Rob in The Andes

Back home - The Andes Trail has ended!!

2010-10-15T10:55:00.000+01:00

Well I left Uyuni the evening of Friday 8th October to start my premature journey home! Earlier that morning I had to watch as the riders left, and the trucks pulled out of town to continue their journey south to Ushuaia - it was a very sad moment and I felt very lonely, but hopefully I'll be back in 2 years to complete the same journey myself!
The insurance company had got my route home sorted out and I was picked up that evening to be driven back to La Paz in a Land Cruiser. The journey started with some more Bolivian washboard roads for a few hours, just to give my collar bone a further shake up but thank goodness Didier had provided me with some pain killers to survive the pounding! Eventually after 9 hours and some smoother tarmac roads we reached La Paz. I overnighted here and caught the plane to Lima the next day where I overnighted before finally getting the plane back to Manchester, via Amsterdam, and home again on the 11th. Avril met me at the airport and it was nice to get back home to familiar surroundings, but I was still thinking of all my friends who would now be getting into Argentina and away from the high altitudes that we had been at for so long.
I started The Andes Trail with only one real aim and that was to get to the end! Only a serious mechanical failure or an impossible to get over physical problem was going to stop me - and that is what happened! I had maintained a 100% record for the total distance I had covered until a Bolivian dirt road got the better of me! Like all of us on the trip there were parts of the journey that I found hard, easy, interesting, boring etc., but it was an amazing experience while it lasted. I have met some super people and enjoyed their company for many weeks, and hope that I will keep in touch with them for a long time. The Bike Dreams crew were great and did all they could to make our trip as enjoyable as possible, thanks to all of them - I hope I'll see them again on some more trips in the future.
Lastly, to all of you who have followed my blog, sorry it had to end early but thanks for following me on my journey and for all your comments. If I have the opportunity to end this journey in 2 years time, and if I tackle other trips I'll give you another chance to watch my progress and spur me on again. Bye for now and thanks again!!

Day 61 My trip across the Salar y Uyuni

2010-10-06T21:36:00.000+01:00

About 8am Didier drove me to the bushcamp where most of the others had slept the night before. It was on the edge of the Salar y Uyuni, but I would not be riding my bike across with the others!
I had some breakfast and chatted with the others about yesterday. Eventually after some re-arrangement of the trucks we left in the luggage truck in the direction of Uyuni whilst the riders left in the direction of the Cactus Island in the middle of Salar y Uyuni.
I was on the salt but in a truck. We crossed to the Salt Hotel where the riders would be staying for the night, about 7K from the edge near Uyuni. We dropped off their luggage and continued to Uyuni and the last hostal of my trip. The road for about 20K after we had left the Salar y Uyuni was like a washboard and my shoulder took a pounding, nothing that Ewald, the driver, could do but make it as smooth as possible.
We arrived at the hostal and dropped of my luggage and a few others riders who had skipped this day due to illness. Then Didier and I went off to the hospital for confirmation that I had in fact broken my collar bone into 2 large & 1 small piece as the X Ray showed. We returned to the hostal and began prepring for my early departure back to England. I contacted Avril and she found out exactly what the Insurance Company needed. Didier and I then created an email with this information in it and sent it off. About 2 hours later I received a call and the process was in motion for me to come home early!
I just have to wait to find out when that will be, and I will wrap up this journey in a final posting soon.

Day 60 Meteor Crater Bushcamp to "The end of the trail"

2010-10-06T21:20:00.000+01:00

Another un-paved day and in the morning we left bushcamp in sunshine continuing on the road we had arrived on the night before. The road was similar to yesterday afternoon but the wind was much less. It was another enjoyable day and about 35K we all met up in a village for lunch and to continue the rest of the day as a group because there were so many twists and turns that one of the crew would guide us as a lot of the changes in direction were not that easy to describe on paper.
The after lunch section was going well and we were all enjoying the scenery of an extinct volcano that we were skirting around. The going was getting harder with some rough uphill and downhill sections and also some very stoney sections too.
Sadly, after feeling that I was mastering the technique of keeping going over all this stuff I came around a bend where there was a large hole filled in with large boulders which I negotiated okay! This unfortunately was followed by another one where the filling was not as good and my front wheel dug in and I flew over the handlebars. I landed on my head and left shoulder with a thud and in an instant my Andes Trail had ended!!!
I knew immediately that I had broken my left collar bone and that was the end, just 10K from the end of the day and the Salar y Uyuni - The Salt Flats which were tomorrow.
I lay on the road in disbelief that my dream of getting to Ushuaia was over. After others had gone for help a 4 wheel drive arrived with one of the organisers, Rob, and I was carefully driven to the finish town and the help of Didier, our nurse.
The nearest hospital was across the Salar y Uyuni at Uyuni, and it was deccided that I stay in the hotel for the night and we go there the next day as negotiating the Salar y Uyuni in the dark was not a sensible option.
Whilst I was in pain it was not unbearable and with a pain killing injection I had some supper and settled down for a nights "sleep". One split second when a Bolivian road had bitten me back and the ride was over.

