Return to the North

Isla Mujeres is a lost paradise. I was the flip of a coin from being stuck there forever. Beach front hostel, blue caribean ocean, white sand beaches, travelers from around the world and a 20 km paved highway looping the island for the bike. I pulled myself away from the place before it was too late and on Sunday morning I found myself driving through Canmore in a snowstorm. I figured I had heldout long enough down south to have avoided such a thing but mother nature was waiting for me. So were the cops. 2 hrs after getting off the plane I found myself with a $150 speeding ticket. When the cop asked how fast I was going or what the speed limit was I came up blank. After being in the freedom of central america where virtually nobody is liable for anything they do I was brought back to Canadian reality in a hurry. I am now off to visit my Dad in the mountains to chop firewood and drive tractors until I can figure out how to function in such a proper country again.

Hippie Van

Out on my $70 rental bike for a second ride I began to cirucmnavigate the 70 km of Cozumel island. About 10 km in a old hippie van (aka volkswagon) blew by, only to have its rear left wheel fall off about 100 ft past me. Watching the van skid along the highway on 3 wheels was pretty amusing but even better was watching the free wheel roll down the highway for 300 metres and into the other lane causing a old pickup to nearly swerve off the highway. As I rode past the hippie van now resting along the highway I pointed out to the driver that he was missing a wheel, he gave me the middle finger. The rest of the ride around the island was spent trying to draft off random tourists on there rented scooters. Done with Cozumel I headed back to Cancun for another night of spring break and then the next day headed to the Island of Mujeres to relax for the day. Last nights bonfire party on the beach was a much nicer pace then the out of control chaos back on the mainland. Tommorow may be the final day in paradise so I am soaking in whatever heat I can to take back with me to the frigid north.

Mexican Yucatan

Spring Break in Cancun is the gongshow of gongshows. After two days of hanging out in the chaos I determined that there are three ways to enjoy it there:
1. 8 beers,
2. 8 shots of tequila, or
3. 4 beers and 4 shots of tequila

On day three I headed south to the more civilized resort city of Playa del Carmen. Day 4, was spent with 2 other Canadians and an Aussie as we rented a car and headed south to the seaside Mayan ruins in Tulum. Tulum was a welcome break as its much cheaper and more relaxed place to visit then the northen resorts. Day 5 was back in Playa del Carmen for a beach day. Day 6 I woke up with the need to bike after 5 days off so I hopped a ferry to Cozumel and rented a bike for the afternoon to cruise the island. Riding a $70 wal mart bike is sketchy as the bike was ready to fall apart at any moment but it heald togethar for the day. Resting in the Mexican Yucatan has been a welcome break although on some occasions rest is difficult to come by a.k.a: Cancun. Tommorow I will head back to Cancun for another round before I start preparing for my return to the Northern Lands.

Less Bike, More Beach

Riding with Fernando turned into another epic 7 hr ride as we road on singletrack and jeep roads up to 4000 m then across a frigid plateau for 2 hrs before decending down dusty off camber singletrack back into the city. Half way down we stopped at a trout farm and we each took care of a 2lb trout. Once back in the city we played dodge the rush hour traffic for 1 hr as we returned home. On saturday I hopped in with Julio and Sos (friends from TransMexican) and we headed to the National XC race in Leon to join 800 other bike junkies. The track was technical, rough and flat, as it wound around a lake and up through dry, cactus filled mexican terrain. Having not done a National level event in almost 2 yrs I didn`t know what to expect but I knew if I stuck close to Lupillo that I would have a good day. This plan worked for the first 2 km as I road with the leaders before I tried launching a drop on a decent and wrecked my rear wheel. DNF. After the race I sold whatever was left of my bike and bought a plane ticket to Cancun to become a Spring Breaker. After 4.5 months of riding up and down Central America my former bike and I are pretty trashed and in need of beaches.

Mexico City

The acrcheology museum we went to was pretty wicked for the first two hours but after that our heads were full with enough info to last a lifetime so we raced through the last 5 rooms setting a new museum speed record. My head still hurts from all the history but it was worth it. On Sunday Simon took off back to Canada and I headed down with my Mexican counterparts to catch the last stage of the Vuelta de Mexico. Fellow Canadian Andrew Pinfold won in front of tens of thousands screaming Mexicans. Later on we would head out to a Cantina for Enchiladas with mole sauce (aka best food ever). Training down in Mexico is dangerous for two reasons, 1. Mexican Food and 2. Mexican Pollution. I have had a smoggers cough ever since I got to Mexico city and am starting to wonder how long it will take till I have the lungs of an Italian chain smoker. On the other hand is the food which is not biker food. It is the food of the second fattest nation in the world and for good reason. Chiliquilis, tacos, tortas, fried bananas.... Mexicans have a perfectly good excuse for being a large nation as the food is top notch although sketchy for reasons previously stated in the TransMexicana. After todays training ride and coughing up more Mexican pollution my mouth is starting to feel like an exhaust pipe but lucky for me a good Enchilada cures everything down here. I am stoked for tommorow as Fernando, one of Lupillos racing buddies is going take me on a ride on Mexican singletrack outside the city. My lungs cant wait for the fresh air.

Post Race

The Transmexicana is over but not forgotten. After an amazing race experience last yr, this yrs version of the race was a little different. Day 0 started with the racers each getting to let an Iguana loose into the forests around Huatulco. Simons Iguana was over anxious to get going and squirmed out of Simons hands leaving behind its tail. Apparantly Iguana tails are pretty fragile and when removed from the body they keep twitching for a couple minutes. This turned out to be a bad oman for Simon as his race didn´t end up going as planned between broken bikes, getting lost and bathroom runs. I managed to keep the tail on my Iguana but I couldnt keep the flu away as day 2 severely limited my chances of ending up on top of the podium.

Simon and I arrived to Mexico city on Sunday night and have been staying with the TransMexicana race photographer Edgardo ever since. After 4 days we have figured out that Mexico city is pretty big. Last night after a 6 hr ride up a 3800 m mtn with fellow racer Julio, Simon and I tried to find out way back to Edgardos house but ended up biking around like a couple headless chickens for 1.5 hrs. At one point we tried calling Edgardo with my new mexican cell phone but the battery died along with our hopes of finding our home. After another good pedalling session we finally recognized a local coffee shop and later found our digs pretty exhausted and feeling a little dumb. We now wrote down the address as it could probably help in the future. Today we went for another pretty epic ride through the city and up to a mtn bike park hanging at 3000 m above the city. Riding through the 2nd biggest city in the world is pretty crazy as we are constantly weaving through a maze of vehicles and trying to hit holes in the traffic. Simon hit one hole today but I was cut off by a taxi and soon caught in the middle of the Mexican freeway. Getting to the safety along the edge I kept going but I missed Simon who was waiting a little further ahead as I was probably passing a bus at the time. After ripping down the highway aways thinking Simon was ahead of me I opted for a u-turn as I was getting lost again and Simon had the apartment keys. Luckily I ran into Simon who was still waiting along the edge of the road and we continued on our way this time finding our home like a couple heat seeking missiles. Tommorow is tourist time as we will grab our cameras and head to a couple 0ld castles and some sort of archelogoy museum people keep telling us about.