#HAPPY SHUTTLE CANCUN FULL#

The trick to riding in mud is staying off the brakes. The first ride of day two starts with a short climb and hike-a-bike, into a descent above valleys of corn, coffee, rice, bananas, and sugar cane. This is where our group from the dry and rocky Western U.S. The next morning, packed up and ready to start the meat of the trip, we drove into the Bolivar province to ride in the Andes, traveling from sea level to a tropical 8,000 feet. On the side of us, some walked home from work, stray dogs wandered from person to person, and a few Guayaquilanian dug through trash barrels, tediously separating recyclables from waste to earn a dollar or two.

#HAPPY SHUTTLE CANCUN FULL#

They were as curious as we were.Īnd so were the Guayaquilians when our bus full of gringos, topped with tens of thousands of dollars of mountain bikes ducked and weaved below webs of power lines in the 500-year-old city. We had heard the ominous howl of monkeys throughout the day, and on our last run, we stopped and watched a half-dozen bound from branch to branch directly above us, watching us watch them. The first day on the trails is challenging, but everyone is strong and stoked for another lap. Stomach issues are common and it can bench a rider for days. Cuervo, and Tony Martin (2Wheel Epix’s founder) briefed us on avoiding sketchy food. The trails are all about two miles long and lose about 1,200 feet of elevation each time over fall lines, drops, bridges, and the occasional rock garden.Īt lunch, one of the guides, Jose Cuervo (real name) broke out homemade cheese, jam, almond butter, and kimchi, and we snacked under the canopy and gave our hands a reprieve from squeezing the brakes. Mountain bikers built a handful of trails which jut down the hillsides - steep as waterslides with the average grade between 10 and 15%.

The 500 trails sit on a mountain just west of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s most populous city with 2.7 million people. On the left under a canopy of trees, mountain bikers gripped beers and laughed and hollered. After we entered a gated neighborhood with concrete walls billowing with tropical plants, we drove for a few minutes and stopped at a pull-off behind a few other trucks with mountain bikes on the back. The 500 trails, Guayaquil Rick sending the steep rocks of the 500 trails.Īfter breakfast, introductions, and rebuilding our bikes on our first day in Ecuador, two of the 2Wheel Epix guides, myself, and five riders from Utah packed into small, diesel Chevy pickups and drove up the mountain for our first laps in the jungle. That was night one in Guayaquil, but with a parsed down riding scene. Ride your ass off, finish the day deep in a bowl of pasta and a pitcher of beer before laying in a climate-controlled room, falling asleep while scrolling Instagram. The renowned mountain bike destinations at the forefront of mountain biking are usually tied to developed cities and countries with wealthy populations like Whistler, Finale Ligure, and Madeira. Despite having traveled to a handful of foreign countries before, some more-developed, some less-developed, a common, yet unique element of uncertainty rested in my gut. These thoughts swirled around my head with excitement as I descended into Guayaquil, Ecuador for 12 days in country and seven days of mountain biking with 2Wheel Epix. What if mountain biking in a foreign country gives me perspective which makes me a better person? What if I’m tougher on the other side of this trip? The negative what-ifs often outweigh the positives, and we forget to ask the important questions.

What if I’m stuck in a foreign country and can’t go home? What if I get sick in a foreign country? What if I get lost in the dark and don’t know the native language? Perhaps the biggest deterrent when it comes to foreign travel are the “what-ifs,” and there are more of those than ever in the past two-and-a-half years.

Happy shuttle cancun