Ride Report: Costa Rica

[DanTheMan]

So I was taking a little vacation to Costa Rica to do some sightseeing and relaxing, and well I just couldn’t go all the way there and not ride. I hooked up with the tour company Wild Rider to do a one day trip from San Jose to the Pacific. They were the only company that I found that had one day tours, all the others were for multi-day tours or just bike rentals. Helmets were provided but I had to bring all my other gear. Which when traveling, sucks. It takes up a lot of volume and weight is a factor when your only allowed 50lbs for checked in bags.




The guys were great to deal with when setting everything up, bikes were preped and ready to go when we showed up. Being May 2nd we got the discounted offseason rates and a free upgrade to the DRZ400 instead of the standard Honda 250, I believe it was a Tornado. My riding partner Ray and I filled out some paperwork and had a quick intro to the Suzuki DRZ400. Start button here, turn signal there, clutch, brake, gas, GO!  [moto]

Ray


DTM





Headed off to the empty city streets of San Jose and quickly out of town to the mountain roads. Just for reference every road in Costa Rica is a twisty mountain road. You have to purposely try to find a straight uninteresting road. They were well maintained and passing on a double yellow and blind corners was anticipated and expected. Seriously cars, trucks, busses if they had daylight they made a pass on a slower vehicle. Got a flat tire early on while we were still in civilization. Stopped by a local tire shop, the kid pulled the tire off the bike, repaired two holes and remounted on the bike all for less than $4.

On the road


Flat tire


Tire shop


Did some more miles on the paved roads then jumped off to the unpaved roads. These were all fire trail type roads, and for the most part the only way to get to some of the villages that were out of the way. Stopped at the Bar Caballo Blanco in  the village of Gloria. Here we ran into Josh who was down in Costa Rica experimenting with Bio-Diesel http://www.verdenergia.org/. Cool guy, invited us back to the Finca (ranch or farm) to check it out and meet the tribe. But we had to ride on, maybe next time in CR well spend a night or two.









Josh, Ray and our guide


Chicken crossing road



One of the highlights of the trip was dropping down into the river bed and running back and forth across the river until we picked up the road again about 15 miles down. Riding through river rocks, 20 or so river crossings and some sand gives you a taste of what it feels like to be a real adventure rider that rides the world. Stopped at the Low Tide Lounge for lunch and some refreshments and of course it was next to a beautiful beach on the Pacific side. I believe it was in Esterillos Este.



Our guide and Ray


DTM river cross


Ray crossing the river
River cross1

DTM on the river
River cross 2














Gassed up and headed off to the beach ride, the 2nd highlight of the trip. Road down the coast a bit to a series of dirt roads the opened up to a empty beach. Cruised down the beach along the surf for about 4 miles to the end where there was just more emptiness and lots of sand = play time. Practiced donuts, roosting and just kicking up sand for about 30 minutes (see video) till we were tired and shaking from the adrenaline rush. High fives and smiles all around. Back up the beach and right back into the mountains on the dirt roads. The clouds had come down a little bit. On the higher passes visibility was down and some moisture was on the road but nothing to stress about. Looped back around through the village of Gloria and continued to motor on through rain forests, clouds, farming villages back to the shop in San Jose. After 275km we were beat. That has got to be the second best ride of my life, the first being the day I brought home my first bike 5 years ago. Incredible ride, beautiful country. Costa Rica was made for motorcycles, Pura Vida!







DTM playing in the sand
Playing in the sand

[johnc]

so how are the medical airlift helicopter rates in costa rice?

[tigre]

Cool stuff, Dan-o.

[ducnymph]

That looks totally blissful and amazing! Thanks for sharing DTM it looks like it was a helluva trip 

btw- I couldn't view the vids for some reason, will u fix? 

[DanTheMan]

btw- I couldn't view the vids for some reason, will u fix? 

Change the view quality  to HQ at the bottom of the video window where it says LQ|LQ-|HQ|HQ+

[Desmostro]

Shut up! That is so awesome.





why am I still sitting here? I must go and do that.

[ducati_tim]

What an adventure! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us

[CharliesAngel]

Great briefing, with pics and video, of your trip - it looks like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing!  Oh, and nice, perfect circles man! 

[mostrobelle]

Did Costa Rica have any beer left after you did?    

j/k...awesome trip and a great write up.   

[DanTheMan]

so how are the medical airlift helicopter rates in costa rice?

With the exchange rate, very reasonable. And they'll swing by the volcano on the way out.

Cool stuff, Dan-o.

I told myself, no racing this year i want to travel more. Trying to keep my promise

That looks totally blissful and amazing! Thanks for sharing DTM it looks like it was a helluva trip 

It was a great way to cap off a amazing trip

Did Costa Rica have any beer left after you did?    

j/k...awesome trip and a great write up.   

Not much 
Made a dent in the Guaro population as well.

[DanTheMan]

More random pics from the rest of the trip

monkeys
Monkeys 2



Fresh coconut

Sugar Cane

Coffee

Bugs

Zip lines

Hotel in the rain forest

And of course, drinking contest with the Argentinian

Guaro sour and Imperial, the official beer of Cost Rica