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ONE MORNING'S TRANSCONTENTAL BIKE RIDE by Louis Rossi, author of Cycling Along the Canals of New York. I am not a great "distance" cyclist. I like to think of myself as a "fast" rider rather than a "distance" man. But on a March morning in 2003, I set out and completed a transcontinental bike ride. I have biked along hundreds of kilometers of canals. There are long stretches of still-functioning canals (Erie, Champlain, Oswego, Cayuga-Seneca) and many more abandoned canals all across my home state of New York. I've biked by ruins of original Erie Canal construction dating back to the late 1700's and along today's still-operating "Barge Canals" completed in 1914. When the opportunity came along to cycle along the Panama Canal, I wasn't going to pass up the chance. It's a great ride. The first transcontinental crossings No one is sure exactly when the first "Americans" arrived from Asia alongside the western fringes of what is now Panama and first walked across the isthmus. This certainly happened during the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. We do know that Columbus explored the Caribbean Coast of the isthmus on his fourth and last voyage and that shortly thereafter (1515) Balboa was the first European to walk across the isthmus. The Spanish saw the geographic significance of the isthmus. Immediately, a substantial and solid all-weather road was built across a hilly but all-weather route from the fortified cities of Panama on the Pacific and Portobello on the Caribbean. Portions of this roadway are still visible today. The wealth (mainly Inca gold from Peru) transported across this roadway would be stunning even today. A flatter route was selected for the first transcontinental railroad. First thought of in 1832, the Panama Rail Road was incorporated in 1849, and opened in 1855. The original 47-mile long P.R.R. was a true worldwide railroad pioneer. It opened, luckily, almost simultaneously with the discovery of gold in California, resulting in yet another flood of gold across the isthmus.
From 1882-1889 the French squandered thousands of lives and figurative fortunes in gold attempting to dig a sea-level canal. After Panama's independence in 1903, the United States built the Canal we see today in about ten years, finishing the project in 1914. The Canal, and all the facilities in the former US Canal Zone were given by the United States to Panama in 1999. Today, Panamanians are trying to convert this phenomenal and unique set of physical and natural assets into a vibrant tourist destination.
My transcontinental bike ride
People have walked across the isthmus for thousands of years, traveled by train over 150 years, by ship since 1914. Someone even swam the entire Canal, taking ten days, in 1928. I simply don't know when the first bicyclist crossed Panama. No roadway was ever built directly alongside the Canal for security reasons. The first paved roadway across the isthmus was not completed until 1943.
A paved road (no shoulders but fairly quiet) extends north out of Panama City and closely follows the Canal. It passes by the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks, then begins a long ascent up over the first and southernmost ridge of the Continental Divide. At the summit of this climb, a 10 km dead-end road goes left into the Summit Zoological Park and the Gamboa Rainforest. This diversion will bring you back directly alongside a portion of the Canal.
However to cross the isthmus, a bicyclist continues straight ahead, over another climb, through Soberania National Forest. This is an especially beautiful part of the trip. You are likely to see other road-cyclists on this portion of the route. After about 9 kilometers, you'll exit the former Canal Zone and all of the remainder of the ride will be through villages and farmlands outside the old Zone. After about another 9 km and another climb, you'll arrive atop the Madden Dam. This Dam helps control the Chagres River. Getting control of the Chagres River and using it to create the artificial lake which comprises most of the Canal, was the key to the US effort to build the Canal. Continuing north, in a short distance the quiet roadway you have been following will end, joining the main trans-isthmus highway near the town of Madronal. To some extent, thus far, you have been following the route of the original Spanish roadway, the Camino Real. From here, the old Spanish roadway headed away into the countryside and toward Portobello. For the next 33 km you will follow the main trans-isthmus highway. Although this portion of the roadway is busy, it has good shoulders all the way. There are several rolling hills. You will pass through many small villages and farmlands.You can amuse yourself reading dozens of billboard advertisements of every description as you ride by. You won't see many cyclists except local children biking to and from school. While I waved and said "Hola" to many local folks along the way, my impression was that most were surprised to see a cyclist.
