Hello,
At the start of 2020, we set out on a bike tour to experience an alternate day-to-day lifestyle that has lasted for 10 months and come to a full circle in January, 2021 (map route). With the completion of our bike tour, we write to you from Coimbatore (Aparna's home town) in India where we are spending time with our parents. We are allowing lots of self-care, love and rest during this time, but most importantly an entertaining bonding time for Dharma with grandparents and great grandmas.
Thank you for periodically checking on our whereabouts over the past year. The final stretch of our journey continued to be diverse as we crossed the beautiful Sierra Madre in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas rich with indigenous settlements. We visited the ruins from Mayan settlements (~500 BC to 1200 AD), dived into the water sinkholes (cenotes) in Yucatán, and finally beach bummed by the bright blue Caribbean coast in Quintana Roo.
We felt comfortable and safe (both on and off road) during our time in Mexico. Our only real challenge was finding a vegetarian meal in a meat heavy country. And we are grateful for all the local small restaurants and often a home run kitchen in tiny villages who would prepare a custom vegetarian meal for us at a small cost. Overall, we thank our stars to have chosen to ride through Mexico on our maiden voyage. The country has incredible landscape with generous, honest and loving people.
If you are interested in some approximate numbers of our bike tour, here they are :
Total distance pedaled : ~ 3200 miles (~5100 km)
Punctures : 4 on the bicycle wheels (Jayaram and Aparna) ; 6 on Dharma’s trailer wheels
Total weight of luggage : 120 pounds (56 kg) + 38 pounds (trailer + baby seat) (17 kg)
Longest stretch of rest days : 22 days in Oaxaca city
Rainiest day : 60mm (ride to Malibu, California, March)
Longest distance pedaled in a single day : ~52 miles (~85km) (Guerrero Negro to Del Vizcaino, Baja California, Mexico, April)
Highest climb in a single day : 2400 feet over 30 miles (~730m over ~50km) (El Rosario to El Sacrificio, Baja California, Mexico, April)
Hottest temperature : 100oF (38oC) (Ciudad Valles, Mexico, August)
Strongest gust of wind : 25-30miles/hour (~45-50km/hour) (Between San Pedro Tapanatepec and Cintalapa, Chiapas, Mexico, November)
We look forward to reflecting more on our tour in the coming months and hope to share it on our website : www.lifebycycle.info and instagram @life.by.cycle
That's all the update from our end.
If you have read this far, please send us a message on how you are doing. It would delight us to hear from you.
Love,
Aparna, Jayaram and Dharma