9:30 AM Sunday Jan 16, ride 2 in the books
A little too exciting! My idea was just to ride on my own. Set the alarm for 5:12am aiming for a 5:30 departure. Don’t know what made me think that was a good idea. I made it fine to 5:30 start at EliteCycle Saturday. Maybe I moved the alarm back knowing that I did not have to meet anyone? It was well after 5:30 when I finally got out the door and had to return to get my riding gloves! I’ll be sure to at least set it to 5:05 tomorrow.
I had stopped in EliteCycle about 10:30 yesterday, Saturday. The woman who seems to lead their rides was again working so I wanted to be sure and tell her never to worry about my dropping from the group. I had asked her earlier as we lined up to leave, how much to give the chase car driver. She said we would deal with it afterwards. So She now told me 50 and offered to take the money and deliver it later. Her next Elite ride is Tuesday and they will just go up and back the hotel road 52K? instead of the 70K Saturday that included a loop out to the airport.
I had an idea, as I approached the circle at the end of the hotel road, that if I saw the chase car for the 6am ride I would give him 50 and hopefully someone near by could explain that I will be dropped but I know where I am and not to worry. No sign of a chase cane and in fact I only saw 2 riders taking bikes out of cars. So off I went.
I did not get far enough before hitting a piece of road furniture meant to demark a pull off for buses. There are 100 of these pull offs on the hotel road but I had never noticed that ONLY this one has road furniture. If I fell, it was fairly controlled. I mainly hit the peddle and knocked the chain off. Got it back on. Started off again. Opps, did not fix it correctly, stopped again and put it back on. This time it stuck.
I have 2 yellow blinkers in the back: one on the bike frame and one clipped to the top of my shirt. I wear a bright orange danger vest. I have 3 headlights attached on the handlebars. One is very bright, acts more like a head light than a warning and I keep it for emergency use or if I hit a stretch of road where the street lights are out. Such was a normal occurrence in 2020 but someone seems to have paid the light bill this year.
The other two white handlebar lights are smaller and flash. They give me some visibility of pot holes but mainly their purpose is to contribute to increasing driver awareness that something strange is ahead. I only use one. The other is a spare. Recharging is a daily task, along with laundry. I charge the yellow frame light daily. The cloths clip on uses aaa batteries that I should buy a spare for. Unless someone tells me, I can’t see if it has died until I check it at rides end. All three handlebar white lights charge, I though the one I used Saturday would give me another ride today Sunday, but it did not. Died about 30 minutes in? I put on the big headlight, got the backup smaller one working and shut off the large one. Now I am charging that smaller white and the back yellow.
I believe I have never ridden with so many lights and awareness objects. In the first years I am sure I had no light as all. Maybe by 2020 I had gotten a little smarter. At 6am it is DARK. Riding with a petaton and a chase car makes a big difference. The other riders all have lights. The chase car is right behind us and flashing like a Christmas tree. My normal line about the hotel road is that at 6-7am there is no one driving on it that was not driving on it yesterday and has seen the pelotons. There is a minor down side to the peloton. The guy in front of you can fall and take you down. We ride too close to avoid such. I try to be last and not have someone on my left so I might be able to pull in that direction if I need to. But, the peloton does provide many eyes watching for pot holes etc and people use hand signals and voice to warn the following riders,
But no pelaton for me today.
I made steady if slow progress. I ride so much slower when alone. Sometimes the busses come uncomfortable close but all went well. I’m trying to refamiliarize myself with the land marks. Pirate bridge at 5k, my lunch place at 10K, the yellow mall at 13? and next? a farris wheel I do not remember from before. The next site is the Cancun sign. Before that is a long stretch of fence with the Cancun sign where I always get dropped if I am with people. Down past the archaeological site on the left and a little later the turn around where the busses head back.
After that it feels a lot safer. There is a bridge, long stretch and then another bridge at 22K. That 22K sign was the ONLY one I could read. This is a new development of my failing sight. I may get better at knowing where the signs are and focus on reading them. Now some curves, gentle, then a unmanned police pill box and long straight stretch and at last the Blue statue about 26K. You can see the statue on the main cycling page.
I stopped at least 3 times in bus pull outs, the last at the statue. Good to get a little rest, stretch, and I was trying to raise the seat as it still felt low or maybe it was slipping down.
Then things proceeded down hill. It started to rain. It is a short distance from the statue to the main road back to Cancun. I made it there in a downpour and took shelter under gas pumps. Really torrential and I was soaked and the ground is now covered in puddles so I am unable to see the contour of the road. This is the worst part of my ride. For at least 5K I am riding on the edge of a fast fast main Plya Del Carman Cancun road. Luckily the sun is now up so it is easier for drivers to see me. I just don’t push it. Slow and steady. The worst part of this stretch, if you can believe it, is in years past dogs have come out and chased me. No dogs Saturday or Sunday.
The rain started hard again and I hung out under a shop overhang. Now I was getting worried that the phone was swimming in the pocket of my shirt. At last I could see the sky brightening and started again. Soon there is a bike path. I jumped on that and then when it ends the back road into Cancun is right there. I got on that and picked up another bike path.
Still one more disaster. I’m not very familiar with the bike path, it could be new since 2020. About a K from my Airbnb I made a mistake, went on the wrong side of a poll, tried to grab the poll to avoid droping down a high curb and pulled myself off the bike. A real hard fall. A car stopped right away but I assured them I was ok. Put the lights that had been knocked off back on the bike. Started to ride and realized that my handlebars are seriously bent, about 12 degrees off center. So is my seat. I was able to straighten the seat but not the bars. Just able to ride home that way.
My body seems intack. One scrape on the elbo. I think it would all look a lot worse but I had long sleves and long pants.
Sorry to worry you. Obviosly I will try very hard to be more careful.
I’ll pick up the story later.