raincitygirl

Hi everyone. For all those who enjoyed Andrew's last big bike ride, he is about to do another one, this time through Central America.
It starts Nov.5th in Costa Rica and finishes in Tulum, Mexico about 6 weeks later. Again organized by TDA and this time no camping, they will be staying in eco lodges and most of their route takes them through ecological reserves. I am sure it will be beautiful with lots of interesting wildlife. But it is also through some very dangerous countries. Andrew is more concerned about the elevation...lots of very long steep climbs.
So again his Instagram is: afreakaonabike and he hasn't started his pre ride posts yet but will soon. I think he is going to do another naming contest for his bike. So stay tuned if you are interested.
As an aside, he still has his deposit in for the very long Silk Road ride from Beijing to Istanbul but it was first postponed due to covid and then again due to Putin's war. Currently scheduled for 2025.

Florida1

I’ll definitely follow along, rcg! I loved his posts from the Africa trip. Tell him I’ll be cheering him on! Too bad the Asia trip has been postponed again - will keep my fingers crossed for him for 2025 - that will be an epic trip.

cathies

I’ll follow too, I loved the last one.

Your thread was fantastic last time 🚴

kureiff

Excited to follow along!

Bokhara2

Thanks RCG, I'm along for the ride too!

The longest bicycle ride I've done was 5 days around the wineries, cheese areas of Victoria ... ahem ... some years ago It was fun, fabulous and we worked off the fat inducing feasting. Not quite in Andrew's endurance class!

raincitygirl

Thanks everyone!
Bokhara that sounds more my speed!

wtm003

I'll follow too! Really enjoyed his last adventure.

dfrostnh

What adventures. Our son is an avid bicyclist but thankfully only does short visits to places like Sedona. Got home yesterday from Colorado and Moab. I'm not going to tell him about Andrew's adventures so he doesn't get any ideas.

cathies

I would definitely fall off after a few wines! Probably more than once 😂

Nelson

raincitygirl, Excellent, I'll follow along too! I was wondering if Andrew still had trips planned. Glad to hear he does!

This must be the trip:
https://tdaglobalcycling.com/ruta-maya

Name for a Central American bike? The Wheeled Toucan?

Paqngo

I was impressed by his last trip. Go Andrew!

raincitygirl

Hi Nelson, yes that is the trip. He likes your name suggestion. Thanks for following along again.

raincitygirl

I would totally fall off cathie! In fact after a few wines I'd probably not even get back ON the bike. lol
Thanks for following along again.

raincitygirl

Thank you, I will pass your encouragement along to him.

raincitygirl

Good to hear, and thank you!

raincitygirl

Hi Frosty, I have to say I don't blame you for not wanting your son to get ideas. He might have fun though!

Faedus

Sorry to detract from the main bike-tour news, but for readers who may be considering their own trips to Central America, I would advise not being too put off by the “very dangerous countries” line in the original post. The countries of Central America do have their issues, and I know that most of Central America is not up there in the safety list with Iceland or Denmark. However, in recent trips to Honduras and Guatemala, as well as on earlier trips to the other three former-Federation countries, I’ve found my Central-American destinations to be much safer than one would think from all those scare-stories in the media. The dangerous places are easy to avoid; elsewhere I’ve never had any safety problem at all. I know my one personal case doesn’t prove anything, but not only have I had no dangerous incident -- none that I recall anyway -- but further, I’ve rarely sensed any danger either (no more so, anyway, than here in Pittsburgh). People were not hunkering down in fear; normal, ordinary, in fact generally friendly people were out and about everywhere, doing their normal things. In Honduras, for example, I observed ordinary families enjoying their weekends in the parks around Lake Yojoa; evening diners filling the sidewalk cafe tables on Comayagua’s “Restaurant Row”; mothers and their children riding around Gracias in a cute toy train operated by a local ice-cream company; and many other normal sights like these; and in each case thought to myself, if these people aren’t afraid to be out enjoying themselves, why should I be?

Central America isn’t Western Europe, and unlike Paris or Milan, it may not be for everyone. It’s a poor region, and it usually shows. But my experience has been that it’s generally friendlier, safer, and more engaging than you would think from the way our excitable media usually portray it.

Percy

Hi Everyone.

I too will follow along

Thanks

raincitygirl

Hi all, Andrew has a couple of posts up showing his route map etc, and also he has a name his bike contest going for a bit of fun.