Day 59 Alti Plano Bushcamp to Meteor Crater Bushcamp

2010-10-06T20:56:00.000+01:00

I realised today that I actually was beginning to enjoy the un-paved sections! Soon after we left the road changed to an un-paved dust track which was made worse by the almost continuous cross wind which was sometimes a headwind. This created many dust/sand storms along the way. Lunch was about halfway as usual and after lunch the road got worse and so did the dust storms. It was beginning to become a slog to get to bushcamp which was reached after 82K beside a Meteor Crater. Pitching tents was quite hard as the wind did not lessen until around 6pm. After dinner, which we took in the shelter of an unfinished chapel, most of us went to our tents only to hear the wind rise and more dust storms hit us for most of the evening until just before midnight! After which it dropped and we could have another cold quiet night.

Day 58 Oruro to Alti Plano Bushcamp

2010-10-06T20:46:00.000+01:00

The weather this morning was not very bright and after an excellent buffet breakfast we went out to find that is was cold and also starting to rain! A number of us were not fully prepared for this and luckily the luggage truck had not left so we hastily grabbed our cases and got some leggings etc. out before setting off.
After leaving town we were back onto the "flat" Alti Plano road again for about 147K. Lunch was about 80K at a Thermal Baths which some people used, before we went on to the bushcamp. There were a few dust storms on the way, but the scenery in my opinion was far from interesting.
Opposite the bushcamp was a sad memorial to a Berlgian woman who had died in a coach crash in 1999, the remains of the coach were also alonside the road along with two other memorials.
The bushcamp was as usual pitch tent, eat dinner and go to bed earlier than you would like because the temperature just plummets after dusk.

Day 57 Lahuachaca to Oruro

2010-10-02T00:07:00.001+01:00

I have to say that there is not much I can say about this day that varies with my comments of yesterday, more flat roads on which we luckily only had to do 99K before we reached Oruro. Quite a busy town and a pleasant hotel.
One good bit of news from the group, Martin was back on a bike today! His bike is wrecked but he borrowed Wilbert`s bike for the day and had a good day despite a few aches and pains from his accident with the Donkey just days ago! Needless to say the Donkey jokes have not stopped since we found out he had survived as well as he did!!
We will be bushcamping for the next few days so no reports until we are back in a hotel when I can report on what I hope will be one of the highlights of the trip. We cross the Salar de Uyuni, the large salt flats that Bolivia is famous for. 100K across white salt where we must seriously protect ourselves against the damaging rays of the sun. So I´ll let you know how we get on with that as soon as I can!

Day 56 La Paz to Lahuachaca

2010-10-02T00:00:00.000+01:00

Wel after being unwell yesterday I was not looking forward to the climb back out of La Paz, but it went better than I thought. So we were back on the Alti Plano which we will cross for most of our visit in Bolivia. It is a vast plateau and varies in altitude by only a few hundred metres. It has to be one of the most boring places to ride as it is just endless "flat" roads which are almost always going in a straight line. A curve in the road or a slight up or down makes a few exciting minutes. There are no snow capped mountains to look at and it is just a wide flat dusty plateau with brown hills either side. So the riding for a lot of us is rather boring, some of the Dutch guys enjoy it as it is not as flat or featureless as Holland!
We ended the day after 135K in an "Eco Hotel" which had individual little cottages and very few facilities. It was interesting but quite basic. One feature it did have was very low doorways on some of the communial buildings, which I managed to smash my head against! Now as most of you may know I have not got much hair on top and Didier, our nurse, insisted in shaving some of it off so that he could put some plaster stiches across the wound to help it heal!! So my day ended with a fairly big cut on my head and a bit of a headache, ah!!

