I talk a great deal about biking conditions on the Hotel Road from 6-8am. I am often very nervous, especially riding on my own without a chase vehicle. And I often end up without that chase protection as I am too slow.
I certainly am not a good enough bike handler to capture video of the experience while riding. On Tuesday, January 18th, I left Elite with the normal Tuesday ride and got dropped on the way out. I know that they were planning on turning at the Blue Statue and then would be coming back the same Hotel Road. After being dropped, I road out to the Cancun Sign, crossed over and in a stupid dangerous move managed to rejoin them as they came back. Again on the way back I was dropped. This Tuesday ride was in fact the only ride of 2022 where I returned along the Hotel Road instead of taking my normal return route on the Playa Del Carma road.
Soooo, after that long introduction, I have three short videos of the Hotel Road riding to show you. On this Tuesday way back I stopped at the Pirate ship. I waited along the sidewalk hoping to be able to video other groups of riders. They come so fast that it is hard to catch them. Here is the first.
This next clip is a lot longer. Note that the last riders are followed very closely by a small white car with a flashing light, that is their chase car. A large group leaving at 6:30 could well have three chase vehicles that break up as the riders form faster and slower groups. Never any slow enough for me!!
Lastly, I have a short clip of what it looks like for a rider to be “carried” by a chase vehicle. It is a pickup truck. It comes right away and the rider is tucked in so close behind that he is hard to see. He is drafting the truck. Not for the faint of heart or for Tom Pears!
That is it. I hope these give you a little idea of what it is like to be on the Hotel Road in Cancun 6-8am!