Here we go again revised.

Due to concerns with Guatemala, we have altered the itinerary and have opted to follow the 08 ride. You can follow this years adventure at bikingtobelize09.blogspot.com where we will update regularly and daily once we commence riding.

Here we go again...

For those of us who followed last years adventure, here we go again. Check out our latest ride at http://bikingguatemalaandbelize09.blogspot.com/ We have been throwing around some ideas and Kerry has come up with an interesting ride. Plan is to leave Vancouver around November 14 and return on the 28th give or take a day depending on flight and personal schedules. This years adventure will have us riding from Guatamela City to Cancun Mexico with stops in between to view the sights, take in the culture, sample the local food and of course party.

Day 15 - Who turned off the heat????

After a restless night and the most bitchiest, over sized baggage, security guard in the Edmonton airport, we made it back safe and sound this morning. The grand totals are... 780 kms and time moving was 40 hours 29 minutes. Roger and Jeremy were flat less. Most of the bikes suffered some malfunction, with mine being the rear derailleur failing allowing little gear change and Perry making the ride from Tulum with 3 missing spokes on his rear wheel. Jen and Ryan's bikes are possibly still locked to a stand somewhere in Playa Del Carmen. Kerry's over weight tank of a bike had no problems but a couple of slow leaks in the rear tires.

In summary, don`t drink and ride your bike, tenting is not as cheap as the hostels or some hotels, unless you want to camp in the jungle, you get what you pay for in Mexico, keep your eyes on your cash at all time especially in the black of night, water up when possible, cervezas are cheaper outside the tourist areas, there seems to be no recycling program for plastic bottles in Mexico as the sides of the roads are disgustingly littered, tourist areas are full of hustlers, bring sunblocker and a hat if you burn well like me, everything is expensive in the Cancun airport so buy snacks before leaving, internet is seemingly every where and most of all, the people we met along the way went out of their way to communicate with us in some form. The people of Mexico and Belize were great!

So needless to say, this is the end of our updates to this blog and hope you all enjoyed it. We have added more photos so please look again at some of the old posts. Stay tuned for next years adventure?
Roger

Days 13 & 14 - We have reached the end of the road...

Change of plans... We decided not to stay in Cozumel and left this morning to avoid any possible complications with our flights on Friday. Roger was woken around 4 am to a bed mate...La Cucaracha which had him restless until daylight.

We rode the last 35 kms to Puerto Morales from the ferry dock in Playa del Carmen. Puerto Morales was our original starting point. We opted for a hotel considering the price difference from camping and the extra comfort. The bikes are packed and enjoying the last of the artificial summer! The cab picks us up at 3:00 this afternoon for the short ride to the airport and a 6:30 departure to Edmonton for a sleepless night in the terminal...ugh!

Day 12 - Cozumel and taking in the sights.

Day 11 - Tulum at last!!

After two grueling days of head winds and heat, we finally rolled into Tulum this afternoon around 1:00 pm. We pigged out at a roadside resteraunt like we hadn't eaten for days. We had no accessible internet for the last couple of days so I was unable to update until now. I was sitting outside a 7-11 again stealing internet as our hostel`s net had gone down but now it's working again.

Yesterday was the longest segment at approximately 120 kms and todays was around a 100 kms through the steamy jungles of southern Mexico. If it wasn't for the little old ladies selling beer on the sides of the road we would have melted. Perry had a flat tire today and Kerry was struggling with a slow leak in his rear tire yesterday and again today. It all made pedaling very difficult. We replaced the tube last night but we had to do it again tonight.

We visited some Mayan ruins in the jungle early today and just finished touring the Mayan ruins here in Tulum. Perry's bike had a serious malfunction on the way back from the Tulum ruins and lost two rear spokes. He is working on the problem as I type this. Tomorrow has us riding only 60 kms to Playa Del Carmen where we plan on meeting up with Doug and Jeremy again. They have been on a side trip into Guatemala. We may spend 2 nights there in Playa del Carmen and just do a day trip to Cozumel or we may take our bikes with gear and camp on Cozumel. We will decide that tomorrow. Buenas noches and off for Cerveza`s!!