Wild Wild Wind

We knew the 125 km ride to Zanatepec could be dangerously windy as a fellow cyclist wrote that he had been blown off the road and had to hitch a ride through this section. We still had to see for ourselves though, so we set off at 7:30 am, and worked into a headwind for a while before we started seeing warning signs for trucks, and wind turbines in the distance (never a good sign for cyclists). The road turned a bit, so the wind was now a crosswind, and the gusts definitely tested our bike rodeo skills as we attempted to keep our wild steeds with the "rubber side down". We stopped for a break at one point under an overpass and watched a tightly configured convoy of trucks go by - presumably to reduce the chance of being blown over. We made it to La Venta and pulled off the road for lunch. When we remounted after a good feed we were surprised to find the crosswind seemed to be shifting to a tailwind, and sure enough we were soon cruising at 30 - 40 km/h. Not knowing how long this luck would last we pedalled along and started to think we could make it all the way to Zanatepec in one day. The only thing left to complain about was the heat of the afternoon. Since we were moving at the same speed as the wind we had lost the "comfort" of air movement so our perspirators worked overtime for the rest of the ride.Read more