When I opened the bag at the house where we were staying I got no surprise, the rear derailleur hadn’t been touched thanks also to the kind of protection you find on mountain bikes. The Scicon bag provides a metal cage to protect the mechanical movement in case of shocks and accidental impacts.
So there I was, where to go now for the first Mauritian ride? I asked for a map at the hotel counter close to the house, and after asking some questions to local people I decided the next destination will be a costal road heading South.
Coming from rides at 5°C – 10°C degrees I was prepared to feel the difference in climate at least in the first ride. For the sake of family freedom and to keep up with the 25°C – 35°C degrees temperature, the rides could only happened early in the morning, also the traffic issue should be less problematic. So 7:00 am was the perfect time for me to go out with a full bottle of water with carbohydrate and electrolytes and the emergency kit for punctures, nothing different from a normal ride in the Italian summer.
It also happened that I had a couple of new summer kit to test: perfect timing!
My first impression was that the roads are in very good conditions. I was aware the government decided to invest in the road network by building a new internal highway that allowed people to quickly move from one side of the island to another. But the fact that the asphalt in main roads is in such good conditions was not something I was expecting.
Yes you can still get some patches that are affecting the way you are riding and the direction you are taking, but nothing different from what you get in Italy or even better than that. You can still find tree routes causing the asphalt to be bumpy and irregular but by keeping your eye open and your sight ahead as usual; you will be able to avoid them.
What I find a bit dangerous are flowers falling from those trees and creating a kind of slippery surface, which I decided it was worth avoiding especially when turning. Another danger you can easily avoid is the fruits falling from the same trees. It happened a couple of time that I felt my bike moving quite dangerously because of one of those fruits being squeezed by my front wheel. Nothing major, I know, but something worth mentioning to give you the idea of how beautiful and bucolic the cycling scenery can sometime get in Mauritius.
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