On Sunday 6th March 2011, I'll be starting the 5 day 2011 Biking Charity Challenge, from Guatemala to Honduras, to raise funds for our projects in Santa María and Itzapa...a la gran!!!
Most importantly, the funds will go towards the new school we are building in Santa María. Thanks so much in advance for all your kind donations.
The itinerary is the following:
Day 1
Main Activity: Transfer to El Chato / Ride to La Cumbre
[avg. ascent - 100 m / avg. descent – 500 m / dist. – 35 kilometers]
Description: After breakfast we’ll load up the vehicle with our gear and bikes and transport to the eastern side of Guatemala City. There, along the road to the Atlantic Ocean, we will stop at the town of El Chato where the old Guatemalan railway line crosses. The majority of our ride will be following this old railway bed that used to be the only train line in the country. It was a product of the old United Fruit Company days, who needed to be able to transport their bananas across the country. The railway line is now defunct, but the tracks still remain. So we’ll ride the railway to a town called La Cumbre all the while following the Platanos River as we go. We’ll camp just outside town.
Day 2
Main Activity: Ride to El Rancho
[avg. ascent - 100 m / avg. descent – 200 m / dist. – 40 kilometers]
Description: The following day we change our river vista to the Sanarate River, which we’ll follow for most of the day. Here we’ll begin to appreciate the nature of the terrain we will be riding for the rest of the trip…long stretches of beautiful warm Guatemalan desert lands. We’ll camp just outside of El Rancho, the highway crossroad to the central highlands of the country and the Caribbean.
Day 3
Main Activity: Ride to Banos Santa Maria
[avg. ascent - 100 m / avg. descent – 100 m / dist. – 65 kilometers]
Description: Now that we’ve dropped down out of the Western Highlands it’s time to cruise along the valley that leads to the Atlantic. We’ll follow the Motagua River for most of this, our longest day in distance. Our day ends up at the pools of Santa Maria, where we can take the opportunity to clean off the last couple of days of hard earned sweat.
Day 4
Main Activity: Ride to Jocotan
[avg. ascent - 1200 m / avg. descent – 100 m / dist. – 30 kilometers]
Description: Today is going to be our big climb day. We need to get ourselves out of the valley and up onto the ridges that head East toward the Honduran border. We’ll start out on the railway for about an hour and then branch off to a dirt road that cuts us up the ridge to the town of Jocotan.
Day 5
Main Activity: Ride to Copan Ruinas
[avg. ascent - 100 m / avg. descent – 300 m / dist. – 35 kilometers]
Description: Today is the last big push into Honduras along Central America Highway 11. This ride brings us across the border and into the Sierra de Gallinero mountains. Have your passports ready as you’ll earn yourself another stamp from Central America!
