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RR singlespeeds in the jungle

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Mountain Bikes
Published
16 May 2004
Last activity
31 May 2004
Original author
Penny S
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17
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  1. note: for those of you (you know who you are) who want the
    full two week Yucatan Peninsula/Cozumel TR or the dive
    reports, watch your mail.

    The Mexicans certainly have a handle on bikes as
    transportation!! They are everywhere, and helmetless riders
    every one!! The most incredible parade of bikes I've ever
    seen. I'm fascinated by triciclos: only $2250 pesos ( $195
    USD) and I think they'd be great for groceries, kids and
    carpool. They use them for everything from transporting the
    family, taxi service, hauling construction material , taking
    grandma out for a spin or ???? The cure for America's SUV
    problem....www.bicimoto.com.mx.

    cet.comIMG 1039.jpg

    Bikes are a very interesting part of the culture. It's
    interesting that many folks commute by bike to whatever type
    of jobs they have, and even out on what appear to be
    undeveloped areas you'll find someone along a road slowly
    pedaling along. Most of the highways in the more developed
    areas we visited have separate bike paths. Behind most
    buildings you see them parked en masse from the workers. At
    our hotel in Valladolid, every morning you'd see bikes
    getting wheeled across the courtyard as folks arrive for
    work. Let's not even talk about the traffic, bike and car,
    and the drivers!

    here's a fun one we saw, kid seat with tri-bars...
    cet.comIMG 1082.jpg

    We went to one Maya AZ (archaeological zone) Coba` which is
    about 40 kms in from the coast, way south of Cancun.

    playadelcarmeninfo.complaya del carmen info
    mayan-ruins-of-coba.html

    This is a really interesting site in that it's only
    partially excavated, and very spread out. It gets quite a
    few visitors, but not nearly to the degree of it's famous
    neighbor to the NW, Chitzen Itza. It's the kind of place
    where you'd expect Indiana Jones to come swinging out on a
    vine at any time. We'd heard that you could rent bikes
    there, and much to our pleasure, you could... pick a bike,
    any bike, for 25 pesos ($2.50)

    cet.comIMG 1104.jpg

    The site is rather spread out: there are several
    groupings, but there are several kms apart, so bike of
    course is the choice!! The roads linking the groupings are
    ancient Maya limestone paved roads, called Sacbe, that
    link building groups and AZ all over the Yucatan. So these
    sacbe are perfect bike paths. They are wide and
    **somewhat** flat, terrain altered by 1300 years of jungle
    growing through and over it.

    It feels so great to be on a bike... and single speed at
    that ( new territory for me) Flying through the jungle is
    cool and breezy. Each little grouping has a special parking
    area just for bikes. We turn off on some single track that
    goes ?? I wonder about where is it going...no maps of
    course, and it gets narrowed and rockier with low limestone
    outcrops here and there. The plan was that it would connect
    up with the sacbe we were on that went back to some engraved
    monoliths, but no.... my comfort zone got the best of me and
    I insisted we turn around. Bike is definitely the way to
    travel here. The minute you stop it's hot humid and
    oppressive.. No choice tho as close to the structures is no
    bike, and not even JD could tackle the pyramid on a bike!

    cet.comIMG 1106.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1107.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1108.jpg

    The main castillo is amazing. They've only uncovered one
    side of it, and barely reconstructed it enough to be able
    to climb up it.It's the tallest pyramid in this part of
    the Yucatan. The other three sides are still covered in
    trees, roots and vines. We hike to the top, take in the
    view, recover from the climb and then back down. We'd
    parked are bikes right across from where the bike taxi
    guys hang out while their customers are on the pyramid.
    These guys are strong... pedaling family groups that may
    be Granny, or Mom and toddlers, or Cruise Ship Passengers
    types around the site.

    cet.comIMG 1114.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1116.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1117.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1109.jpg

    On the return journey thought the site, Craig cuts off on
    another little trail, but I tell ya, I am NOT feeling
    adventurous. He meets up with me, turns out his little trail
    went by the site of a little (crocodile infested) lake, and
    he was a little worried about snakes dropping on his head.

