Day 4 of riding!!! Penomme to Santiago 102 km
laying on my back, exhaused at the end of riding for seven hours
water break.
standing in the middle of the pan american higway
cool art on the bus stops
bus stop art.
Aaron and I at the oldest church in the Ameicas
fixing my tube for the next days ride
on the ride
Aaron. Happy his teeth are clean and his butt is goo´dBiker short moment of the day- having to stop on the side of the road- freeway and reapply the goo to my crotch. I began to feel a bit uncomfortable, and didnt want to chafe, so I gooed myself up right there on the side of the freeway. To funny
So we woke up today, and had two possible stops in mind. We were going to stop in either Nata, which was about 30 or 40km away, or Aguadolce which was another ten or twenty km past that. Today, we did great. I packed all my stuff last night, adn strapped it on the bike to save time in the morning. WE got breakfast, and the day started off great with a fantastic breakfast that included an egg and ham omlet, and some french toast adn an amazing cappucino!!! Finalyl a great cup of coffee in the morning. By the time we got on the bikes and on the road, it was only about seven or so in the morning. Their was still abit of drizzle, and the ground was still wet from the rain. WE both seemed to have a much better feel for the bikes, and how to use the gears to our advantage, and we did great at communicating about obstaceles in the road, or upcoming merges necessary or things like that. Our legs were feeling great, and we just got into a great pace, and made our way. At one ponit, for probably close to an hour, aaron was able to ride up next to me and ride side by side, and we could carry on aconversation. That was awesome, and we hadnt been able to do this yet up to this point, so that was really cool, and made time go by so much faster. WE weer flying through the roads. The wind was pretty intense for a while, and we found ourselves actually having to lean to the right in order to keep riding straight. WE made great time to NATA though, and we found a littel diner to eat a second breakfast, or a first lunch, whichever you want to call it. Nothing spectacular, but it was good none the less. NATA is the town with the oldest church in panama, and so we decided that since we were making such good time, and it was only ten am, we were going to go check it out. I am so glad we did, it was awesome. So pretty. We saw some americans there, and they said it was the oldest church in all of the america, so who knows. IT was gerat though, and we went inside, and said a prayer, and checked it out. the hand work, and intricacies and detail that went into the inside of hte church was amazing. It was still in great shape. After that, we got back on our bike,s and decided we weer going to make it all the way to santiago before we stopped. That changed our plan of riding for the day to 102 km, which is about 60 miles of riding. The terrain was mostly flat, and it was a bit overcast, and breezy if not outright windy at times, and we were making great time. We stopped every once and a while and took some pictures, especially of some of hte great murals that were on some of the bus stops. The country side was beautiful, and the days ride was great. A few hours into the ride, we stopped for a real lunch, adn found this excellent little diner on the side of the road, and for seven fifty we ate like kings, again. Chicken, rice, beans, plantains, and some gatorades. Excellent. We rested for a bit, and then got back on the road. At this point it was probably about 1230 or 1pm, and we weer startnig to wear out. Adelante siempre Adelante!!! Forward always forward! we pressed on. We had about 40km left in the ride, and it was gonna be tough. About 3pm, and just about spent, we rolled into santiago. MY hands were cramping, my forearms were so sore from gripping the handle bars, my neck was tight, and I was just done. The last few km were hilly, and I was exhausted. We found a hotel out of the lonely planet book and aaron went in and found out how much it cost. He walked out and was like its twenty seven bucks, and I Was like fine whatever. He started laughing. At that point he could have walked out and told me it was a hundred or two hundred bucks and I Wolud have paid it. I was so fricken tired. I hadnt ever ridden so far as I did on day two or three, let along fricken 60 miles that we did that day. We were in the saddles of our bikes for probably seven full hours of teh day. For six of them all was great, but that last hour was tough for sure. I was happy to be in the hotel, and able to take a shower, clean up a bit, and relax. The hotel had a public pool next to it. WE walked over there and took a dip. Man, walking inot that place, it was like a record scratched, the music stopped and every one turned to watch the two white guys walk in. I couldnt help but laughing, especially cause they would all do double takes when they saw my tattoos.
A couple funny points to the day. Aaron was riding next to me, and he was like, mike you look like a bad ass with your blag bags strapped to the side of our bike. I am like fuck you dont talk shit about my white trash saddle bags!!! hahaa. If yu can check out my bike, I got all these bags strapped on to arack on the back using river rafting straps. TOTALLY jimmyed on there, but hey fuck it, it works right!!!
