Mountain Biking in Atenas, Costa Rica.

Mountain Biking is a very popular sport in Costa Rica and especially here in Atenas.

Every weekend you can see individuals and groups of guys (and gals!) having a great time in camaraderie or solace, getting a great workout and enjoying spectacular views!

It’s Sunday, 5 am and we’re all ready for a day of mountain biking. The sun is just tossing out a hint over the mountains of the beautiful day it promises. Everything is packed, and our hearts beat with many desires of enjoying a great workout and all the beauty the mountains around Atenas offer to those of us who will put forth the effort to see it.

Our sport enables us to get to know parts of our country which perhaps could be entered by car but without the same flavor of self gratification you get from knowing you have to give much of yourself to get there.

Before leaving: It’s just the 2 of us today. Douglas and I do a revision of the bike, brakes, tires, suspension and transmission, then we don our basic equipment, cycling jerseys, lycra bike shorts, MTB shoes, gloves, hydra-pac, sunscreen, and helmet and we are off to our first stop.

Our first stop is to have a good breakfast in the official breakfast spot in the marketplace of Athens, Las Tres Hermanas (The Three Sisters). The official breakfast includes Gallo Pinto (rice and beans Tico style) Picadillo de papa (which is like a sort of cooked potato salad) and black coffee, all for a great price of 1,100 colons (under $2).

Well, now that everything’s ready, we say a prayer before we leave that God will accompany us, and at 7am we head out. We head for Orotina passing through Bario Mercedes, Barrio Jesus, and Estanquillos. These are neighborhoods (called “Barrios” here) that are still very peaceful agricultural areas, where most of the inhabitants make their living working the coffee and other agricultural products.

The only time you see lots of people is during the annual community festivals which are for the benefit of the neighborhood schools and other neighborhood projects. The road we use is about 75% asphalt and 25% gravel and red clay.

There is one really difficult hill of about 300 meters and the rest is not bad. The views as the sun rises over the mountains into the central valley are some of the most spectacular in Costa Rica! The valley below is very clear and this is a mandatory stop to rest from so many hills and enjoy the view of the central valley below.

Later we would realize that the sky can also fall in very large cold drops. We initiate our decent towards Orotina, on the asphalt road, passing through Alto DesMonte, and San Mateo.

We pass one of my other favorite restaurants called “La Casita del Café” a small place with a huge view of the ocean and mountains and some of the best typical food around. Just before San Mateo we pas Panaca which is sort of a theme park with all sorts of animals and shows.

Luckily on Sundays, since there is not much traffic, you can go an average speed of 40 to 60 kilometers per hour. After an hour and a half we arrive in Orotina, which is the fruit capital of Costa Rica.

Once a year they hold the Fruit Festival here which is attended by thousands of Ticos and tourists who come for the stands selling all types of fruit as well as other goods such as furniture, and souvenirs. There are also lots of food vendors and rides for the kids and braver adults.

Orotina is a good place to stop for some fruit, maybe a cookie, fill our hidro-pacs, and start again on our favorite trail which is the future highway between Caldera and Cuidad Colon. It is hard to believe the progress they have made in a few short month and as our luck would have it, this day they were working with heavy equipment and would not let us pass.

After a considerable amount of trying to charm our way into their hearts to get them to let us pass, and after carefully considering our options, my colleague and I were left with the harsh reality that there was no other way but to return by way of San Pablo of Turrubares, Escobal, and Guacimo of Atenas, to get back to the center of Atenas.

While the idea didn’t appeal to us very much, it was better than going back the way we came, climbing those long hills, breathing the fumes of the buses and trucks coming back from the beaches and leaving black clouds of diesel smoke or worse still, be run down by some irresponsible driver.

The San Pablo route is a very beautiful ride, with roads of gravel and clay, no traffic and gorgeous views, but plagued with lots of long (though not very steep) hills. The towns we pass through are all basically what many years ago were called “caserios” by the Ticos. Caserios are groups of houses with a small general store (called a “pulpería” here), a school, a bar and of course the obligatory soccer field. In each we encounter more beautiful views of mountains and valleys.

Back on the road passing through the Turrucares area, e come to the old hammock bridge which is actually in great shape for bicycles, but a bit scary from a car. We cross the bridge called “Quebradas” over Rio Tarcoles. This is a bridge which is unique because it’s hammock anchors are “almost natural” since it is built in a canyon of stone so narrow, it allowed them to literally mount the bridge structure in this natural stone.

Another unique characteristic of this bridge is an inscription in relief that reads “Ricardo Jimenez Administration” (president during the 1920’s and 1930’s) and that evokes the golden age of Tárcoles, when the river was called to feed with hydroelectric power, the burgeoning “Pacific Electric Railway.”

Today this bridge communicates Escobal of Atenas with San Pablo of Turrubares, a route which is soon to disappear, due to the building of the new highway between Orotina and Ciudad Colon, transforming infrastructure in the area.

Incase I didn’t mention it before, about 80 percent of the way from Orotina to San Pablo is up hill, so in one of our technical stops to eat something and rest, a very interesting guy and his bike caught up to us and we all began talking as always happens when cyclists meet up, talk about where they come from, where they go.

This guy turned out to be something of a cross between Rambo and a Commando. He said he had been trained at Fort Bragg in North Carolina along with the Green Berets, well, one thing was certain; he was in very good physical condition, and why not, since he took that route every day to get to work!

Well back to the cruel hard asphalt, we continue our journey listening to our chatterbox companion and all his stories. About 2 kilometers out, I decided I’d had enough of listening to our friend and left him and son of Schwarz/Stallone behind. About 5 minutes later, Mr. D caught up with me in San Pablo of Turubares, where we enjoyed delicious bean empanadas (pies) and a drink, as the sky announced the rain’s early arrival.

So without much time to rest, we again headed back towards Escobal and just two kilometers down the road the sky let loose some immense and cold drops on our backs, and we enjoyed a refreshing (but brief) downpour as well as a nice descent to the bridge that divides the provinces of Alajuela and San Jose. The road is gravel and in very good condition considering all the rain we have had.

From there forward the road is a climb up to Atenas. We stopped to take a look at where the future highway will pass. It looks like they have begun to make the cuts into the mountain, with many trees cut, the view was incredible. It looked like a window from the central valley with a view toward the Pacific, just that you couldn’t quite see the Pacific.

We arrived at Escobal to eat a delicious potato salad in the soda (small diner) that resides in what used to be at the Pacific train station. There we ran into three bikers who were going to Puntarenas from Alajuela. After a bit of conversation, food and rest, we continue our path and it is only 15 more hot kilometers of up hill biking. At this point we are shot and pushing it because we need to get back and our brains are driving the bikes on autopilot.

In a blink of an eye we are in front of the Red Cross in Atenas, after 85 km and 6 hours our adventure has ended successfully. We feel happy and proud of ourselves but also a little sore.

It is a journey that you should take even if it is only once in a lifetime, and enjoy the beauty that is our country on two wheels. The same trip could be done by car but as I mentioned before, not with the same flavor of accomplishment, so we KEEP CYCLING!

Considering The Atenas Area For Your New Home In Costa Rica?

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.