11.02.09
Atlacomulco Toluca
88,5 km, 6:13h, Ø 14,2 km/h, 654 hm
I woke up (really, I did!!!), ate some breakfast, walked over to the internet-café to check my e-mails, went back to the hotel, packed my stuff and hit the road by 10:30am, it was sunny and 20 degrees C warm.
First I cycled towards the Cuota, then stopped at a gas-station to get some air. There I decided not to try to get on the Cuota because I knew that other cyclists weren‘ t allowed to get on there and I didn‘ t feel like making a detour all the way from the toll-booth. Well, it was a detour already, though only about 2 km. Maybe not trying to get on the Cuota was one of my worse decisions. Once on the Libre it was going all over. North, south, east, west. I felt like a snake, moving without sense! I cycled through a lot of dry farmland, saw farmers plowing, people watch their sheep and cows, saw donkeys and horses along the way.
After only 18km I was totally exhausted, I felt tired, weak, didn‘ t have much energy left and szill a long way to go. I guess the long climbs yesterday left its marks.
Just when I was about to get off my bike and through it in the dirt I saw a woman running towards me. I stopped, we chatted a bit and then she gave me a bottle of Sprite, she said I might need it! After saying goodbye and thank you I waved to her friends who stood a bit further away and watched the whole scene. They all waved back and shouted something to me.
This was a great motivation exactly at the right time. It didn‘ t last very long, though. But I just had to keep going. And I did, cycled through many small villages where some people starred at me with disbelief, others waved, laughed or shook their heads guess they didn‘ t get to see very many cyclists there.
After 48 km I stopped for a while in the shade. I knew that I had to eat something, but I wasn‘ t hungry at all a few cookies was all I could eat. Sitting there a cyclist on a racing bike passed me who seemed to be practicing.
Back on the road, the show must go on… No shoulder the whole day, traffic was moderate. The last 20 km I cycled parallel to the Cuota, easy rolling. Finding a hotel was a pronlem, though. The first hotel I checked charged 350 Pesos, the next 220 but without internet, the third 550 Pesos, the fourth was just being remodeled … After more than an hour I finally cycled back to the first hotel to ask if they had internet and if I could take my bike inside the room. No internet. Ok, back to the second hotel, I passed the same policeman the 3rd time, he was still greeting me friendly. Checked into the hotel, parked my bike just outside my room, inside the building though. Took a very hot shower, it felt good. Then I practiced my spanish asking for a place where I could buy a map of Mexico-City. The first bookstore didn‘ t have one, they sent me to another bookstore. (I have to learn the words for directions!!!) There they showed me some maps that were all too big and heavy (guess Mex-City is a big City, heh???) and asked me a couple of times if I was sure that I didn‘ t want to buy a map of Toluca!!! However, they sent me to a kiosk that was selling magazines where they didn‘ t have maps at all, I checked 2 other kiosks which didn‘ t have the map I wanted. I gave up, went to Burger King and had a Whopper meal for dinner. It was good, I was starving! Only breakfast and a few cookies the whole day. On my way to the internet-café I saw another magazine-selling-shop and stopped there. There I finally bought my map. It was a challenge for me, and I succeeded. After an hour on the internet (5 Pesos) I went back to the hotel. Very tired, just wanted to sleep, but couldn‘ t. I switched on the TV and watched Happy Gilmore, the whole thing, ‚till well after midnight!
Anja