    We park our bikes at the little "lot", with big smiles on
    our face. What a blast, really a lot of fun. We sure had big
    grins on our faces: the trip had gotten off to a rough start
    with some CC lock out problems ( I had the wrong PIN, what a
    pain!!) but with a few hours of bike FUN, all remaining
    stress and anxiety were blown away. It was the perfect set
    up for the beach phase of our trip. I saw the little bike
    repair shop on the way out.
    cet.comIMG 1123.jpg

    The rest of the trip was devoted to scuba diving, eating,
    sleeping, etc, and hanging on the beach.
    cet.comIMG 1131.jpg (view
    from the porch of our palapa, thatched house)

    Didn't have dinner here, but the sign was good:
    cet.comIMG 1183.jpg

    On the last day home, I got my wish. After disembarking from
    the ferry at Playa Del Carmen, we had for blocks to go to
    the bus station, to get to the Cancun airport. We were not
    looking forward to lugging three heavy gear bags that
    distance. ( note to self, get wheeled bags for next trip) Lo
    and behold, to no surprise, there's a triciclo taxi, " carry
    your luggage? 35 pesos..." You, bet, but please let me ride
    it!! So the driver walked, and I rode our luggage to the bus
    station.
    cet.comIMG 1256.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1257.jpg

    ah, back to reality now.

    Penny

  2. Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

  3. I was thinking you shunk the rugrats but now I see them.
    So when are you getting you backward trike? You can go
    double tracking.

    I MTB 2004

  4. Quoted message said:

    or the dive reports, watch your mail.

    Dive reports (with dive logs) would be cool.

    Quoted message said:

    ah, back to reality now.

    Reality sucks!

    --
    --
    John G. in Memphis, TN Have a nice......... night.
    shavings.netreflect john.jpg

  5. Quoted message said:

    I was thinking you shunk the rugrats but
    now I see them. So when are you getting
    you backward trike? You can go double
    tracking.

    I MTB 2004

    what rugrats? I left them at home for this trip!!!

    p.

  6. Quoted message said:

    ah, back to reality now.

    That's always the hard part of trips like those. My one
    jungle ride involved slimy wet roots and tedious tricks of
    balance (and lots of falling due to my inability to
    consistently manage those tricks of balance), so I'm glad
    you didn't have to go through that!

    Sounds like you had a great time, thanks for sharing
    stories & pics.

    --
    -BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail
    address, at least)

  7. Penny S said:

    note: for those of you (you know who you are) who want the
    full two week Yucatan Peninsula/Cozumel TR or the
    dive reports, watch your mail.

    The Mexicans certainly have a handle on bikes as
    transportation!! They are everywhere, and helmetless
    riders every one!! The most incredible parade of bikes
    I've ever seen.

    It feels so great to be on a bike... and single speed at
    that ( new territory for me) Flying through the jungle is
    cool and breezy. Each little grouping has a special
    parking area just for bikes. We turn off on some single
    track that goes ??

    cet.comIMG 1106.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1107.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1108.jpg

    cet.comIMG 1114.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1116.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1117.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1109.jpg

    The rest of the trip was devoted to scuba diving, eating,
    sleeping, etc, and hanging on the beach.
    cet.comIMG 1131.jpg
    (view from the porch of our palapa, thatched house)

    Awesome view. Dang, it almost looks like a movie set or
    something... the water and sand color are great... man, I
    really miss my yearly surf trips down to Baja.

    Nice RR and pix, but what about the diving pix ??? I know
    you took some, didn't you?
    --
    Slacker

  8. Penny S said:

    note: for those of you (you know who you are) who want the
    full two week Yucatan Peninsula/Cozumel TR or the
    dive reports, watch your mail.


    <MUCHO SNIP>

    Quoted message said:

    cet.comIMG 1123.jpg

    Something tells me you want find shimano here.

    Looks really, really cool! I was in Cancum about 13 years
    ago and that wa the last time I was in Mexico. I think it's
    time for another trip!

