Scouting for the 2011 otb tour started with an epic ride from San Salvador to the surfing beach town of La Libertad. The other members of the Centroamerica mtb ride have yet to arrive but getting local knowledge is good for the trip. The ride started at a local bike shop, destination was 24 miles away riding with our local guide Ricardo and 25 other riders. The ride started with a steep ascent into the hills of San Salvador. After a long wait at the top six of us decided to push ahead and do a more technical route through coffee plantations, single track, and small rural roads. The climbs were challenging and the descents had enough rocks and ruts that forced me into my first international OTB fall (over the bars). Ricardo was a great guide, finding his way around many forks on the road with beautiful surprises at every corner. The terrain was lush green with amazing sights; at our final destination we found breakfast at a beachfront restaurant for $3. The 30 minute shuttle ride back costs $2.50 per person on the back of a truck, it brought back memories from our Cuba "pork truck" shuttle experience with Hans in 2005.
Mountain biking in El Salvador is a young sport with many followers, there are plenty of bike shops selling high end bikes, the popular brands that we have in the US.
Bike package:
2004 Santa Cruz heckler
5 inches front and rear, fox fork and shock
Seat dropper
Tubeless set up
31.5 lbs
Garmin 310xt gps
More to come
