Trinidad & Tobago: Cycling in Tobago

One of the great advantages of living in Trinidad is the fact that the country has the second highest number of public holidays in the world, topped only by Sri Lanka. So when yet another holiday approached (Emancipation Day on August 1) my friend Alastair decided to head to Tobago for a long weekend of cycle touring.

As you might imagine, we weren't the only people heading to the sister island and the last minute nature of our decision meant that the best flight we could get to Tobago was at 2:30pm on the Saturday. I was disappointed in the prospect of missing the Saturday, so we decided to leave for the airport an hour and a half earlier than required in order to try our hand at a standby flight. The road works that slowed us down foreshadowed events to come and we arrived at the airport just in time to check-in for our flight, having lost our early start sitting in traffic.

After a frantic check-in we rushed over to security where we learned that our flight was actually almost two hours late.

A few beers and a quick flight later we arrived in Tobago around 5pm, a bit concerned about the prospect of riding in the dark to Castara, over two hours away by bike. We assembled our bikes, dropped off some kit at a hotel in Crown Point and hustled towards Castara.

Around 6:30 we sped down a hill as we arrived in the village of Black Rock - Alastair hit a road cut and suddenly his rear tire had a strange wobble. I tried to alert him to the ensuing flat but before the message got through his tire exploded with a loud bang which attracted several curious glances from people nearby.

After a speedy tube change we were back on the road and climbing into the mountains as the sun crept below the horizon. Riding uphill in the dark was not a real concern, although we were confronted with some very steep hills. Riding downhill in the dark was a bit of a problem as we road the brakes the entire way.

After what seemed like a long and tiring ride we arrived in Castara and settled into our guesthouse. After a beachside dinner we sauntered over to the local bar to demonstrate our incredible prowess at billiards before quickly calling it a night and crashing into bed.

Sunday morning we awoke and embarked upon our quest for breakfast, never an easy task on this part of the island. We did eventually find something but didn't finish eating until after 10am, meaning a late start to cycling in the hot sun. We had decided to leave our gear in Castara and ride to Charlotteville and back in one day. Looking at a map this does not appear to be a great feat as the horizontal distance is a measly 40 or 50km. Of course the vertical element was considerable...

We had a great ride, including several stops for water and gatorade. One kind shopkeeper even offered us shots of rum! The hill up to l'Anse fourmi proved to be the killer and shortly thereafter we decided to turn back to Castara due to fatigue and cramping brought on by dehydration and a lack of salts.

the monday was mellow - took our time riding back to crown point. Upon arrival we made our way to store bay to have a nice quiet dip in the ocean only to discover that a significant portion of the under 20 year old population of Trinidad had the same idea.