Bike adventures - La Guaira, from the mountains to (almost) the beach

Hello, lovely Steemians! Besides writing and making collages, I have a great passion for riding around in my bicycle. I intend to travel across South America (and North America, and Europe...) some day, and in the meantime I ride as far as I can around my city, Caracas. I will be showing and telling you about my little trips, so come join!

First, let me introduce you to my loyal companion, Lyra. She is a Grand Master semi-racing bike. An old model (from the 70's I think?), but a great bicycle still.

I took this photo for my Instagram the first night I left her outside. Crime rates are high here, but she was well when I came for her next day!

So, onto the riding!

Two sundays ago, for my friend's birthday (on the black outfit, in the photos), we went down to La Guaira, which is a seaside town near Caracas, in the Vargas state. We use an app called Strava to get our biking statistics, and here's a Strava map from the route we took!

Left is the Strava map with some statistics for distance, time, elevation and average speed. The title of the ride is "La vieja", "The old one", refering to the route one takes - The old road to La Guaira. Nowadays there's a highway, but that's not suited for bicycles and is far less scenic! On the right I've included a Google Maps screenshot, where you can see the highway (yellow line), and the old road (white line across the green where the red pin is). The big green area is the most famous mountain here, the Avila, which actually you can cross by feet to get to La Guaira. Mountain + Beach... Idyllic, I know haha!

As you can see, it is a long ride, 85km or ~52miles. Also, because it is near the coast, the sun is inclement. We parted early, around 5:30am, so we could ride in the darkness for at least a while. We started from Chacao, in the heart of the city, and rode west to Catia. Once there we had to traverse a Barrio, a slum of some sort, which is kind of dangerous, but we rode with a clear heart so nothing bad happened.

After that, we got our first reward: a beautiful outlook point.

That's a' me! - not posing, just contemplative haha

Our friend Arianna, part of our 3-person party. You can see a small portion of Caracas to the left

After more than one hour of riding, we took a pit stop to get a partial breakfast and rest our engines... I mean legs!

The most fun part started there: a 17km (~10.5miles) descent, on a gentle slope with ample curves that require almost no braking. Thanks to the highway cars rarely go through that road, which is really nice. Also seeing the shift from the luscious, humid mountain environment to the arid coastal scenery, is simply amazing. On top of it all, the Caribbean sea behind the mountains is just a dreamlike scene.

We finished in the middle of nowhere. The actual town of la Guaira is too far, so we stopped at the end of the old road and turned back.

But when you go down 17km, you gotta go up again, and that's the hard part! Gentle as the slope is, it is unforgivingly constant. No plains, just up, and up...

We didn't take any photos on the way down, but did it on the way up, so we could rest from time to time. I'll leave you with my favorite ones.

See you on the next ride!

Arianna going up while some cyclists went down!

Nice curves, old road

My friend Cesar, the birthday boy, posing under an old bridge

Arianna looking at the mountains and the sea - Yes, that dark blue spot is the sea!

Last stop before getting out of the old road. Got a flat tire :c

It was a long way up under the unforgiving sun, but so much fun!