Yesterday a crew of us went for a great bike ride on the horse routes in the hills behind Esperanza. I am not used to off-roading, so this was definitely an exhilarating experience for me. There were four of us. Roberto was leading the pack. He’s from Mayaguez but has lived in Vieques for about two years and has explored all the routes. He’s definitely the most experienced, and can spray to get around tight turns (this term “spraying,” is new to me. It means shifting your weight to the front tire and swinging out your back tire. It’s very useful when taking tight turns in the dirt. Whenever I tried it, I nearly fell over, of course).
Also with us was Jade, a very cool British artist who is rock solid on the bike. We can thank her for getting us up in the morning and getting us stoked about the ride. Naki, another Puerto Rican native, was probably the craziest of us all; his
bike was literally a time bomb as the brakes were on the verge of giving out.
We hit the road at 9:30am. The day is crisp, windy, and fresh. We pave the roads down to Esperanza, letting the cool morning air wash over us. We take turns stretching our arms up to the sky as we fly down the roads, embracing the day. Suddenly, Robert veers off the road into a tiny tunnel in the thick vegetation. We all swing in behind him, and now we are crashing through the bush on a tiny single-track, ducking thick bayonda thorns and bumping over rocks. Robert crushes it like a natural, but it takes me a minute to get a handle on my bars. My body is tense as I duck and turn, and I feel like I have to concentrate to keep my jaw from bouncing off my face as we hop over roots and rocks.
Robert takes us up some hard climbs, and then suddenly we flatten out on the ridge with a gorgeous view of the green hills which cascade downwards to meet a beautiful, sapphire ocean. We can see the two bioluminescent bays, and even beyond to blue beach. It’s breathtaking.
Then Robert takes us down the coolest part of the trek; a cascading downhill section that swoops and swerves and jumps. We run it twice because it is so much fun, and we all want to get better to do it faster and faster. It literally feels like we are skiing trees on slopes, except we have bikes instead of skis, and dirt instead of snow.
Next we plan a route around the Vieques Transmitter towers– huge radar towers that are an attempt to control drug trafficking through Vieques. The ground is really ragged at one point, consisting of a steep rocky ditch that looks terrifying. Jade and I get off and walk–which is hard enough– but the crazy boys launch themselves down it. We come around the towers and see a camp set up with some protest flyers and signs. Old men greet us and ask if we know about their cause. They explain that they have been guards of the towers for 20 years, but that the U.S. Navy is trying to replace them with military men. They are protesting to protect their livelihoods, and are planning to camp out the night of the swap to refuse being replaced. They invite us back to enjoy music, food, games, and booze the nights of the protest–and we plan to be back to support!
We continue our journey around to Playa Grande. The route there is shrouded in hanging vine tendrils that form a sort of natural bead curtain, if you will. It’s exhilarating to feel the vines sweeping over our bodies as we dodge down the path. At Playa Grande we stop to catch our breath. Robert shimmies up a palm tree to grab three coconuts, which Naki busts open with his knife. Enclosed in a circle of palms, we rest, drink our coconut water, and feast on the delicious, sweet coconut meat. Before us, Playa Grande stretches out in a curved golden arc.
Rested, fed, and hydrated, we make our way back home. Unfortunately things take a turn for the worst when Naki and Robert both get flats. At least they happen to bottom out right by a wild passion fruit vine. Jade and I snack on the delicious passion fruit while the boys fix their bikes. Next Naki’s chain breaks–BOO!! We manage to get back to his car, and pile all the bikes in with Robert underneath. We make our way to Chicken King and Ice Cream for some hard-earned fried chicken and oreo smoothies; we logged about 20 miles–What a great day!!! I love my biker crew! (who very nerdily and to my chagrin have decided to jokingly call our crew ‘the electrolytes’ haha! oh dear…)
Live Vieques 