Swimming in the ocean of love. (Off road fun! Zapaton to Pirris River)

Yesterday, my friends Robert, Harold and I spent the morning riding off road on gravel. I simply loved being in wild nature for hours and hours. It was so peaceful. Nothing better. 🙂

We started in Ciudad Colon and went up to El Rodeo to go to Piedras Negras. Rocky in parts, this is an undeveloped road hugged by trees, usually with lots of cyclists. From there we decided to go to San Antonio de Puriscal on route 316. (The last downhill part towards the bridge is still in rough shape with washboard and loose black gravilla.)

Then we headed over to Soda Santa Marta for breakfast via our new detour through Bajo La Legua. FUN!

On our way to Zapaton, we decided to check out a little road named Calle San Vicente. It’s a lovely narrow road, but it dead ends (though there is a clay turn off towards the right where one might continue in the summer…if one is into enduro!).

Then we headed over to Mastatal and onto the route to Zapaton, which is delightful, hugged by haleconias, trees, and by bamboo in one part. Oh the lightness of being!!

Once in Zapaton, Damaris, a cabin owner and tour operator, told us that the the damaged section had been fixed and that we could go down to the river. Yay!!! Here is a photo of what it looked like before.

From Zapatón there are two rocky, sharp, downhill turns on the way to the Pirris river, but the rest of the descent is easy.

We then took our Happy Route (Fila Aguacate – 318 – to Mastatal) to head over to Tulín and Bijagual. The first 700 meters up of 318 are a bit technical, with lots of large rocks.

We took a left at the Tulín bridge to rest by the river before heading up to Bijagual.

Even Route 3 was clear of traffic and simply wonderful to ride! I am ever grateful to have such great riding buddies!

We had been on the road eight hours, most of it on gravel — and yes with several stops. We were a bit worn out, but quite happy to have another option while riding this favorite area of ours (Puriscal to the coast). We will have even more options in the summer when we can take route 324 to El Sur/Las Delicias, which would be “the cherry on top,” as Robert says. Yay! Full days of TOTAL FUN coming up!

RIDING IN COSTA RICA: FEEL THE BEAUTY. KNOW THE LOVE. LIVE THE POWER.

Date of ride: Thursday, August 25, 2022
Song: Making Contact. Cause riding feels like swimming in the ocean of love! Hahaha!