So, this is my second ride of Cancun 2019. The place where I rent my bike, Elite Cyclery, The Big Store, offers group rides on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. They go a little earlier than the normal 6:15 from the start of the Hotel Road, these guys leave at 5:50? As I have said, it was raining too hard for me to risk riding on Tuesday but I was there early Thursday. One other person was early, Dan from Ann Arbor, probably colder than my New Hampshire.
Dan is here for one week with his wife and children 2 and 4! They are staying at Azul Beach Resort in a time share property. They hope to be able to use the membership at other locals all over the world. When Dan heard I was alone, he offered to share a drink and I was able to give him my phone number at the end of the ride.
Soon another old friend from the Italian group of lest year showed up, Rubin. He said he was riding with the group as the Italian operation was too unpredictable. He even ate a banana!
I would say 12 people showed up. Edgar was there. He is the man from Eliet Cyclery who set up my bike. We left at 5:50. There is a “side road” from the Elite Cyclery location near Plaza de Toro that puts one on the Hotel Road a few 100 meters further along than the gas station that I normally ride from. This group rode at a fast pace. About the same as yesterday and I had to drop off at about the same 18k mark. I waved the chase car around and they came by with no hesitation. I would claim it is always my mind instead of my legs that are the problem. I just give up the fight to keep pushing. I usually chant a mantra to myself like “nice and easy, keep pushing”. Can’t explain it. When riding by myself, I may find myself counting.
Edgar, and maybe another rider dropped first. They seemed to have a mechanical. Maybe Edgar was just adjusting his front facing light. Anyway, after I got dropped, Dan soon was dropped and I was able to catch him. Dan had been leading the group! He said that he sat up to take pictures and that was his downfall.
I said something like “the good news is that the traffic has thinned out and the bad news is that we lose their head lights”. Just then we entered a zone of COMPLETE darkness that I remembered from yesterday. Dan was leading and not happy riding blind! Slowly, things got brighter as Edgar caught up to us with his front light. The three of us rode on. There was some discussion at the end of the Hotel Road of following the group route a few K toward Porta Moralos before turning for home or just heading home now. I was very happy that Edgar chose the latter. The side of 307 was a little gravelly. Dan and Edgar dropped me. There seemed to be a new bike path that I used for a few K before it abruptly ended. I followed the signs to Zona Hotelery. Had a little confusion with the traffic dropping children off at schools that line this road. I had seen this same school operation in 2018.
The road soon reached Plaza de Torus and Elite Cyclery. Dan and Edgar were there and the rest of the group soon arrived. There was some picture taking and I was able to exchange phone connections with both Dan and Edgar. At first I had trouble calling each of them. I was putting a 01 or 051 in front of their numbers. Edgar showed me that by holding down the 0+ key it would enter the required + instead of the 0. I rode/walked the short distance to my airbnb.