Sooo, 2023 is not in the books and already I am thinking about 2024. As is true of all my vacations, I am more than ready to go home. I really love my life back in NH. My wife, my house, man mancave, my restaurants. And this year I even come home to granddog sitting!
What I am writing about here is how and if I need to change this 7 year old Cancun riding experience in 2024. I love everything except the danger of the ride. It is possible that my fears are completely unfounded. They are only in my head. All I need to do is relax and be careful and nothing bad will happen. I’ll certainly consider this alternative over the next year. But at the moment, it is a non starter. I love my riding and my life too much to continue an activity that seems to me to have some real danger,
As my wife will tell you, I am a woos. I don’t lead the charge. I let the other people cross the street in traffic on the hotel road! I have some skills. I can drive a boat, I can camp, I can drive a car in snow. But I do not do these things in bad condidtions just to challenge myself. If the weather is really bad and the boat needs to be used, I am the one to do it.
I have asked and will write and ask but I don’t think the Elite bike shop here has any real alternatives to the Hotel Road. The Cancun weather is ideal. I should invest more time in exploring other bike shops in Playa and beyond. Maybe one of them has a daily alternative and still has the situation where I can live cheaply and have a wonderful rich eating experience, Hard to imagine that anyone can duplicate my daily changing lunch partners of Surfin but it is worth trying alternatives if the riding is safe and available. I don’t really need people to ride with. I don’t really ride with the people I ride with here! I only start when they start and feel badly about being dropped!
OK, so the first order of business is to write to Elite and other bike shops, explain my problem and see if they have any suggestions. Another approach is to think about how I could make the Hotel Road safer for me. I could ride faster so I was with the group? On the days Elite does not ride, I could find other groups that would allow me to contribute to their chase car in exchange for the privilege of coming along. I think he only realistic way to up my speed is to get a wats meter and a coach. I would have to go to the bike stops around me and see what they might suggest. Not sure I can do it but it should be an option on the table.
I can think of one other alternative. I could stay in Cancun, stay on the hotel road, ride my same slow speed but have a chase car of my own to protect me and help me avoid the life passes before my eyes moments.