January 26, 2023
Boquete to Las Lajas
The wind and rain woke me up this morning in the middle of my much-needed sleep about 4:30. The wind was really howling and made me wonder if I should take another day off, as my legs were still pretty sore still. But mainly just my calves from the hike. My quads and thighs felt reasonably okay but still a bit sore. I got all ready to leave, and had breakfast at the hotel, watching the spotty storms come over and just dump rain, so I knew I was just going to have to find a slot where there was just no rain between the clouds. I finished breakfast and finished getting all set from my room and saw an opportunity before a major black storm came up. A lot of the people in the hotel lobby wanted to chat with me. I didn't want to be rude but I needed to get in front of this big dark rain cloud. So I rushed getting everything on my bike and took off with my rain gear on - all except for my shoe covers. I had to go uphill a little bit out of the valley, so it took a while and then by that time the rain cloud edge just came over me and started to really come down. But then I hit the top of the hill, and started going fast downhill, aided by a heck of a tailwind and I was able to outrun most of that dark cloud. It was just like a scene in a disaster movie; you know like how the spaceship pod just runs through the fringe of a major planetary explosion while trying to escape? It was just like that! I had taken off my DaBrim visor too, or, as the locals called it, my sombrero, because I felt like with the wind it would just push me around too much, and dangerously so into the traffic perhaps. It also helped me be a little more aerodynamic down the big hill too I feel. Those 20 miles or so downhill with a tail room were absolutely heavenly. Gear 30 did nothing for me to try to go faster – I just overspun. So much fun. I saw a lot of cyclists out on that stretch of highway to going up and also down the hill with me. It's such a great bike route too with that wide shoulder. So, it took me about three hours to get up this hill the other day, and then I was down today in about 30-40 minutes.
After the town of David (dah-veed) the 4th largest city in Panama, I was back on the Pan-American Highway again. The nice thing about being on the big busy Pan-American Highway is that there are no crazy steep slopes. I think I was only in the small chain ring a couple of times today. I am hoping after tomorrow that I will be done with that small chain ring for the rest of the trip. There was a nice shoulder all day today, no re-paving curb whatsoever, but a lot of road debris. I was on the left side of the rumble strip a lot. And, of course, lots of diesel exhaust and not the greatest views. Pros and cons of a busy highway I suppose.
I thought I had outrun the rain showers from Boquete, but it started looking pretty nasty around 11 am on my route. It finally started sprinkling, so I pulled over and put all my rain gear on, including my shoe covers, because I was in the flats and didn't need my cleats. Well, it didn't rain much harder than that for the next hour. I finally got drenched on the inside from sweat to the point where I could have just kept them off and gotten that wet with rain. I wanted to make sure I was in the clear, so I wouldn't keep taking them off and putting them on again like I did a few days ago in the mountains. Finally, when the skies looked better and I was sure I was in the clear I pulled over and took everything off. Fifteen minutes later it started sprinkling again. Grrrr. I did not pull over this time, I just rode in the light rain for a bit, and it did not turn into much more than that fortunately. I missed the big clouds then because I could see the hard rain coming down in certain areas like it rained on me in Mexico, but I just wove those cells apparently. It was really hard to tell what direction the rain clouds were coming from because the wind was going every direction, or there was no wind at all. I wish there was a radar app that showed storm clouds like I have in the US, but I researched and could not find one.
I ended up with another gem of a hotel tonight! Although, it is not near any restaurants. And where the restaurants are at in town, there are no hotels. Go figure. The closest restaurant is a little Colombian place about a kilometer away apparently, but the nice hostess here at this bed-and-breakfast told me they deliver, so I sent him a WhatsApp order, and he delivered a chicken hamburger and pasta with vegetables. I know, not very Colombian, but he didn't really have much Colombian stuff on the menu that I could tell. But this B&B place has a really nice room with air-conditioning that I haven't had in a few days! The bed is super comfortable, and it is so quiet here. There's a hammock right outside on my patio along with a little table and chairs to eat at. Relatively new place, about seven years apparently. I think the caretakers are Romanian, but they spoke English really well, and were just super helpful.
Also, I’ve noticed something unique in Panama that gas prices are like in Canada (as I recall about 15 years ago at least there), where the government dictates the prices – they are all the same no matter where you go.
It was crazy hot today but with some clouds at one point in the day, Weather Underground indicated it felt like 100 degrees. Tomorrow it is supposed to be even warmer, with more uphill, and no clouds. It will be the toughest day remaining. I so miss the high mountain cool temps already!
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Today's ride: 75 miles (121 km)
Total: 1,818 miles (2,926 km)
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Its like the radar on the new stations, and you can zoom right in to where you are at on the map with the GPS, and see the last couple hours of storm cloud movement. It has proven to be invaluable to me in the states to avoid rain clouds there. Really nice app.
1 year ago
https://www.wunderground.com/
1 year ago