    Thanks for sharing.

    --
    o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
    www.schnauzers.ws

  9. Ride-A-Lot said:
    Penny S said:

    note: for those of you (you know who you are) who want
    the full two week Yucatan Peninsula/Cozumel TR or
    the dive reports, watch your mail.


    <MUCHO SNIP>

    Quoted message said:

    cet.comIMG 1123.jpg

    Something tells me you want find shimano here.

    Looks really, really cool! I was in Cancum about 13 years
    ago and that wa the last time I was in Mexico. I think
    it's time for another trip!

    Thanks for sharing.

    misc OT notes for you all.

    Cancun has a Wal-mart, ferrchrissakes. Our total time in
    Cancun was picking up a rental car within in an hour of
    arriving, and getting off the bus two hours before
    leaving. If you want to visit the real Mexico, I recommend
    you do the same

    For you divers, diveparadise.comreefs.htm has
    better pics than I could ever take. We did 14 dives each in
    7 days, including a night dive. Although we did have a
    supposedly decent UW camera, as new divers our focus was
    maintaining bouancy not taking pictures. We did shoot off
    three rolls, what a waste of film. Maybe I'll get a case for
    my digital next time, who knows... UW photography is not
    just point and shoot.

    They surf on the East side of Cozumel, I do have some good
    snapshots. We went and watched one afternoon.

    Penny

  10. Penny S said:
    Ride-A-Lot said:
    Penny S said:

    note: for those of you (you know who you are) who want
    the full two week Yucatan Peninsula/Cozumel TR or
    the dive reports, watch your mail.


    <MUCHO SNIP>

    Quoted message said:

    cet.comIMG 1123.jpg

    Something tells me you want find shimano here.

    Looks really, really cool! I was in Cancum about 13 years
    ago and that wa the last time I was in Mexico. I think
    it's time for another trip!

    Thanks for sharing.

    misc OT notes for you all.

    Cancun has a Wal-mart, ferrchrissakes. Our total time in
    Cancun was picking up a rental car within in an hour of
    arriving, and getting off the bus two hours before
    leaving. If you want to visit the real Mexico, I recommend
    you do the same

    For you divers, diveparadise.comreefs.htm has
    better pics than I could ever take. We did 14 dives each
    in 7 days, including a night dive. Although we did have a
    supposedly decent UW camera, as new divers our focus was
    maintaining bouancy not taking pictures. We did shoot off
    three rolls, what a waste of film. Maybe I'll get a case
    for my digital next time, who knows... UW photography is
    not just point and shoot.

    They surf on the East side of Cozumel, I do have some good
    snapshots. We went and watched one afternoon.

    Penny

    Looked great. I want to go back to somewhere like that!
    Maybe when the boy is juat a little older...

    Matt

  11. Penny S said:

    You, bet, but please let me ride it!! So the driver
    walked, and I rode our luggage to the bus station.
    cet.comIMG 1256.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1257.jpg

    ah, back to reality now.

    Penny

    Good pic - you looked natural!

    --
    - Zilla Cary, NC (Remove XSPAM)

  12. MattB said:
    Penny S said:
    Ride-A-Lot said:

    Penny S wrote:

    >note: for those of you (you know who you are) who want
    > the full two week Yucatan Peninsula/Cozumel TR or
    > the dive reports, watch your mail.

    <MUCHO SNIP>

    >cet.comIMG 1123.jpg

    Something tells me you want find shimano here.

    Looks really, really cool! I was in Cancum about 13 years
    ago and that wa the last time I was in Mexico. I think
    it's time for another trip!

    Thanks for sharing.

    misc OT notes for you all.

    Cancun has a Wal-mart, ferrchrissakes. Our total time in
    Cancun was picking up a rental car within in an hour of
    arriving, and getting off the bus two hours before
    leaving. If you want to visit the real Mexico, I recommend
    you do the same

    For you divers, diveparadise.comreefs.htm has
    better pics than I could ever take. We did 14 dives each
    in 7 days, including a night dive. Although we did have a
    supposedly decent UW camera, as new divers our focus was
    maintaining bouancy not taking pictures. We did shoot off
    three rolls, what a waste of film. Maybe I'll get a case
    for my digital next time, who knows... UW photography is
    not just point and shoot.

