The mountain biking around Monteverde can be summed up in one word......STEEPER THAN SHIT. ummm, well ok, so that three words - one just wouldn't cut it. The low gearing on my Slingshot (24x32) is almost not practical for a lot of this stuff. Check out the picture below and notice the seat angle on Adrians bike......ya, that's the way he keeps it because he likes it to be level with the ground when climbing.
We did a few rides last time down - Tim borrowed a sweet "Optimist" brand mountain bike from Adrian, which is a low end bike but Adrian had pimped it out so much that it was actually pretty decent. One ride we did was from Los Tornos to El Mirador (volcan Arenal lookout) and back. No volcano as usual, only clouds and cows. There was a group of Keel-billed Toucans near the road so we stopped and watched them for a sec. We also did a ride from the house up sendero yo flaco to La Cruz and back and talked with some tatooed up muscle dude who ran the local zip line. And then I did an out and back to Cerro (something or other- I forget the name) - it's the high peak in the area with all the radio antennnaes and borders the reserve. That ride ends on road so steep that I had a hard time walking up it. I'm serious, it's crazy steep and a picture would not even do it justice - so I didn't include one here. Another picture I didn't include from that ride is the 3 huge swarms of bees that you have to go through both on the way up and the way down. They must not be the stinging kind of bees because I was totally covered with em and didn't get stung once.
Adrian makes the steep stuff even with a crazy seat angle
Sendero Yo Flaco
A jungle trail that needs to be explored further. I walked a bit of it but I found it towards the end of a long ride and did not have the energy to even think about it. Next time
You see some strange shit on the cloud forest
Tim...on the Optimist
....I think this is the climb where Tim's eyes started to bleed
This trial is actually just a couple hundred feet above the house....unfortunately we were going up
A good excuse for me to rest on all the climbs.....I need to take pictures
......and 4,345 pumps later I'm up to 10 psi. I hate mini pumps
The deal with mountain biking in Costa Rica is that there really isn't much singletrack. That's just the facts. There are however, many old skinny roads with climbs that are just plain cruel. It's hard to get used to especially coming from New Mexico/Colorado where if it ain't singletrack - it really ain't worth riding. A full suspension bike here is really kind of a joke - in fact, you can really get by with no problem without a boinker up front. The riding is still good though and it I were from anywhere but the western US, I'd say it's pretty bad-ass.
Tim and I decided that an assault on the "old woman" volcano was in order so we loaded up on supplies (beer) headed north into the blast furnace that some people call Guanacaste. During the next two days La Ley Seca (the dry law) was in effect due to the Good Friday/Easter holiday.......yes, it is illegal to sell booze anywhere in the country during that time......I'm sure there were plenty of bummed out spring breakers that found this out the hard way (hatin' it brah)
We were set up to camp (throw down style - no cooking) and I knew of the perfect spot. Unfortunately the perfect camping spot had morphed into a into a SPA in the year since Jen and I were here last. We ended up camping at the way-overpriced Rincon de le Vieja Lodge - out in the horse pasture. It was actually pretty sweet camping but the next morning at the lodge dining room, we paid way too much for the probably the shittiest breakfast in Costa Rica - but at least the coffee was decent. 
tree line
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