Chilibre, Panama
Julie cycling along the Caribbean shore.
I’m solo no more. My True Companion has joined me. We departed after lunch in order to visit the Inter-Oceanic Canal Museum this morning; it was closed yesterday. After passing through Old Panama, we climbed up and over the Continental Divide. With an earlier start we could have cycled from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
Julie brought new Schwalbe Marathon tires and inner tubes that I put on my bike. The original Kenda Kwest tires had over 8,000 kilometers on them and may have gone thousands more. I had 21 flat tires in 7,700 kms (including my shakedown run); 14 on the front & 7 on the rear. That averages 1,100 km/flat on the rear and 550km/flat on the front; or one flat tire every three days. A 5 cm nail punctured my new rear tire in the first 10k. It went in deep enough to put a hole in the top and bottom of the tube.
I’ve cycled 7607 km solo in 65 days of travel, averaging 117 km/day. That’s about 3,000 km in 4 weeks in the US; 2,000 km in 3 weeks in Mexico; and 2,600 km in 3 weeks in Central America.
June 27th, 2009 at 19:15
OK, now the flat tires are getting comically out of hand. I will tip a Fat Tire Ale in an attempt to undo the voodoo and keep your skinnies fat.
Welcome, Julie! Thanks both for bringing us a new piece of the world each day.
June 28th, 2009 at 05:40
Glad to see Julie has arrived safely and will be with you the rest of your trip. Tell us more of your trip from Panama to Columbia. I understand there are no roads.
June 28th, 2009 at 14:50
Greetings David, and glad you made it Julie! David – I enjoy your posts. Never too wordy, and they always give a flavor of where you are, with a combination of photos, Spanish & brief descriptions of people, food and travels.
After you wrote about the “cheese that moves”, I was watching “Bizarre foods” on the travel channel – the star, a chef, was in Nicaragua eating that cheese. Nasty.
A friend of mine wanted to share the site of a friend who is doing a trip. Check out theruntocurecancer.com.
Be safe in Colombia. Remember, if someone with a gun confronts you, don’t blow that loud horn of yours.
matt
June 29th, 2009 at 16:53
Gorgeous scenery! So happy the two of you are doing this incredible journey. I did one “century ride” and the number of flats was incredible on these great bikes-and we just went 100miles. I fear you may have to give up beer before the end of your trip to pay for inner tubes! Will cable money if necessary for the essentials in life!!!
August 20th, 2009 at 15:47
You should demand a refund from those tire people, you proved they are not puncture prof so fast. it’s false advertisement.