    They surf on the East side of Cozumel, I do have some good
    snapshots. We went and watched one afternoon.

    Penny

    Looked great. I want to go back to somewhere like that!
    Maybe when the boy is juat a little older...

    Matt


    We went to Hawaii when Patrick was 3 and Maddy was 3 mo.
    Worked fine. Diving wasn't on the agenda though.

    Shawn

  13. Looks like a great vacation! Thanks for sharing.

    --
    monique

  14. Quoted message said:

    Cancun has a Wal-mart, ferrchrissakes. Our total time in
    Cancun was


    picking

    Quoted message said:

    up a rental car within in an hour of arriving, and getting
    off the bus two hours before leaving. If you want to visit
    the real Mexico, I recommend


    you

    Quoted message said:

    do the same

    For you divers, diveparadise.comreefs.htm has
    better pics than I could ever take. We did 14 dives each
    in 7 days, including a night dive. Although we did have a
    supposedly decent UW camera, as new divers our focus was
    maintaining bouancy not taking pictures. We did shoot off
    three rolls,


    what

    Quoted message said:

    a waste of film. Maybe I'll get a case for my digital
    next time, who knows... UW photography is not just point
    and shoot.

    They surf on the East side of Cozumel, I do have some good
    snapshots. We went and watched one afternoon.

    Penny

    My wife and I love Mexico but like you Cancun is an airport
    for us. We really dig Isla Mujeres!! Drew

  15. Monique Y. Mudama said:

    Looks like a great vacation! Thanks for sharing.

    heh heh, that was only just a bit of it. Among various
    OT things we did was a lot of beach time at a place in
    Tulum with power only 4 hours a day; boat tour of the
    Sian Kaan world heritage biosphere reserve, and 7 days
    of scuba diving.

    p.

  16. Penny S said:

    We were not looking forward to lugging three heavy gear
    bags that distance. ( note to self, get wheeled bags for
    next trip) Lo and behold, to no surprise, there's a
    triciclo taxi, " carry your luggage? 35 pesos..." You,
    bet, but please let me ride it!! So the driver walked, and
    I rode our luggage to the bus station.
    cet.comIMG 1256.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1257.jpg

    This is the best part of the story. 🙂

    gabrielle

  17. Penny S said:

    note: for those of you (you know who you are) who want the
    full two week Yucatan Peninsula/Cozumel TR or the
    dive reports, watch your mail.

    The Mexicans certainly have a handle on bikes as
    transportation!! They are everywhere, and helmetless riders
    every one!! The most incredible parade of bikes I've ever
    seen. I'm fascinated by triciclos: only $2250 pesos ( $195
    USD) and I think they'd be great for groceries, kids and
    carpool. They use them for everything from transporting the
    family, taxi service, hauling construction material ,
    taking grandma out for a spin or ???? The cure for
    America's SUV problem....www.bicimoto.com.mx.

    cet.comIMG 1039.jpg

    Bikes are a very interesting part of the culture. It's
    interesting that many folks commute by bike to whatever
    type of jobs they have, and even out on what appear to be
    undeveloped areas you'll find someone along a road slowly
    pedaling along. Most of the highways in the more developed
    areas we visited have separate bike paths. Behind most
    buildings you see them parked en masse from the workers. At
    our hotel in Valladolid, every morning you'd see bikes
    getting wheeled across the courtyard as folks arrive for
    work. Let's not even talk about the traffic, bike and car,
    and the drivers!

    here's a fun one we saw, kid seat with tri-bars...
    cet.comIMG 1082.jpg

    We went to one Maya AZ (archaeological zone) Coba` which is
    about 40 kms in from the coast, way south of Cancun.

