Getting my Jones ready for another Cuban bike adventure. My partner this year is Steve Sachro who has never been in a tropical clime so this will be super exciting for both of us. Cuba is my favourite cycling destination for many reasons. The cycling culture is very strong by necessity. By comparison in Canada there are 80 vehicles per 100 person and in Cuba there are two. Bikes, rickshaws, horse and buggy, beat up buses and pedestrians account for 90% of the traffic. There is total respect for slow road users because their laws dictate that if a motorist hits a cyclist or pedestrian they are automatically at fault. It’s amazing how that changes driver behaviour. The other main attraction is how safe and friendly the country is. I have been to Cuba at least 25 times and have never felt unsafe. To the contrary whenever I had issues, the Cuban people were extremely helpful [despite the language barrier. For this trip I decided to take the Jones with its 3 inch wide tires and can tackle anything. The Cuban roads are frequently very rough plus we intend to get off the beaten path into the backcountry. We are flying to Varadero and the plan is to cycle to the south coast to the Bay of Pigs and then east towards Cienfuegos and back towards our starting point; about 450 km in 10 days. Plenty of time to enjoy Cervezas on the beach. We will be staying in “casa particular” which can be booked through Airbnb. It’s quite inexpensive between $25-50 per night for two people and they are typically quite nice. You can buy breakfast for $10 and dinner for $20 at most casas. I will keep a blog of the adventure right here. Stay tuned.
Getting my Jones ready for another Cuban bike adventure. My partner this year is Steve Sachro who has never been in a tropical clime so this will be super exciting for both of us. Cuba is my favourite cycling destination for many reasons. The cycling culture is very strong by necessity. By comparison in Canada there are 80 vehicles per 100 person and in Cuba there are two. Bikes, rickshaws, horse and buggy, beat up buses and pedestrians account for 90% of the traffic. There is total respect for slow road users because their laws dictate that if a motorist hits a cyclist or pedestrian they are automatically at fault. It’s amazing how that changes driver behaviour.
The other main attraction is how safe and friendly the country is. I have been to Cuba at least 25 times and have never felt unsafe. To the contrary whenever I had issues, the Cuban people were extremely helpful [despite the language barrier.
For this trip I decided to take the Jones with its 3 inch wide tires and can tackle anything. The Cuban roads are frequently very rough plus we intend to get off the beaten path into the backcountry.
We are flying to Varadero and the plan is to cycle to the south coast to the Bay of Pigs and then east towards Cienfuegos and back towards our starting point; about 450 km in 10 days. Plenty of time to enjoy Cervezas on the beach.
We will be staying in “casa particular” which can be booked through Airbnb. It’s quite inexpensive between $25-50 per night for two people and they are typically quite nice. You can buy breakfast for $10 and dinner for $20 at most casas.
I will keep a blog of the adventure right here. Stay tuned.