Day 55 Rest day in La Paz

2010-10-01T23:47:00.000+01:00

Well it seems that every rest day coincides with me having a problem which is quite good really in the sense of being able to keep cycling when I have to! A few of us were ill last night after what may have possibly been a dodgy sandwich that we ate at the SOS Children´s Village. Anyway I spent most of the rest day in bed getting over the night before, so I did not see much of La Paz. It is a very strange city in this big hole about 400 metres below the rim and the streets either go up or down a hill or traverse across the hill on the flat.
Nohing else to report really so will just put this post up as it is.

Day 54 Lake Titikaka Hotel to La Paz

2010-09-29T16:32:00.000+01:00

This day for me was a DOUBLE WOW day!! We were all still concerned about Martin but had heard reports that all was better than first thought, so we left our peaceful surroundings for the hustle and bustle of the highest capital city in the world - La Paz.
However, on our way we were to call into one of the 3 SOS Villages in Bolivia. Part of all our holiday entry fees are donated to SOS and some of the riders are also sponsored, or are collecting, for SOS as well. The village was off the main road and in the middle of the normal tumbled down environment that you get to see every day. The village is fenced off and once through the gates it was like entering another world where110 children live in well made bungalows with solar water heating, and enough space outside to play football and enjoy the few playground features. Each bungalow is looked after by a house Mama and each house has it's own kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms and dining/lounge area. We were shown around and the kids enjoyed showing us their rooms and everything else, including schoolwork that they had done in the local schools which most of the older ones were just returning from. We gave then rides on our bikes and they also enjoyed climbing all over one of the trucks which sounded it's fire horn and had it's flashing lights going. After just over an hour we left to continue to La Paz with the kids happy cheers ringing in our ears. I had been looking forward to this day and was not dissappointed, it was the first WOW ofthe day!!
We carried on through ever increasing traffic to reach La Paz, and we finally came to a viewing point where you could again just stand and say WOW! It is easy to look at a picture and think somewhere looks big, but standing there and looking down into an enormous hole filled with buildings is something else. It would take us another 11K from this point to reach the bottom and get to our hotel. This place is vast!
Finally as mentioned in Day 53's report we were all delighted to see Martin walk into the hotel looking anazingly well, with some cuts, grazes and bruises but in one piece. Another remarkable day had come to an end.

Two new friends in their lounge

The truck gets invaded!

The vast city of La Paz in a hole behind me

Day 53 Copacabana to Lake Titikaka Hotel

2010-09-29T15:27:00.000+01:00

This was one of those days when you just had to say WOW! We left Copacabana after only one night which would have been better if it had been two, because it was peaceful after some of the noisy places we had stayed at recently. As we left the town we started climbing on a smooth tarmac road and we were on our way up to our first Bolivian summit greater than 4000 metres. On our way up we were treated to many views of Lake Titikaka, which at 3812 metres is the highest lake in South America and the views sometimes make you think you are beside the sea it stretches so far into the distance! After the summit we started the descent down to the little town of Tiquina which is the gateway to the Strait of Tiquina which connects the smaller and larger parts of the lake in Bolivia. As we descended we came around a corner where you just had to stop and say WOW! In the distance were magnificent snow capped mountains stretching from left to right. When you stopped and realised that you were already standing at around 3900 metres you began to realise the size of these mountains, you are in The Andes!!
Continuing down to the village where we were all meeting for lunch, before catching the ferry across the strait, it was sad to hear that our German friend Martin had collided with a donkey on the descent! He was in one of the trucks with Didier and the news did not seem good, and he was being taken off to La Paz immediately to get hospital treatment. The day suddenly seemed a little overcast, but to give you the good news it was found that nothing was broken and we would all be re-united when we reached La Paz, see Day 54's report. Just in case you are wondering - the donkey ran off with it's owner never to be seen again!!
The day continued for the rest of us with the ferry crossing and the remaining kilometres of undulating road around the lake to the Hotel Titikaka, which was even more peaceful than the hotel we had left in Copacabana. The end of a day to remember.

On the ferry across the Tiquina Strait

The mountains we saw earlier, now seen from hotel

Day 52 Puno to Copacabana

2010-09-29T14:46:00.000+01:00

The plan was to leave Puno earlier than usual in the morning, but the accelerator pedal on one of the trucks had broken. So we left just before 8 a.m. to travel to the border of our 3rd country - Bolivia.

