Days 90 Through 93: Zacatecas To San Miguel De Allende

For all the time Gonzalo and I have spent with Emmanuel, we had actually not cycled together.  Our respective itineraries had us going in roughly the same direction for about 140 km, with Emmanuel heading towards San Luis Potosí and us going towards San Miguel de Allende.  So we decided we would ride together, if just for a day, before going our separate ways.

I'm riding towards ominous clouds on the road from Zacatecas (photo credit: Emmanuel).

Evidence of the previous heavy rains... I'm pretty sure this "lake" didn't exist just a few days earlier.

Emmanuel and Gonzalo enjoying the open road.

A quick photo opportunity after a delicious lunch of gorditas stuffed with deliciousness.

Last town before it's time to look for camping... we stock up on uh... supplies.

Tucked away in between the nopales and the maguay about 15 km before Pinos.

All the essentials for dinner.

After taking three pictures, I gave up on trying to get the boys looking normal, so here they are in their normal state of being.

Sunset over Emmanuel's hammock.

Smoky mysterious skies.

As luck would have it, we managed to miss the rains and woke up to clear blue skies.  From here, we would cycle just a couple hours before it was time to say goodbye (at least for now) to Emmanuel.

This alternate route was great... empty beautiful roads.

Sniffle... goodbye Emmanuel!  One last smile before he turned off towards San Luis Potosí.

Gonzalo decides to harvest some wild nopales for dinner.

Gorgeous wild camping near Ocampo... one of my favorite campsites of this trip.

The next day, we set off again in beautiful weather with just a light drizzle the night before.  Everything was going well until I saw Gonzalo pull off the side of the road unexpectedly.  As I got closer, I realized he was holding his seat in his hand.  The stress of four bike tours had caused his seat post to snap in half.  We fashioned a quick repair and made it the 20 km left to the next town of Dolores Hidalgo.  It would turn out that the broken seat post was a blessing in disguise.

Ooh.

Oops.

This is where Father Miguel Hidalgo made his famous cry for independence.  I highly recommend the Museo de la Independencia, which incorporates beautiful paintings about the independence movement into its exhibits.

We had asked around the main plaza for a bike shop, but the first one we went to was closed.  Then, a tour guide came up to us to chat.  At first, I thought he was trying to sell us something, but he wanted to talk to us about the cyclists from the Ruta Chichimeca that had recently started and then recommended a different bike shop run by a gentleman named Valentín.  Never in my life have a received such amazing hospitality.  Valentín used to race bikes back in the 1980s and while he claims to never have really dedicated himself to the training, he has a room full of trophies that suggests otherwise.  Valentín and his family treated us like royalty, invited us to dinner, provided a room for the night, breakfast in the morning, and a feast to fill the tank for our ride to San Miguel de Allende.

The back room of Valentín's bike shop is actually a part of their house.

It all started here... five hours later we had talked about everything under the sun.

Valentín's wife Laura and her sister Norma made us feel welcome at their parents' home where we ate the best enchiladas of my entire life.

We would have loved to have stayed in Dolores Hidalgo longer, but we had already made and paid for a reservation in San Miguel de Allende so that Gonzalo could receive a package there.  So after a leisurely morning chatting with Valeria, Valentín and Laura's daughter, and checking out the museums in town, we decided to get ready for our short ride to San Miguel de Allende.  Laura and Valentín insisted that we stay for lunch... surely we needed to fuel up before hitting the road!  Laura, like her parents, can cook up a storm.  She stuffed us full of homemade beef soup and quesadillas with chorizo... and gave us homemade oatmeal cookies for later.

A quick group shot before heading out.

A lovely detour to Atotonilco took us through cobblestoned streets and beautiful dirt roads before depositing us in San Miguel de Allende.

It's so nice to see so much green!

A few travel notes for cycle tourists:

• To avoid having to pass through the metropolises of San Luis Potosí and Aguascalientes, take Highway 144 to Highway 51.  While there is generally no shoulder on this section (until you get to Dolores Hidalgo), there is less traffic here, the road passes through lovely towns, and the cars and trucks are used to locals cycling from town to town.  

• For any bike repairs, bike supplies, or just to chat about bikes, head to Valentín's bike shop.  It's located at Calle Coahuila #54, Zona Centro, Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, 37800.  The shop is generally open from 9am to 9pm every day and has quality bike parts for sale.

• From Dolores Hidalgo to San Miguel de Allende, take the detour to Atotonilco... not only will you get to see a UNESCO world heritage site, but the road is quiet and beautiful.  While the cobblestone is a bit annoying to ride, the dirt road that follows is lovely and compacted with plenty of great wild camping spots.