Day 32 - The final riding day 😢

It’s the final riding day of what has been an amazing tour of Central America and it lives up to expectations. We are continuing along the gravel / sandy track through the rainforest for approximately 45km before we pop out in a little town and then we have permission to ride into the Maya ruins protected zone where we will have lunch and get a final picture by the Tulum ruins.
The track is night and day compared with yesterday. For a start there is no ice like slippy limestone and the puddles, though massive, can predominantly be navigated around so long as you choose your upcoming line focusing about 15 metres ahead. We are told we may see crocodiles as one side will be the sea and the other jungle bordered by a lagoon. We don’t …..
The jungle is beautiful with palm trees hanging over the deserted path other than us cyclists for about 30km. The sea is green blue when we finally see and ride alongside it and the sun comes out for our final days ride.
We arrive at an amazing beach location for lunch and John and I have a Mojito - and are shocked to find it costs USD 30 for 2 !!!! These are gringo prices now as we hit Mexico’s tourist hotspots.
After lunch we walk 20 minutes to the Tulum ruins for the group photo - it’s hot, we have to wear our tour jerseys and none of us can be bothered as we just want to get to hotel now the riding has ended. The ruins are so busy - virtually everywhere else we have been we have been the only tourists …..
We get told off for holding the tour banner and having a photo at the ruins but the TDA guides avoid getting the photo confiscated !
Once at the hotel (photo shoot over) it’s time to clean and dismantle and pack the bikes before showering and heading out to try and get dollars for tips for the guides.
Then we have a slideshow presentation by the content creator of some of the best photos and a meal and open bar paid for by the tour company.

In total we have cycled 31 days across 6 countries covering approx 3,000 km and climbed approx 145,000 feet.

We started with 17 people. 3 left along the way (2 who were injured during the ride and one for personal reasons). 2 joined part way through Guatemala. 3 further people had stitches from the tour medic, one person had COVID and had to miss 5 days and 2 others had to go to hospital for suspected fracture and a possible parasite infection. At least half of us fell at some point. John and I were lucky to come away relatively unscathed !

Lots of emotional farewells at the end of the evening - we have made some great friends on the tour - hopefully we will see some on future tours or when they come to UK or we go elsewhere……. Hasta luego !Read more