    playadelcarmeninfo.complaya del carmen info
    mayan-ruins-of-coba.html

    This is a really interesting site in that it's only
    partially excavated, and very spread out. It gets quite a
    few visitors, but not nearly to the degree of it's famous
    neighbor to the NW, Chitzen Itza. It's the kind of place
    where you'd expect Indiana Jones to come swinging out on a
    vine at any time. We'd heard that you could rent bikes
    there, and much to our pleasure, you could... pick a bike,
    any bike, for 25 pesos ($2.50)

    cet.comIMG 1104.jpg

    The site is rather spread out: there are several
    groupings, but there are several kms apart, so bike of
    course is the choice!! The roads linking the groupings are
    ancient Maya limestone paved roads, called Sacbe, that
    link building groups and AZ all over the Yucatan. So these
    sacbe are perfect bike paths. They are wide and
    **somewhat** flat, terrain altered by 1300 years of jungle
    growing through and over it.

    It feels so great to be on a bike... and single speed at
    that ( new territory for me) Flying through the jungle is
    cool and breezy. Each little grouping has a special parking
    area just for bikes. We turn off on some single track that
    goes ?? I wonder about where is it going...no maps of
    course, and it gets narrowed and rockier with low limestone
    outcrops here and there. The plan was that it would connect
    up with the sacbe we were on that went back to some
    engraved monoliths, but no.... my comfort zone got the best
    of me and I insisted we turn around. Bike is definitely the
    way to travel here. The minute you stop it's hot humid and
    oppressive.. No choice tho as close to the structures is no
    bike, and not even JD could tackle the pyramid on a bike!

    cet.comIMG 1106.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1107.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1108.jpg

    The main castillo is amazing. They've only uncovered one
    side of it, and barely reconstructed it enough to be able
    to climb up it.It's the tallest pyramid in this part of
    the Yucatan. The other three sides are still covered in
    trees, roots and vines. We hike to the top, take in the
    view, recover from the climb and then back down. We'd
    parked are bikes right across from where the bike taxi
    guys hang out while their customers are on the pyramid.
    These guys are strong... pedaling family groups that may
    be Granny, or Mom and toddlers, or Cruise Ship Passengers
    types around the site.

    cet.comIMG 1114.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1116.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1117.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1109.jpg

    On the return journey thought the site, Craig cuts off on
    another little trail, but I tell ya, I am NOT feeling
    adventurous. He meets up with me, turns out his little
    trail went by the site of a little (crocodile infested)
    lake, and he was a little worried about snakes dropping on
    his head.

    We park our bikes at the little "lot", with big smiles on
    our face. What a blast, really a lot of fun. We sure had
    big grins on our faces: the trip had gotten off to a rough
    start with some CC lock out problems ( I had the wrong PIN,
    what a pain!!) but with a few hours of bike FUN, all
    remaining stress and anxiety were blown away. It was the
    perfect set up for the beach phase of our trip. I saw the
    little bike repair shop on the way out.
    cet.comIMG 1123.jpg

    The rest of the trip was devoted to scuba diving, eating,
    sleeping, etc, and hanging on the beach.
    cet.comIMG 1131.jpg (view
    from the porch of our palapa, thatched house)

    Didn't have dinner here, but the sign was good:
    cet.comIMG 1183.jpg

    On the last day home, I got my wish. After disembarking
    from the ferry at Playa Del Carmen, we had for blocks to go
    to the bus station, to get to the Cancun airport. We were
    not looking forward to lugging three heavy gear bags that
    distance. ( note to self, get wheeled bags for next trip)
    Lo and behold, to no surprise, there's a triciclo taxi, "
    carry your luggage? 35 pesos..." You, bet, but please let
    me ride it!! So the driver walked, and I rode our luggage
    to the bus station.
    cet.comIMG 1256.jpg
    cet.comIMG 1257.jpg

    ah, back to reality now.

    Penny

    Wow! Great Stuff!

    Peace, Bill The mind serves properly as a window glass
    rather than as a reflector, that is, the mind should give an
    immediate view instead of an interpretation of the world.
    :-]

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