Community Insights

Mountain Biking in the Second Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere

Nicaragua while being the second poorest country, after Haiti, is also the third safest, after Canada and Chile (when counting number of murders and robberies).

Bike rush hour in Granada

Given the high use of bicycles for transportation, and many horse, ox and foot trails, plus the lack of Waikiki-like development on the beaches (such as in adjacent Costa Rica), we decided to take a mountain bike holiday in Nicaragua this February.

Commuting to school

Empty beach near San Juan del Sur

Due to the lack of maps, designated trails and the possibility of land mines in remote areas, we searched the internet for a trail guide, but the only search result was for a race, the San Juan Howler, in San Juan del Sur (a beach/surf town on the Pacific Coast.) Bodhin Adventure Services, the organizers of the race, were utilizing the event as a vehicle to raise $10,000 for local non-profit community partners, Comunidad Connect and Fundacion Tierra, two non-profit organizations devoted to helping build the local community with social and environmental programs.

Bottle recycling program

Also, given that the huge disparity in wealth between ex-pat and Costa Rican racers, and the average Nica (Nicaraguan), the organizer was also asking for used helmets, shoes and clothing (in good condition) and bike parts, to enable more locals to participate.

Last years Howler participants with donor helmets. DC photo

DC photo

James Wilson at Obsession Bikes, and West Coast Racing, Atomic Racing and North Shore Originals members donated 18 new helmets, various bike parts and jerseys for the cause. Rather than using light-weight full suspension bikes, we decided to use bikes that could be left in Nicaragua as donations, and built up my old 1995 Rocky Mtn Vertex hardtail frame with 1987 to 1997 parts, and purchased a 1997 Rocky Mtn Altitude hardtail.

Although, our bikes are old by North American standards, and even with antiquating cantilever brakes, both bikes were far better than the $85 Chinese-made bikes used by the average Nica.

DC

For the 2½ weeks we were in Nicaragua prior to the race, we used our bikes to tour the country.

Granada

Las Isletas

Active volcano on Isla de Ometepe

Bike shops proved to be very basic

and even simple tools like cable cutters were scarce.

The Costa Ricans and ex-pats arrived in San Juan in private cars and SUVs, whereas the top Nica racers traveled ~150 km in a more adventurous style…

with floor/foot pumps strapped on backs or taped to top tubes.

DC photo

Bob “Bomber” Bombardier, the Howler's course designer strung together horse and foot trails, steep chundery and loose descents, dry stream beds, and constructed several kilometers of new single track. Based on the technical difficulty and the proportion of single-track relative to road, the Howler course was more like the Gear Jammer than the Test of Metal.

Tara Howling. DC photo

DC photo

Nicaragua has the potential to offer epic back country trails with thousands of kilometers of trails, think Chilcotins in the tropics, but with the exception of a few ex-pat race organizers and trail builders, trails are not being mapped or linked together to create continuous routes. What would be ideal is to enable more Nicas to ride for sport or recreation, thereby developing the know how to guide Gringos willing to pay for exotic adventures.

Hopefully we, and other participants and organizers of the San Juan Howler, have helped. At least two Nicas think they have a great start…

such as Joseph, the winner of the beginner category who received my Vertex

and "Junior" the lucky beginner category racer who received Tara’s Altitude as a draw prize.

DC

The one thing in the end that did emphasize to us, of how Nicaragua is a poor country, is when the guys who won our bikes asked us for "the papers". They were worried that the police would take the bikes away because the police would use the excuse that they were too poor to own such bikes

sanjuanhowler.com

Photos by Dan Cesar, http://www.dancesar.com, are identified “DC”.

Other photos by Rod Dagneau and Tara Walsh.

Story by Rod Dagneau

To register for this great event go to

sanjuanhowler.com

If you are unable to make the event and would like to assist with works of Comunidad Connect or Fundacion Tierra please contact them through their links here.