At Sabanita, where there is a McDonalds on your left, the trans-Panama road to Colon continues north. To your right, is a two-lane roadway that extends 33 KM and ends at Portobello. This is not the route I took on my transcontinental bikeride, but I did travel it a few days later. It was a beautiful trip, which follows the Carribean coastline. And the historic sites in Portobello are well-worth visiting. But the purpose of my bike ride was to follow the Canal and I continued straight ahead from Sabanita into Colon, where the Canal ends. This is about 14 Km, but a rough, tough 14 km. The roadway is 4 lanes and quite busy. The shoulder is in a poor state of repair. There is yet another hill to climb! By this time I had actually lost count of the number of hills I had climbed. My heavy mountainbike and knobby tires were certainly wearing me down. But, after struggling on, Colon was reached. You will want to go to the flight of locks at Gatun and see the Gatun dam. Concluding thoughts. In all, my ride was 72 km or 43 miles. With water and photo stops, and a continuing struggle with my off-road bike and its knobby tires, I had made it in about 3.5 hours. This was no way near as "fast" as I had hoped, but I must have set some record for something. Maybe it was pain. I rode this cross-isthmus, trans-continental bike ride, across Panama, on March 15, 2003.
This bike trip was only possible through the efforts of a local tour company, Extreme Panama (www.extremepanama.com) and my local guide and fellow cyclist Luigi Calvo. Luigi provided the bike, directions, complete van support, essential water and food, tourist information, and a sense of security. Extreme Panama specializes in off-road bicycle tours through the extensive natural preserves and parklands that abound. I wouldn't do any biking tour in Panama, on or off road, without them. Expect a lot of hills; Panama is not flat. Base yourself in Panama's capital city, Panama. There are many hotels to choose. Most tours of the country's many attractions are based there. It's where you'll fly in and out. It is due south of Miami, in the Eastern Time Zone. It is possible that you might find attractive lodging options on the northern coast, along the Caribbean Sea close to Portobello. There are no lodging options in Colon, and, frankly, you'll want to pass through Colon quickly, if at all. As to weather, Panama is known for just "two seasons," dry and rainy. The dry season extends from mid-December through May. You'll want to go in the dry season. 2003 is Panama's Centenary and many celebrations are planned. How does cycling along the canals of New York and the Panama Canal compare? A New Yorker, Teddy Roosevelt, had his "hand" in both. He was Governor of New York when the decision was made to "modernize" the old Erie Canal system. As President, he certainly shaped the Panama Canal. In an engineering sense, they are quite similar. They were built using the same technologies and completed at the same time. But the Panama Canal is jaw-droppingly immense! You will still find the highest "flight" of lift-locks in the world on the Erie Canal near Waterford,
New York, where 5 locks raise boats and barges 169 feet. The three double-locks at Gatun, on the Panama Canal, climb only 85 feet. But they raise ships! All five of Waterford locks would fit into any one of the six Gatun locks with room to spare. Horses and mules once towed barges on the old Erie Canal. Today, electric locomotives jostle some of the world's largest ships through Panama Canal locks. Today the canals of New York are quiet and scenic. The Panama Canal is one of the world's busiest arteries of commerce. Yet, there are scenes along the Panama Canal that are quite like scenes on the Mohawk or Seneca Rivers or on Lake Champlain. But there is nothing in the world like the Panama Canal. If you
bike across New York either along the Erie, Champlain or Oswego
canals, you'll travel from the Hudson River, which drains into the
Atlantic, to the Saint Lawrence River or Great Lakes, which also
drain into the Atlantic. Crossing Panama, it's Atlantic to Pacific!
It's epic. If you bike along the Panama Canal, it's a transcontinental
bike ride. |
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