Cycling in Cuba

Cyclists make a stop at an artist’s house near La Palma.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Backroads guide Lara Petinal Coll, right, gives cyclists the lowdown on the day’s ride in the parking lot of Hotel Moka.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A couple of Backroads cyclists pass a horse and buggy on Cayo Jutias, a tranquil key on the northern coast of Cuba, northwest of Vinales.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Oscar, a Cuban tour guide, volunteers to get his blood pressure checked by a doctor in rural San Blas. The Backroads group visited San Blas’ medical clinic, as well as a ration shop and school classroom.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Dr. Julio Cesar Hernandez Martinez poses by his shiny convertible. The Cuban endocrinologist says he makes more money driving the car as a taxi than he does practicing medicine.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Sunbathers with coconuts stroll along the pleasantly uncrowded beach at Cayo Jutias, where the Backroads group stopped for a dip in the water and a seafood lunch.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A convoy of classic American convertibles takes the Backroads group through Havana for the final leg of its ride — this one on four wheels instead of two.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Four members of the Cuban Masters Cycling Club rode with the Backroads group for part of the trip.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A Backroads cyclist passes a horse, a common mode of transportation on the Caribbean island.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Cyclists pose for a picture in front of a cotton candy-colored convertible in Jaimanitas, a neighborhood in Havana where many of the buildings and surroundings are covered in mosaics and murals.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Tucked away among tobacco fields and plantain trees, Restaurant El Cuajani is framed by tall mogotes, limestone pillars that rise from the fertile floor of the Vinales valley.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A member of the Cuban Masters Cycling Club, left, and a Backroads cyclist have to reroute their ride after coming upon a festival in the western Cuba town of Guanajay.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

The Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski overlooks the famous Floridita, where Ernest Hemingway was known to down a daiquiri or two back in the day.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Bowls of fresh, tropical fruit and coconuts ready to be sliced open for sipping wait for cyclists at a home in the Pinar del Rio province.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Fried plantains and other starchy treats on a platter at a home/restaurant in Cabanas in the Artemisa province of western Cuba.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

The home across the street from artist Jose Fuster’s studio also is decked out in vibrant tiles.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Artist Jose Fuster has covered his home and studio in Jaimanitas with colorful tile mosaics. The once-downtrodden neighborhood in northwest Havana is now a tourist draw, thanks to Fuster’s art.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Girls stop for ice cream cones in the Pinar del Rio province of western Cuba.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Chef Jose presses sugar cane that will make for a refreshing drink at his Restaurante El Cuajani on the outskirts of Vinales.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Small homes and apartments dot the hillsides of Las Terrazas, a self-contained eco-village that’s part of the Sierra del Rosario biosphere reserve in western Cuba.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

You couldn’t always count on running water at Hotel Los Jazmines, but it consistently delivered sweet views of Vinales valley.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A long table of vegetables, fish and pots of beans waits for hungry cyclists at a home that doubles as a restaurant in the town of Cabanas.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Workers tend to an organic farm in Vinales. Organic farming became commonplace in Cuba after access to pesticides and fertilizers dried up with the collapse of the Soviet Union.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Oscar, a Cuban tour guide, explains how rations work in a bare-bones shop in the tiny village of San Blas.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Oxen saunter down a neighborhood road in the Pinar del Rio province of Cuba.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

Pablo, one of the Backroads guides, drafts behind a horse and buggy full of hay on a ride in rural Cuba.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A living room typical of one of the houses cyclists visited while riding through the western end of the island.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A table offering roadside refreshments for sale in the Pinal del Rio province in western Cuba.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

The rooftop pool of the new Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski, which opened last summer, overlooks Havana. The hotel landed on the U.S. government’s list of banned businesses in November, but Backroads customers are allowed to stay here because the company booked the rooms before the list came out.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

The rooftop lounge at the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski has a stellar view of the dome of El Capitolio, the national capitol building in Havana. Reminiscent of the U.S. Capitol, the building has been undergoing restoration for years. Renovations are expected to be wrapped up in time for Havana’s 500th anniversary in 2019.   (Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A view from the roof of artist Jose Fuster’s studio in Jaimanitas.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A workers waters an organic farm in Vinales. Organic farming became commonplace in Cuba after access to pesticides and fertilizers dried up with the collapse of the Soviet Union.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )

A classroom of school children in the tiny village of San Blas, a rural town in western Cuba.   ( Lori Rackl/Chicago Tribune )