Back from Cuba, Back in the studio.

We casually snapped these shots after a long, tiring day in the saddle on the fifth day of our Cuban tour. It was a long day – 10 hours in total, with 7hrs riding, over only 120km, which we did with our German mates Ulle and Rainer, who we met up with along the way. It was 36 degrees, and we rode through about 40-45km of dirt, mud and rocks on the side of the road, because the road was not ride-able. It was certainly the most significant day of the tour which we will detail when we get time to do a proper write-up.

We’ve enjoyed our time immensely in Cuba and highly recommend it as a touring destination. We’re working through all the emails, orders and getting things together. Thanks for your patience as we get our bearings.

2012 Cima Coppi Tour – First look at our route

We’ve been scouring the web for information regarding a good two-week cycle route which hits most of our points of interest and this is what the trip will likely look like. The route will be just over 1000km’s in 11 days of riding with two days of longish bus or train transfers between Santiago and Santa Clara, as well as Cienfuegos and Havana.

We’ve never been to Cuba prior, that’s kinda of why we’re going, so if you have and your experiences tell us we’re missing something, let us know. We’re probably going to stick to this concept, and major changes will have to be for another trip, but we’re also open to feedback.

We’ve got two months exactly to get prepared, and we’re feeling good about the route plan, so now it’s all the other stuff. Stay tuned!

Here is our basic Itinerary:

Mar. 19th – Arrival Frank Pais Airport.
DAY1 (19th) – Ride: Airport – Bayamo (62,0km)
DAY2 (20th) – Ride: Bayamo – Manzanillo (67,0km)
DAY3 (21st) – Ride: Manzanillo – Pilon (90,0km)
DAY4 (22nd) – Ride: Pilon – Chivirico (110,0km)
DAY5 (23rd) – Ride: Chivirico – Santiago De Cuba (80,0km)
DAY6 (24th) – REST DAY in Santiago – Evening Train/Bus? to Santa Clara
DAY7 (25th) – Ride: Santa Clara – Trinidad (85,0km)
DAY8 (26th) – Ride: Trinidad – Cienfuegos (82,5km)
DAY9 (27th) – TRANSFER DAY to Havana… Extra/Contingency Day.
DAY10 (28th) – Ride: Havana – Pinar Del Rio via San Christobal (164km)
DAY11 (29th) – Ride: Pinar Del Rio – Bahia Honda (108km)
DAY12 (30th) – Ride: Bahia Honda – Havanna (98,0km)
DAY13 (31st) – REST DAY in Havanna
DAY14 (1st) – Ride: Havanna – Matanzas (102,0km)
DAY15 (2nd) – Ride (TAXI?): Matanzas – Varadero Airport (16,0km) Flight departure
Total riding = 1048km in 11days = 95km/day

2012 Cima Coppi Tour – Cuba

We’ve done quite a number of tours in Europe to date, and this year and going forward, we’re interested in exploring what other cultural, economic and environmental variety exists around the globe. Cuba has long been on our short list of places we’ve wanted to explore and we took the plunge, bought tickets and committed to it, the latter of which is often the hardest part.

We’re interested in seeing Cuba, as the Cuba it is today. Perhaps the closest it’s been and will be to the Cuba of yesteryear. We’re interested in the challenges, the opportunities and the polarizing nature of a tiny island steeped in political and historical turmoil.

We’re interested in seeing a country, the first and only, to meet and exceed the WWF sustainable development metric in 2006. Cuba scored less than the required 1.8 hectares per capita ecological footprint standard with a 1.5 hectares/capita as well as more than the required 0.8 Human development index with a .826.

The latter value – Human Development Index – measures amongst other things: Life Expectancy, Infant Mortality, % of Population with access to drinking water, and Adult Literacy. Interesting to note that Cuba has the highest % of Adult Literacy in the world at 99.8% of the population.

Both .pdf reports can be found at the following links:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR06-complete.pdf
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report.pdf

So, stay tuned for updates, planning and ultimately the tour report on our return. If you have cycled in Cuba in the past, feel free to join the conversation in the comments with tips, hints, advice or any other positive feedback you care to share.