pedalpanam

I’ve realized that most of my writing about the trip happens as correspondence with other cyclists, which up until now doesn’t make it on to the blog. I usually tell myself that one day I’ll get around to writing a great post with photos and all, but in reality this doesn’t happen (and if it does, it is too much “Then I this, then I that, then I the other”). And when I do write a post, I think I underestimate my non-cyclist readers and try to over explain things. What I hope to do from now on is post excerpts from emails, with minimal editing, this way bringing to you timely accounts of the road. For better or for worse this will mean less style, but hopefully plenty more content. At any rate I hope that this blog will be useful as others plan a similar trip, so including these emails will be a good way to share knowledge about the route.

The following is from an email sent to some cycling friends, Phil and Manu (also posted on the PanAm Riders discussion group, for those interested in hearing about other boats), who inquired about my boat trip from Panama to Colombia. Currently (and for anytime in the near future), there is no highway linking Central and South America. Some daring travelers have braved the poor trail conditions and lawlessness in the area known as the Darien Gap, but not all have survived!  Boat or plane are a much safer option.

Am currently working on getting all my Central America pictures uploaded.  Stay tuned.  In the meantime, check out Greg’s post about the boat trip, as usual, great pictures.

Continue reading Bridging the Gap

Exactly a year tonight I was on a train somewhere in Wisconsin or Minnesota, on my way to Portland with my bike.  After a crazy two weeks of goodbyes and packing up, I biked down Lake Shore path with Cooper and Tim to the Amtrak Station downtown (not before stopping at Trader Joe’s to load up on snacks for the 40 hour ride), where Karen, Karla and Pete were waiting there with my heavy duffel bag of stuff I’d eventually fit on my bike.

To mark a year since I’ve not been in Chicago, I’ve compiled a list of top bike rides in the city (and a few bottom ones as well), it is by no means exhaustive.  Clearly this list will be skewed towards my experience of Chicago, which generally was on the north side.  Feel free to chime in if you have something to include on the list.  In no particular order:

Continue reading My Kind of Town

The past few days have been rather unusual.  Namely, the lack of hills!  Yesterday and today’s average speeds were 13.4 and 14.0 miles per hour, the likes of which haven’t happened  since the flat days along the coast south of Los Mochis last December.  It has still been hot, but fortunately the wind and clouds mean that I haven’t been sweating buckets.  In fact, for each of the past 3 days I’ve filled my two water bottles up and that has sufficed.

At the beginning of April in Antigua, Guatemala, Paul and I were looking at a map of Central America when he informed me that we had at least 1,200 miles to go until Panama City.  I was a little skeptical, after all, wasn’t Central America kind of tiny? I was honestly not looking forward to these 1,200 miles.  I didn’t know much about Central America and the places to visit, and the heat made me think I’d never make it.

Yet somehow we made it this far and are only 50 miles away from Panama City.  Lots of early mornings, sometimes up at 4:30 or 5, lots of time spent on the side of the road on a long uphill waiting for our heartbeat to slow down to a safe rhythm, lots of soft drinks (much more than usual).  It will be hard to forget the sweat, but there were highlights that made the past 2 months worth the effort.

Yet this isn’t only almost being done with Central America, this is actually the end of North America as well!  What next?  Some how get to Colombia (not Columbia, cyclist bloggers take note, misspelling, of geographical names in particular, is a pet peeve of mine, but I guess that is my problem!), by either boat or plane, but all that still needs to get worked out.  For now I’m just excited to be arriving in Panama City, where my high school physics teacher and his family live, and are letting me stay with them.  Should I still refer to him as “Mr. Worthington” or “Sir”?  Either way, Paul and I have an ongoing disagreement about a certain knot and its suitability for hanging hammocks, which I’m hoping can be tie broken (the disagreement, not the knot) by Mr. Worthington.

Observations from Matt Kelly on Vimeo.

A few notes:

Continue reading Observations

I intended to get at least one post up for each Central American country, but it looks like that didn’t happen for Honduras (only spent 3 nights there) or Nicaragua (but as usual I did try to check in via Twitter every few days). Of course I’ll get around to telling some stories later, but unfortunately for now references to those places will now be made through the lens of Costa Rica, which as you will learn soon, is rather different than the past 5 countries!

Continue reading Alajuela, Costa Rica

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals pedestrians, cyclists, and other non-motorized traffic are treated.

-Mahatma Gandhi Matt Kelly