I've missed biking since coming to Nicaragua. Most every road is a multi-purpose road filled with trucks, cars, motorcycles, mototaxis/caponeras, horse carts, pedestrians, and bicycles too, but they are certainly all vulnerable in the mix. And its warm here too, so energy for exercise is sometimes hard to find.
Several months ago I talked with a neighbor, Jorge, who I saw riding a mountain bike and he told me about some trails he enjoys. He offered an open invitation to join him sometime, but I didn't have a bike and wasn't sure when or how this would work.
Around a month ago I finally decided to see if this could work out. I connected with Lia's classmate's dad, Corstiaan, a bike enthusiast from the Netherlands, and he graciously offered to lend me a bike and shared his experiences. With this bike I set out on my first ride, a loop from Linda Vista, up around the hill by the Asoscoca Lagoon, down past Ciudad Sandino to the Xiolá lagoon and back (around 18 miles). Several days later, I went on a trail / dirt road with Jorge. It was a sandy path, but it was fun to be out in nature, even though we were hardly out of the city.
It was time to return the borrowed bike, but I now was getting an idea for what might be possible for riding enjoyably in or around Managua. I went ahead and stopped by a bike shop here and bought a used Giant, model name Iguana, which sounded like an appropriate name for a bike in Nicaragua. It reminded me of the simple mountain bike my dad used to ride when we were kids.
A few days later was the May 1 holiday for Labor Day, and I heard about a group ride around the Chiltepe peninsula nature reserve, which includes the Chiltepe volcano and the Xiloá lagoon. I got there at the announced time of 6:00 am, but only the event organizer and a handful of riders were there. The riders set off east on the loop, and the organizer said when the others get there they'll go west, because it's an extra challenge with a headwind and terrain and all. I was hoping to be somewhere else around 8:00 or 8:30 and I didn't need an extra challenge so I set off with these other riders. This turned out to be a mistake. They were friendly, but after a while, they decided to pick up their pace and I was on my own. It was also a problem because I would later miss what turned out to be an important turn to get me back to the starting point.
The dirt road goes around the perimeter of the peninsula, so there are views of Lake Managua (Lago Xolotlán), and volcano Momotombo and Momotombito in the distance on one side.
On the other side, there is the view of the hill which is the old volcano Chiltepe. Rebekah asked me to send her a selfie, so here I am with my Giant Iguana and Chiltepe.
As time went on, my energy level started to wane, and I started to be concerned about when I would finish. Like I started to say, I was hoping that by 8:00 or so, I could go with Lia and Silas to help the Anabaptist Emergency Committee (CAE) pack seed for a distribution they were doing that MCC was supporting. I called them to say I was running late, but maybe I could be there by 9:00.
But I missed my turn and ended up going out into the town of Mateare and then out to the highway, the Carreterra nueva a Leon. There, I hit the headwind that the organizer had talked about. I pedaled along slowly, tired, and stressed. A guy who was simply biking to work passed me, which made me feel even slower. Eventually I came up to another small town, where I stopped at a gas station for a drink (my water bottle was empty), and then I saw the mototaxis and caponeras across the street. With great embarrassment, I pedaled over and asked for a ride. I must have been amusing to the drivers: this gringo with his bike gear asking for a ride to his car. I climbed into a caponera, we squeezed in the bike, and the driver took me on a back path to return me to the car. There was the pack of riders who had already finished and were resting. I quickly put my bike on the back of the car and drove home. I had set out to conquer the peninsula; I returned feeling the peninsula conquered me.
A couple weeks later, I went with another friend, Francisco, on a shorter ride. It was great to have company and hopefully we build up our energy and trail options as we go. And we'll be back to Chiltepe. The Giant Iguana will rise again.
