Vieques Biking Adventure

It’s still dark when Garry Lowe’s baby blue Chevy pickup – its bed loaded with a couple of mean-looking mountain bikes – roars to life. “This is my favorite time to ride,” says Lowe, Vieques’ answer to survivalist extraordinaire Bear Grylls.

Owner of the biking/kayaking/fishing tour outfit, Vieques Adventure Company, Lowe is half Puerto Rican, half Canadian and more agile on two wheels than most people are on two feet. Before the sun peeks over the hills, we’ve mounted up and we’re zipping through the crisp air past a herd of free-roaming horses. Abandoned U.S. Navy bunkers, an old radar installation, a crumbling brick sugar mill and untamed beaches are all within quick reach via trails and access roads known only to Garry, many of them accessible only by bike.

Providing with a running lesson in local history, Garry calls his pedal-powered excursions “island orientations.” Besides a good ride, Garry’s visitors become familiar with the island in ways most tourists never do.

“It’s a better way to see the island,” he says. “It forces you to slow down and gets you to the places people have forgotten.” Morning bike tours run $75 per person.

(787-692-9162; viequesadventures.com)

Vieques Biking Adventure