Well what a day today was. It didn´t start off auspiciously, with my first wrongturn of the trip that cost me an early 5km. Most intersections are unsigned here,and I often have to ask for directions. Even then, directions are often wrong.Either way, I had a relatively short day planned to Sayaxche (64km), being a hotelless 100km void past Sayaxche. Hills being what they are here, I had nointention of a 170km day.
Over halfway to Sayaxche I came across my first touring cyclist of the trip. Thereare many local people on bikes down here, but you can always tell a touring cyclist from a distance, compared to locals... a steady, even cadence... well positioned and balanced panniers... riding in a straight line. As we approached and mutuallyslowed for a chat, I scanned the other´s bike and what I saw shocked me.
Painted on the bike, among countless world cities and locations, was the rider´s name, Heinz Stucke. Now, mostpeople would not know who Heinz is, but to those of the bike touring world, Heinzis a legend. He started touring in the 1960´s and essentially hasn´t stopped, usually being mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records (depending on their mood per year of publishing). Thereis no other touring cyclist that even comes close to the miles he´s logged (over half a millionkilometres) or the number of countries he´s ridden in (ALL of them, quite literally). Coming across this legendary rider in the backcountry of Guatemala, while on a bicycle tour myself,was an unbelievable occurence. On top of that, on this current cycling leg of his thatstarted in DENVER, I was the first touring cyclist that he´d come across! We chattedfor at least an hour, swapping stories of all kinds, able to appreciate the other´sexperiences in ways few others can. Not that my travelling pedigree was anywhere near his(27 countries, about 20,000km), but it was enough, and here we were, two serious touring cyclistscycling along a backdoor route through Guatemala. He gave me some of the items that he sells to support his travels (a booklet of his travels, a few of his postcards), and eventually off we set, in opposite directions.
It was only 25km to Sayaxche from where I met Heinz, and it continued to be hilly. The mileage waslow, so no worries, and my knee was feeling fine. A short ferry crossing brought me into town anda great, cheap hotel ($11). Tomorrow brings me into the foothills of Guatemala´s mountains.
2 comments:
okay, i feel so unaccomplished. that dude was born in 1940 and is getting more exercise than i am.
i hate show offs :-p
That is great that you got to meet him. Must have been quite inspiring.
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