March 15th, 2016
Just as we were cycling past Volcan de Colima, it erupted! That was pretty rad! So was the rest of the day too.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: El Paraiso, Colima, Mexico
Destination: Placita de Morelos, Michoacan, Mexico
82.8 km trip, 5:14 time, 46.4 km/h maximum speed, 15.8 km/h average speed
Route Description:
This route includes a day of windy rolling hills. You will do two hills up that then return you to seal level. The first is 250 meters and the second is a bit lower. After 11.5 kilometres you pass through an area with loads of hotels and food options. The hotels openly advertise rooms for 99 pesos. There is also a huge rest stop that you could easily camp in. You then pass through Tecoman which is large (over 100,000 people). After that you will pass through a few more towns and then you start more hills.
Accommodations:
We stayed on the beach under an abandoned palapa for free. There was a hotel in town and we didn’t ask for a price.
What happened…
Andrew writes: The first half of today was flat and since we left so early, it felt like we made good time. After cycling through the large town of Tecoman, we met Sebastian who was cycling north to California. To suggest that Sebastian was traveling light might be an understatement. In addition to the clothes on his back he had a small backpack, and a small bag behind his seat. He was riding what looked like an old 12 speed with really skinny tires. He was a man on a mission, averaging about 100 miles a day since he left Panama 10 weeks ago. Wow. An ex-peace corp volunteer his mission was to reach California before April 15th so he could be there when his Grandma turns 95. What a swell dude.
Sebastian rained on our parade a little by telling us that we were going to be climbing the rest of the day. Sure enough, we had two or three climbs and descents which were a a lot of fun. All of the towns are at the bottom of each descent, so when I got tired of climbing I let Amanda know, and we pulled into the next town, La Brisa.
Due to our early start it was an early finish and we got to enjoy a giant palapa all to ourselves on the beach. We both went for a surf session and just took it easy. I ended up going for another session after dinner in the post sunset time when the sky is pink and beautiful. Seeing it reflect off the water while being submerged is such an incredible experience. I didn’t want it to end.
Amanda writes:
Today’s ride was filled with a new feel in terms of the area. First off we got to see the volcano which was super cool! I actually sort of hoped to convince Andrew that we should change our route and head inland for the volcano. This was fuelled by a really cool picture I saw recently posted by a cycle tourist. In the photo he has his tent and bicycle in the foreground and then in the background is the volcano erupting with lava; awesome! Andrew promised me we’d see more. We’ll see about that. After that we passed through the large city of Tecoman which was actually pretty easy to ride through. I felt like it seemed like a nice city. After leaving the city we ended up on a highway that seemed quite manageable. On this day we bought some fruit from street vendors and were given a free papaya from a local farmer. After we saw Sebastian the road became less populated with towns but there were still a few to be had before the day was over. I have been really struck by the frequency of towns in this region. It’s nothing like Canada or the USA. Sebastian did warn us that the towns will become less frequent for a bit and we had some climbs coming up ahead.
As we continued on our ride we started to see an even bigger military and navy presence. Military check stops, men with machine guns and helicopter patrols at least twice a day up and down the coast. Over the last few days we’ve been warned by pretty much everyone we speak to that we should be careful. We have of course been warned to not ride at night which we are sure to follow and today we received our first warning to be careful of vigilantes. While we listen to the warnings, I’m hopeful and confident they’re not interested in two smelly cycle tourists.
As we continued on the road today we entered the state of Michoacan. It seemed that as soon as we entered the state that every bridge crossing had writing on the railings on the bridge. Words to commemorate the 43 students killed in recent years along with many other phrases talking about assassinations and grumblings of the government. We looked it up after the ride and confirmed that we were in fact now travelling in the state that the students were killed. Even before we confirmed it we thought it might be the case and I was a bit nervous. What with the increased armed presence and warnings from locals, I wasn’t too keen on being noticed. I just wanted to pass through the region by blending in; which is virtually impossible with a blonde guy on a bike loaded with a boogie board and guitar on the back. So when my blonde bombshell Andrew waved and said hello to the two armed guys climbing out of the bushes with their rifles pointed up, I was none too pleased. We had just been warned by another person that the police aren’t really trusted in this area and to be careful. So I would have much rather ridden by the two guys with guns and pretended to not see them. Andrew said I was being a worry wort and I hope he’s right. For now I’m hoping I can convince him to try and lay low and not be seen.