After our last biking excursion in
Puerta Plata I was looking for a similar type of excursion. Well, it turns out that Maximo is the best! The trip I found didn't come close to the personal level of service and trails that we got in Cabarete. That said, it wasn't bad.
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| I learned this move from the models doing a photo shoot for Coco Bongo |
The tour did come with hotel pickup and not one but 2 personal guides. One to guide us around and another to follow around for support and to take pictures.
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| Wilkin, our guide, in front. |
The ride itself was on e-bikes which I normally would call cheating but since the bike I had was way too small and didn't shift the e-assist was just fine. For the first mile my wife's bike was stuck in low gear and even though
she had e-assist she was topping out at about 10MPH with a cadence of
130 or so. She was
grumpy. Once that got sorted she was fine. Unfortunately my bike had shut itself off when we stopped to fix hers before the biggest hill. I figured that it had just crapped the bed and Wilkin was ahead so I just peddled. It's all good. I needed to work off the weeks drinks anyway.
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| Grinding a 50+lb "e"-bike up a hill in high gear. |
We did the 30KM ride which consisted of mostly quiet and very bumpy dirt roads. We visited sites like a coco farm, the only cenote around Punta Cana and Marco Beach.
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| A really good way to get out of the resorts! |
The coco farm was interesting but a little brief. It also included a tour of the owners house. Getting out and around by bike with a personal guide was a lot better than piling onto one of the tour buses with all the other tourists.
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| They took all the pictures in the funnest spots. | |
The cenote was sad. We have been spoiled by the clear blue pools in Puerta Plata and other places in Mexico. This one was well visited by both tourists and locals and was grungy and full of bottles. We decided not to swim.
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| The view coming into the beach. |
The bikes were bad enough that by the end of 30K I was ready to be done. Normally a 18 mile ride on mostly roads would be considered short but this one was a little punishing on these bikes. Did I mention that it was too small. And the grips were like rocks. Marco beach is beautiful.
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| Ready to rock |
Reading over my review it sounds a little negative. The service from Jose and Wilkin was great. and they provided drinks and snacks. If you are looking for something different I would recommend it. In fact, we liked the personal guide so much that we bought a hike from them a few days later.
The hike started in a little village named "Happy View" then continued over some light trails through the valley. We passed mango, avocado, coco, coffee, pineapple and oranges to name a few. I'll just to the rest in pictures.
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| It is a pretty happy view. |
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| Near the start |
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| Crossed a river |
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| Wild Pineapples |
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| The owner of Culebike, Jose |
That's all I've got to say about that.
Would most people even realize the bikes were off?
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