I am so exhausted now, but we havent done anything but ride the last couple days. WE actually did two days of riding today, so we will ahve an extra day to spend at the beach on saturday when we get there. I am actualyl thinking about going all the way up to Costa Rica with Aaron, adn then turning around and coming back, but we´ll see.
Thats it for nwo.
So we woke up today, and had two possible stops in mind. We were going to stop in either Nata, which was about 30 or 40km away, or Aguadolce which was another ten or twenty km past that. Today, we did great. I packed all my stuff last night, adn strapped it on the bike to save time in the morning. WE got breakfast, and the day started off great with a fantastic breakfast that included an egg and ham omlet, and some french toast adn an amazing cappucino!!! Finalyl a great cup of coffee in the morning. By the time we got on the bikes and on the road, it was only about seven or so in the morning. Their was still abit of drizzle, and the ground was still wet from the rain. WE both seemed to have a much better feel for the bikes, and how to use the gears to our advantage, and we did great at communicating about obstaceles in the road, or upcoming merges necessary or things like that. Our legs were feeling great, and we just got into a great pace, and made our way. At one ponit, for probably close to an hour, aaron was able to ride up next to me and ride side by side, and we could carry on aconversation. That was awesome, and we hadnt been able to do this yet up to this point, so that was really cool, and made time go by so much faster. WE weer flying through the roads. The wind was pretty intense for a while, and we found ourselves actually having to lean to the right in order to keep riding straight. WE made great time to NATA though, and we found a littel diner to eat a second breakfast, or a first lunch, whichever you want to call it. Nothing spectacular, but it was good none the less. NATA is the town with the oldest church in panama, and so we decided that since we were making such good time, and it was only ten am, we were going to go check it out. I am so glad we did, it was awesome. So pretty. We saw some americans there, and they said it was the oldest church in all of the america, so who knows. IT was gerat though, and we went inside, and said a prayer, and checked it out. the hand work, and intricacies and detail that went into the inside of hte church was amazing. It was still in great shape. After that, we got back on our bike,s and decided we weer going to make it all the way to santiago before we stopped. That changed our plan of riding for the day to 102 km, which is about 60 miles of riding. The terrain was mostly flat, and it was a bit overcast, and breezy if not outright windy at times, and we were making great time. We stopped every once and a while and took some pictures, especially of some of hte great murals that were on some of the bus stops. The country side was beautiful, and the days ride was great. A few hours into the ride, we stopped for a real lunch, adn found this excellent little diner on the side of the road, and for seven fifty we ate like kings, again. Chicken, rice, beans, plantains, and some gatorades. Excellent. We rested for a bit, and then got back on the road. At this point it was probably about 1230 or 1pm, and we weer startnig to wear out. Adelante siempre Adelante!!! Forward always forward! we pressed on. We had about 40km left in the ride, and it was gonna be tough. About 3pm, and just about spent, we rolled into santiago. MY hands were cramping, my forearms were so sore from gripping the handle bars, my neck was tight, and I was just done. The last few km were hilly, and I was exhausted. We found a hotel out of the lonely planet book and aaron went in and found out how much it cost. He walked out and was like its twenty seven bucks, and I Was like fine whatever. He started laughing. At that point he could have walked out and told me it was a hundred or two hundred bucks and I Wolud have paid it. I was so fricken tired. I hadnt ever ridden so far as I did on day two or three, let along fricken 60 miles that we did that day. We were in the saddles of our bikes for probably seven full hours of teh day. For six of them all was great, but that last hour was tough for sure. I was happy to be in the hotel, and able to take a shower, clean up a bit, and relax. The hotel had a public pool next to it. WE walked over there and took a dip. Man, walking inot that place, it was like a record scratched, the music stopped and every one turned to watch the two white guys walk in. I couldnt help but laughing, especially cause they would all do double takes when they saw my tattoos.
A couple funny points to the day. Aaron was riding next to me, and he was like, mike you look like a bad ass with your blag bags strapped to the side of our bike. I am like fuck you dont talk shit about my white trash saddle bags!!! hahaa. If yu can check out my bike, I got all these bags strapped on to arack on the back using river rafting straps. TOTALLY jimmyed on there, but hey fuck it, it works right!!!
I am so exhausted now, but we havent done anything but ride the last couple days. WE actually did two days of riding today, so we will ahve an extra day to spend at the beach on saturday when we get there. I am actualyl thinking about going all the way up to Costa Rica with Aaron, adn then turning around and coming back, but we´ll see.
Thats it for nwo.
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