of note, Santiago Atitlan is a charming town on Lago Atitlan and is located on the south side of the lake across from its bigger cousin Parajachel. The steepness of the hills into and out of Parajachel looked to be especially daunting, and for anyone headed to the Pacific coast, it makes tremendous sense to ride around to Santiago on the south of the lake.

Santiago Atitlan is at 5269 feet and Sipacate is on the Pacific coast, so we knew it was going to be fun on our last day to glide downhill, payback for the grinding hills. We were looking forward to this day weeks before the bike trip even began. And, it was somehow fitting that to reach our hotel on the beach, we had to load our bikes into a narrow boat and cross a lagoon. The roaring Pacific – the perfect place to end a bike trip.

(Scott 2/2/10)