nicoya peninsula ride jan 2005

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this is a recap of my first serious bike touring ride it was roughly around the nicoya peninsula starting in paquera and finishing in tamarindo, i decided to try to do it some what self supported had a tent some basic food and a trangia stove and still managed to overpack hard lesson learned, i rented a cannodale f600 mountain bike awesome bike for it as it turns out i rode some sections on pavement so i would lock out the fork and hammer it , and also in the very steep dirt roads it helped a lot, the first night i stayed at montezuma love this place met some nice people lots of restaurants to choose from and managed to get a camping site for next to nothing i probably should of gone to bed earlier but it was my first night and took advantage i had enough energy to party it up, next day i took off a little later than i wanted the sun was already getting pretty warm it was around 7am the road started good and then deteriorated, the locals put some kind of sugar cane syrupy water on the road the prevent dust to rise up when cars go by funny thing is it smells like pancake syrup ummm and your tires sound all sticky not a good place to bail, after a while i came down to a creek crossing very refreshing after that it was the first serious hill of the day walked half of it pretty exhausting i was ready for a break but wanted to get to the next beach town before noon catch some lunch and sleep so i kept on finally after a killer downhill got to malpais not much there but beutiful tranquil area found a water tap refilled and went on to santa elena to buy something to eat looks like its a pretty cool place lots surfer types beutiful beach not too crowded so i stayed for lunch under a shaded palm tree overlooking the ocean and took a bit of a nap i was gonna needed, the road got better and i was making good time it look like this area was a bit more flat there was some ranching and saw some people on quads not much else kind of quiet made me a little nervous not knowing where i was gonna sleep that night because i didnt have a map for the area or much information i knew of coyote beach so that became my destination hoping i would get there before sundown, after a river crossings and a stretch on the beach i got to playa coyote it seemed deserted i found later that apparently there was a bar and a few places to stay its a pretty long beach so i didnt venture enough to find it, it had been a pretty long day i decided to chance it and tent it on the beach, after i had eaten something and had settled in i try to get to sleep but it was hard the surf was strong and making a lot of noise after a awhile i dozed off hoping the tide wouldnt get to my tent, next morning everything seemed fine no tide problems or animals looking for food , on i went to samara beach i planed to rent a cabin here i needed a good shower, the road was mostly good and flat and then suddenly it just went up no in between i was about to go up a pass 1 of 2 that day the views were spectacular well worth it, and the downhills were exhilarating a few close calls but no bails or flats so far got to samara beach went directly to get the cabin had a shower and took a nap, worked myself an apetite had some fried fish and a beer best meal yet went to a couple of bars one was really busy and happening but i found myself still a bit too tired too hang out too late i turned in early had a great sleep, ready to hit some pavement the next day

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