My arms ached as the weight of the bike on the incline pushed back against me. The black smoke flung back as if I had a magnetic field for the exhaust of every large truck passing me. I held my breath put my head down and kept walking. Left, right, left, right, look back and make sure Kevin hasn’t been pancaked and repeat. Thoughts raced through my head, why did we buy single speed bikes….are we crazy (yes)….will I ever see the top of this hill, was Sergio lying to us? He said this would be a relatively easy day to Antigua. We walked and paused, more pauses than usual. Kevin wasn’t feeling 100% and I could feel his energy draining and so I obliged and didn’t say a word about the length or amount of pauses. In reality I welcomed them and was happy to just get out of the city and back on the bikes rested.
At kilometer 19.5 on the road a man stood with a gun. We said Hola parked our bikes and browsed the menu. I had an odd craving for bread and thus we ordered to small sandwiches and 2 to go for later, we were excited to learn from our mistakes and think ahead in the normal practice of us being stranded with little food and our bellies growling as we rest our heads wherever we end up. Reluctant to get up and moving again because let’s be honest how much fun can you have pushing a bike with 24kg attached up a mountain on the highway with no shoulder? Don’t be fooled we had fun because no less than 3km up the road a truck with a flat bed and no cargo gave me a hand sign. I leaped with joy raised my arm and waved it as hard as I could and started running with my bike up the mountain. As the truck slowed and pulled over I already had the thoughts of throwing my bicycle up on the truck bed and jumping on and going wherever he was going because it had to be faster than walking up this mountain. Kevin lifted his bike then mine and we attached them with the drivers belt to keep them semi secure as we drive at a turtles pace which was 3 times as fast as our walking speed.
The sign for Antigua came and our tires were back on the pavement and we exchanged our thanks. I started to pedal and didn’t go anywhere. Chain was no longer connected to the bike. Easy fix and as we started turning our pedals, finally, the descend came and it was beautiful. The wind in my hair, the speed per kilometer was faster than ever before, and my one break was not enough. 14:40 gas station came into view and Kevin signaled the sign to stop. We pulled in and he asked if we could camp there. Nope not an option unless we wait till 23:00 when the lady gets off work and would let us camp in her garden. We didn’t want to wait so we carried on downhill and in record time we would be there. We pulled off and used the restrooms at a gym. I reconnected my front break to help slow me down because I was leaving Kevin behind in the dust just living my best life riding downhill after such hard work hiking with a bike up the mountain. Vrooom we were off again and then it started to smell like burnt rubber. Kevin was leading and it looked like his bike was on fire.
We stopped and touched the break. It was steaming and now dripping black gunk. The two workers on the side said it wasn’t good and his break needed a rest. I couldn’t help myself, I just laughed. Seriously what a day I thought, not much more to do besides enjoy the moment. And this is where the magic began….
Go read Somewhere In-Between for the rest of the story and one of my favorite experiences in Guatemala thus far.
BrokeonBike 