I thought I'd take a moment to throw up some photos and a description of a trip I did earlier this Spring. Myself and several friends flew to Cuba with our bikes and spent about a week "light touring". This post has a bit about the logistics of traveling in Cuba, but I'll try and focus on the riding! I didn't realize until I started to write this, but I didn't take *any* classic "nice profile of the bike and good scenery behind it" pictures, but there are a few with the bike at least somewhat in it.
Traveling to Havana We left Los Angeles, flying to Panama first, with 6 people and 6 haphazardly packed bikes (it was the first time flying with bikes for most of us). In Havana all six of us got off of the plane... and so did three of our bikes (not my Rivendell). The Havana airport is small and fairly disorganized, but eventually we were able to talk to some helpful employees in the baggage area. After a phone call to Panama they ensured us that someone had seen several large boxes being put on the next flight to Havana which would arrive in a few hours, and that those boxes were *presumably* or bikes. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6jvjri0l44o/Xa3mPayrNHI/AAAAAAAAQJs/JTcap3bm9tEOz7usxgseGk6Ls7lLJzaWQCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1761.JPG> Carefully lined with clothing and spare parts. We were worried but we didn't have any recourse so we got a taxi to our AirBnb/Casa Particulares -- in Cuba the government runs a system called "Casa Particulares" which could be thought of as an offline AirBnb. Residents can register with the government that they have a room(s) available for travelers and then the government maintains an index & certain standards. It's common to just arrive in a town and find a house with the casa particulares symbol, but we chose to book our places through AirBnb to reduce how much cash we needed to carry (no American CC in Cuba & even converting cash can be inconvenient in the countryside) and to ensure we'd have rooms for all of us without splitting up (no cell phones either!). <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IO9_dZaxGFw/Xa3oLhgTt5I/AAAAAAAAQKM/FutOEtNb0MwEQzbWvVqy73RBrWCrtx1NQCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1782.JPG> This was the backyard of where we were staying the first night. A little goes a long way in Cuba. We went back to the airport a few hours later, but still no bikes had arrived. We talked to people in a front office and then a back office and were still being assured the bikes would arrive. We gave the airline our "address" and they said they'd put the bikes on a taxi once they arrive. Addresses in Cuba are more of a description of the house name & the closest intersections (our taxi had stopped and asked around in order to find our house), so this extra step seemed to me like just another way for our bikes to get lost. Luckily that evening two more bikes arrived, leaving just one MIA. And then sometime in the middle of the night a taxi delivered the last bike! All bikes arrived without any damages, except for one little issue on my Hilsen. When I'd removed my seat post I hadn't re-tightened or removed the collar bolt & nut. The loose nut that should be held captive in the riv frame had vibrated off and disappeared (there were plenty of little puncture holes in the box). We'd all brought miscellaneous spare parts and one person had a nut which fit my bolt, but wasn't wide enough to be held captive by the frame. I used a flat head screwdriver to kind of hold it in place against the frame while tightening the bolt and it seemed to work (hah). Havana to Soroa We left the next morning and within a mile my jimmied nut had proved to be too loose and my seatpost dropped (I have no issue with Rivendell sizing philosophy, but my Hilsen is still quite a bit too small for me so I ride with my seatpost pretty extended). I tried just tightening it as I had the night before, but I think I stripped the nut some or for whatever reason couldn't get it to work. Of course this happened right next to a busy market so plenty of people were around to watch us struggle. Luckily when I looked back into the random bolts & nuts bag, this time I found exactly the right size nut and the problem was solved. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qU7zCUUfFKE/Xa3oLjCU8BI/AAAAAAAAQKI/2zY6si_5IO0WZQbftdT6OGHwcKGUFZMdwCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1828.JPG> Our first Cuban breakfast. Most breakfasts served by our hosts were very similar, but we quickly started telling them the could omit the ham. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fcaY_cUYJ7o/Xa3oLs3173I/AAAAAAAAQKI/EhPQNSonLQYcm5f9LolqBe4kN65vyXvcgCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1809.