The town proved to be a good spot to eat and socialize before taking on the longer last part of the ride to Los Barriles, a further 62 k down the road.
One of John’s cycling friends, Janine, who lives in Nanaimo happened to be in el Triunfo, prompting Ken to have an extended social visit over an excessively expensive but large cinnamon bun at the lovely El Triunfo cafe, just a block off the hwy, in the historic part of town. Much of the town has been revitalized with help from Walmart/Walton money. There is a music museum there, as well as a tour of the old mining site.
After leaving the town, the road headed into a long and thrilling downhill,–the best of our entire ride–twisting and turning downhill in winding sharp curves that just kept coming–lots of fun–until reaching bridge over a low lying dry, flat arroyo ended the joy ride about 10 km short of Los Barriles.
By the middle of the afternoon, we had all arrived at the Buena Vista Beach Resort, which was located about 6 k further south of the town of Los Barriles, on a sandy road not readily amenable to cycling on thin road tires. At the entrance of the hotel parking area, Mark managed to cartwheel over his handlebars when his front wheel fell into a grate. Fortunately, no major injury occurred–even the bike seemed no worse for wear. It proved to be just a showy way to dismount at the end of a ride–too bad no one noticed.
Although the hotel felt a little old and tired (being one of the first to be built in the area), the rooms we had were quiet and comfortable. Once we were all in, a refreshing shower followed by a visit to the natural spring watered jacuzzi held some appeal, for some. Tony and Ken crashed in some afternoon sun in a couple of hammocks, A few cold beers with nuts and chips out of the van seemed to be the most common denominator. Electrolytes, electrolytes.