April 13, 2016
Hike-a-bike across the river from La Gloria to Tolantongo, then up the hill to….nowhere.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Las Grutas La Gloria, Hidalgo, Mexico
Destination: Tolantongo Rest Area, Hidalgo, Mexico
9.12 km trip, 1:43 time, 25.4 km/h maximum speed, 5.3 km/h average speed
Route Description:
You start with a 500 meter climb out of Tolantongo. The first 5 kilometers of the 8 kilometers is a gravel road. We camped at the top by the rest area/bus parking due to heat.
Accommodations:
We camped at the top of the climb. There are showers and bathrooms and the tourist office said it was no problem to camp behind the closed hotel.
What happened…
Andrew writes: Jean and Gareth seemed to have gotten a headstart on us this morning. I think it’s because I didn’t sleep very well due to the light from the bathroom shining into the tent all night long. So by the time we got out of the tent they were almost finished packing up. While we were eating breakfast they were carrying their bags and bikes down to the bridge across the river. Feeling pressured by their acts I rushed around myself to get going which resulted in a fight between Amanda and I. I had loaded some of my bags on to her bike and was bouncing it down the stairs one step at a time. When Amanda saw that I was “breaking her bike” the argument started. I ended up getting pretty hot under the collar too. So after we all crossed the bridge over to Las Grutas Tolantongo, I went one way and Days of High Adventure another. I assumed (although I wasn’t thinking clearly or giving a shit) that the two paths would meet in the parking lot. Amanda followed me and we took some time to re-connect before starting out ride for the day. As a result about 45 minutes after separating, Amanda and I reached the parking lot. The Bugs weren’t anywhere to be found. I assumed they had started climbing up the big hill we had to climb today. Amanda thought they might be taking a dip in the hot springs waiting for us. Either way, I just wanted to ride my bike and we would meet up later.
The climb was hot, long, steep, and tough. It was mostly hardpack gravel though the last 2km was paved. I kept looking back for our friends but couldn’t see them. When we reached a ticket office maybe 3km uphill I asked if any other cyclists had passed, they hadn’t. So faced with the choice between continuing up or riding back down I decided I would just as soon wait at the top. We finally reached the top of the climb after two hours and 8km. It was 1130hrs and the sun was making its presence known. Today was going to be a scorcher. Fortunately there was a store up here and we grabbed some icy cold drinks while we waited. About 90 minutes later Gareth and Jean arrived in the back of a pickup truck. They had spent their time below waiting for us in a different parking lot. Which begs the question, who apologizes to whom for making the other wait?
Declaring it “too hot to ride” Jean was ready to call it a day. A glance at the thermometer showed that it was 33C in the shade and fortunately I had a good book to read and everyone else kept themselves busy. When it finally came to sleep we pitched our tent in the awning of a closed hotel and that was that.
Amanda writes: I knew that today would be a tough start with having to take our bikes down the mountain a bit. I also know that Andrew has watched Gareth carry his bike with his panniers up stairs from time to time and I knew he would want to try it. I knew it so much that when we started preparing our bikes for the hike down, I told him that I wanted to carry the bags separately. He entertained my preference until the last three bags and as he said, started rolling my bike down the stairs with at least 30 pounds of bags. I was pissed however managed to control my rage in the presence of Jean and some random guy helping to carry Andrew’s boogie board. I just said to Andrew “while I appreciate your help with my bike, I asked you to not put bags on it”. He was more pissed than I was! He felt that I was being ungrateful for the help he was giving me. He ditched my bike before reaching the bottom and walked off. During his rage he decided to take a different route than Jean and Gareth and as he said, in the process we lost each other. In hindsight I think part of Andrew’s anger was that he damaged his boogie board along with bending my rim while trying to bring the bike down the steps with bags. The part that was good was that we managed to have a discussion about the situation within 20 minutes and put it behind us. Unfortunately in the process we ended up putting Gareth and Jean behind us.
Gareth and Jean could see we were having a moment and gave us a bit of space. Gareth said as they went ahead that we’d see them up there and that they weren’t going to break any speed records … at least that’s what I heard. So when we arrived in the parking lot and they weren’t there we just figured they had gone ahead. Later in the day when they arrived in the truck and we chatted, Gareth thought he said we’d meet in the parking lot. Oh well … it doesn’t matter now. We found each other which was a great relief because the thought of losing them like that made me a bit sad. And when they arrived and declared that they didn’t want to ride anymore, I wasn’t willing to fight it. Jean was right; it was super hot. No point in killing ourselves trying to get somewhere. The area had showers, toilets and they seemed pretty agreeable with us camping anywhere. And so we hung out for the rest of the afternoon.