Maximo the cycling guide was terrific.
This photo is at the Vagamundo Cafe right after our 6th ride.
Max really made the vacation because cycling guides are hard to find and you really need a good one. Not only did he show me all sorts of interesting trails and Roads and allowed me to get a sense of my surroundings, but he made sure to keep me safe.
Or at least as safe as possible. Cycling is inherently dangerous. I used to do sports that seemed dangerous but weren't such as scuba diving with sharks. But cycling is actually quite risky. All it takes is one crack in the pavement or Rock to send you flying. So max couldn't guarantee that nothing would happen, but he did his best to make sure that all of our cycling was done as safely as possible.
Max was charming and entertaining as well. It was tremendous fun to talk to him during our breaks. He would occasionally talk to me from the bicycles while we were riding but I pretty much ignored that because I can only focus on keeping myself from falling!
This was a few days earlier.
Max is from Santo Domingo but he has lived in cabarete for more than 20 years. I was lucky to just overlap with him. He's leaving tomorrow for Canada for vacation for 2 weeks to see friends. One week in Montreal and one week in Toronto.
He also fixes bikes and nose pretty much everything about them. But he's very humble and did not make me feel like I was the novice that I am.