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y4adSHqPgfw/Xa3oLoq0m9I/AAAAAAAAQKI/IQ5GatUnCQ88YG6KR4KS6sNYxufY8aKtgCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1841.JPG> The only other mechanical issue of the day, and luckily really the last of the whole trip, was when following another bike down a long-ish/steep-ish descent and I failed to see a rock in the road. I tried to unweight over it but immediately my rear tire was flat. I had almost brought my mountain bike hand pump on the trip but then I'd realized it only went to 40 PSI. On my way out of town I'd stopped and bought a new handpump, but hadn't tested it. Well it turned out it was a POS and couldn't inflate a tube. Luckily the rest of our group was behind and I was able to borrow a pump & get on my way. One of my friends had predicted I'd be the one with the most issues, a prediction I didn't disagree with. Soroa to Vinales Our first day had been around 50 miles, including some pretty decent hills & somewhat rough roads, but the next two days were a bit shorter and flatter: 44 miles & 30 miles. There weren't any real issues and we settled into a nice schedule. Wake up around 8, have a large breakfast, and then kind of cruise most of the day. We'd go through lots of small towns, farmland, and small cities. Street food or restaurants were everywhere and we found a few favorites: "coconut juice", which was really more like a virgin pina colada; street pizzas, some sort of dough with cheese & onion, etc; and "Moros y Cristianos" seasoned black beans and rice where the bean water is used to cook the rice. We'd heard that the food in Cuba was bland and frankly not very good. I don't think any of us agreed with that by the end of the trip. Cuba probably isn't the next foodie travel destination, but every meal was good (although breakfast was never special & was repetitive). I'm sure being hungry from biking helped, but in addition to great & new fruits we enjoyed fried onion dough balls, excellent roasted chicken, lots cassava chips, nicely done pork, lamb in redwine sauce (in a touristy restaurant), and lots more. The countryside was often beautiful and everyone we talked to was inviting and hospitable. Sometimes we felt/knew that people just wanted an opportunity to get us to spend money or overcharge us, but this wasn't common and was never really excessive. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QAmwq6JL9r4/Xa3oLg0WBhI/AAAAAAAAQKI/7ZZklN-35pw60dy5-QWqua7x7GpSFxFvACL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1919.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4lMZVcmFiU0/Xa3oLpcvOAI/AAAAAAAAQKI/HwErSkE25zIPFepOLLrkV4cO83Pk5DC6ACL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1991.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LIlq1MrpSdw/Xa3oLvysNAI/AAAAAAAAQKI/b8Rg5j9alNQC23DbPEzV_XaurlSPmevQACL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1979.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zDZNvI-wWRk/Xa3oLiSb7DI/AAAAAAAAQKI/uWSlSGniqVwcURkt14lzRspI6S6_MQNOACL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1982.JPG> In some of the pictures above you can actually see my bike, a bit at least. My setup was: - Front rack with two Ortlieb gravel panniers - The rack itself was bought off of Ebay by a seller/manufacturer named LKLM. I was actually very happy with this rack & it's a steal compared to other stainless steel racks. - I kept clothes, spare parts, battery, etc in these bags. They were nice since they easily unclipped from the rack and could be brought into our lodging. - In back I had a Nitto Big Rack & Brooks panniers - These panniers aren't really great for touring since they're canvas and just fold over to close. I put a waterproofing treatment on them and really only put things that could get wet and that I wanted to have easy access to. This was mostly snacks (pretty much fruit), my water bladder, and I can't remember what else. I didn't need as much storage as I had. - Brooks saddle & leather bar tape (not exactly ideal, honestly). Shimano XT clipless pedals. 3x gearing up front (I know the riv trend is lower gearing, but I never used my lower ring and wished I had a higher gear, although I'm not saying it's required) - I think I was running 700x32 tires. I already had these, but wider probably would have been better since there were a few stretches of quite rough road. We were never really worried about speed or efficiency anyways. - One person in our group had much narrower (maybe 22c) solid core type tires. It definitely beat him up in the rough spots but overall worked fine. - A couple people had old mountain bikes with probably 1.8" tires. This wasn't really needed, since even on pot holed or gravelly roads there were plenty of smooth options to steer through. Vinales Vinales was our first real destination and we would stay for two nights with a free/rest day between. For the most part we'd been going through pretty sparse countryside, which had been great to explore and see the less beaten path. Vinales is a pretty major destination in Cuba due to the unique geography. Limestone cliffs and caves surround the valley and popup in the middle of it. There's a large and very touristy town, but most of the valley is preserved as agricultural land. