It has been a busy past few months and I haven’t been able to write much on the Journal but today I am back to write some more about riding in Puerto Rico. Emma and I spent January in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico earlier this year as part of our new yearly tradition of getting away from the NY cold and spending some time with my family over the holidays. This time, we decided to stay a few weeks in Aguadilla, on the West/Northwest side of Puerto Rico, as I’ve spent very little time in that area in general and it has some of Puerto Rico’s most famous beaches.

We rented a small place from a local in Playuela, an amazingly beautiful bit of untouched land on one of the western points of PR. Playuela hosts one of Puerto Rico’s most important ecosystems, and is one of the last standing coastal areas that has not been destroyed by greed and hotel money. It’s worth giving a shout-out here to the folks from Salvemos a Playuela, who have been fighting to defend the area for more than 25 years. If you care about conservation, give them a look and selfishly I will encourage you to donate to help out their cause.

While Playuela is amazing for beaches, camping, and mountain biking, we were there for the road cycling so our adventures took us elsewhere. We explored a lot: Aguadilla, Isabela, Rincon, Aguada, Moca, Las Marías, San Sebastián and Maricao. Overall the riding was amazing, and we didn’t get rained on a single time! I have to admit that I am a bit tired of riding in San Juan, as the drivers can be pretty awful and I have had an about a year-long run of bad luck with riding in the rain there. So Aguadilla was a blast and a welcome treat. I think we went to Crash Boat after almost every single ride – both to wind down after riding and to take Potato to go play in the waves.

Some choice highlights from riding in PeuRto Rico

• The descent into the town of Aguadilla from PR-107 is breathtaking

• Trying to ride the halfpipe at Surfers beach

• The steep, steep climbs to get out from Jobos Beach are cruel, especially if you decided to do your intervals on the beach road

• Stopping for the view at Puente del Guacio en route to Las Marías

• Making horse friends riding through Isabella

• An enormous dead roadkill snake that scared the life out of Emma as we were climbing up to Las Marias

• Post-ride dips at Crash Boat

• Bonking on the climbs out of Maricao and up to San Germán and deciding to quit and go back

I also learned a lot about the area, and finally got to visit some famous beaches I’d heard so much about. We learned about the fight against the proposed asphalt plant in the area, a cause I can immediately get behind because Puerto Rico does NOT need more roads. We rode in and through Moca several times but unfortunately didn’t run into Abner González, our only World Tour Pro. The restaurant selection in Aguadilla and Isabella is also excellent.