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nqanX1pWTsI/Xa3oLuOfhTI/AAAAAAAAQKI/wmqo8-5szqoFd6AACtzzoSDqEzWS7ocwwCL4CGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_2073.JPG> On our rest day we decided to be full tourists and did a horse back tour of the valley. They took us to a tobacco planation, and sold us cigars; and then to a rum & coffee facility, and sold us rum & coffee (the guide was adamant that Cuba has the best rum in the world but said Columbia has better coffee). And back >From Vinales we were to go North to the coast and then back down to Soroa where we'd go to Havana the same way we came. All of our bikes continued to work and there were just a few hiccups... I had been the primary planner of this trip and had figured out where we could book houses, the mileages between cities, etc. I knew that our group had wanted to go to a nice white sand Caribbean beach at least once, so I'd found an AirBnb less than a mile from the ocean and figured we'd be good (we didn't need a full on resort!). Our ride from Vinales to Palma Rubia was nice, but had a few hot exposed sections. A billboard showing a nice wide beach only made us more exciting. As we pedaled the last bit into Palma Rubia we were excited to check in, grab some beers, and sit on the sand watching the sun. Well we got to where the beach *should* have been and found it was mangroves. Mangroves in all directions, for miles and miles. It turns out the beach is on an island a short ferry ride away, and we'd missed the last one. Interestingly the ferry is only allowed to have enough gas to get to the island and back, not all the way to Florida. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5_71gNVxSgI/Xa3oLsjhhlI/AAAAAAAAQKI/MhwVE4W02ysSJGDYbaAV7BWOYilMDkh-ACL4CGAsYIg/s1600/IMG_2205.JPG> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nOS9Ibdls3A/Xa3oLiuMwLI/AAAAAAAAQKI/t_x4r56lJT4ck89grmyvqBWeRiE3lU5JACL4CGAsYIg/s1600/IMG_2274.JPG> Bikes are everywhere in Cuba and they usually look something like this. The only common feature this one is missing is a woodblock on the toptube for a kid to ride on. We did see one group of riders, outside Soroa, on fancy road bikes. I don't know who they were, but I passed a couple of them at one point and then they caught up and basically ran me off of the road. <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kTbZHPimnCk/Xa3oLrbeCKI/AAAAAAAAQKI/3SXI_V6kdp0_3oui-uyuj0UUwccJFpsMACL4CGAsYIg/s1600/IMG_2288.JPG> Our other issue on the way to Havana was that we were really looking forward the a street side stand which had the best "coconut juice" of the entire trip, and some other good snacks. When we got there we found that they were repairing a small strip of road directly in front of the stand, and as such the stand had closed down. Much of our last day in Havana was spent searching for a good coconut juice. Final notes I wish I could have said more about the riding and the bike, but luckily the riding itself was somewhat unremarkable which meant more time & energy to enjoy the views, stop and look around, and just sink into leisurely pedaling. I couldn't recommend bike touring in Cuba enough. It's affordable, beautiful, and not too logistically challenging. Everyone in Cuba is welcoming and happy to see people enjoying their country (certainly the influx of tourist dollars is part of this, but I don't think it's all of it). The people we met in Cuba generally didn't have a lot, and those connected with the tourist industry often have a lot more than anyone else (an AirBnb host can make a lot more money than a doctor or engineer). We were encouraged to bring gifts or basic commodities -- tools, toothbrushes, candy, plant seeds, etc and we think we think these were genuinely appreciated. Four of the people in our group had built up cheap bikes specifically for this trip (hence the old mountain bikes) and gave them away at the end of the trip. I'd recommend this to anyone who doesn't see the need to bring their Rivendell. My excuse was that I didn't think I'd find anyone in Cuba who would overlap on bike sizing with me (I'm 6' 7'). Happy to answer any questions about planning a trip to Cuba or our trip! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5d2b9321-ae0c-4af7-9d46-071f57c3be3b%40googlegroups.com.