We had our last Peruvian police escort out of town, and we were soon back on the Alti Plano road but today there were a few hills and this gave us some good views of Lake Titicaca. Because of one of the trucks being out of action there was no organised lunch today, so it was a case of stopping at a shop on the way and grabbing some typeof snack.

Eventually arrived at the border after around 135K which was quite a quiet place and did not feel like you were going into a different country and time zone! It only took about 20 minutes to get through before travelling the last 7 to 8K to the hotel on the side of the lake. It was very peaceful and a shame that we would only be there for one night! The 2nd truck arrived later in the afternoon having been fixed by some local garage on a Sunday for just a few dollars.

We came across the border near Copacabana

View from bedroom window of Copacabana beach

Day 51 Unscheduled Bushcamp to Puno

2010-09-26T03:24:00.026+01:00

Saturday 25th September dawned with a hard frost, frozen water bottles and not a very inviting prospect of getting up at about 5:30am! It had been decided that we get a start one hour earlier, 7am, so as to give us time for what was now going to be a 160K stage to Puno across the Alti Plano, on average 3800 metres above sea level, which is basically flat with just a few undulations and which we will be on for a few days yet.

Packed away our wet tents, ready to dry out at the hotel in the evening, and set off to the rescheduled lunch stop at around 80K. I got in with some of the fast guys and survived until around 70K when there was a slight incline on rough roads, after what had been smooth tarmac until then, and just could not get back on the back as the rough roads continued to lunch and I just could not maintain the speed! Anyway I covered the first 80K in 2 hours 45 minutes which on a mountain bike, and at an altitude of least 3800 metres, pleased me and I got to lunch in 7th place, result!

After lunch it was just a case of surviving the boredom of flat straight roads until about 10K from the finish where we had a climb over about 5K which took us back up to in excess of 3900 metres before we dropped into Puno. A police escort to the hotel was a treat that the 4 of us who were together at the time took with delight as we were ushered through the traffic to the hotel. Just under 8 hours for the 158K and we were finally in Puno a day late with no rest day but ready to cross over the border to Bolivia tomorrow.

Some riders had taken one of the trucks earlier to visit the floating islands on Lake Titicaca, and some who arrived by bike in the afternoon also had the chance to do it. I had been there a few years ago so just took the chance to relax!

Frost on tent and bike at 7 a.m.

Laundry time Peruvian style

Day 50 Raqchi Ruins to a New Bushcamp

2010-09-26T03:09:00.029+01:00

We found out early this morning that there was a roadblock of a serious nature on our route out from the next town of Sicuani which was about 20K away. So it was decided that the trucks try to find a way around the town by going up into the hills and using smaller not so commonly used roads, while we road to Sicuani and waited for news to see if the trucks had found a way around the town. We spent 2.5 hours in the town's plaza resting, eating and drinking to waste the time before the message that the trucks had got around the town and were on the road beyond the roadblock.
We then road through the roadblock which was littered with burnt out tyres, rocks and other means of blocking the road. Once we were on the otherside of the serious roadblock stuff the queue of vehicles trying to come into town from the opposite direction was spread over about 4 to 5K. We found Didier with the lunch truck at about 52K, due to the mornings problems he had minimal lunch provisions but they were gratefully accepted!
We then continued climbing up and over our last pass, in Peru, in excess of 4000 metres, 4338 metres in fact! On the way down I ran into a rain/hail storm with a headwind quite close to the summit. I sheltered for a while until it passed and then continued down, but a few K from the Unschedled Bushcamp I ran into another thunderstorm of rain and hail. This time I just carried on through it and got to the bushcamp in the sunshine but soaking wet!! The new bushacmp was at 110K which meant that today's stage and tomorrows were effectively swapped around because today's should have been 159K but with the delay it was greatly reduced. Went to bed after dinner very cold and just got into my sleeping bag to get warm! Fell to sleep but was awake by midnight and the noise of the trucks all night did not help and so I only had small naps until the morning. An eventful and unscheduled day had taken over from the scheduled stage.

Blocked trucks, rocks and burnt out tyres in the road

Riders had to negotiate through total chaos!

Day 49 Cusco to Raqchi Ruins Bushcamp

2010-09-26T02:51:00.001+01:00

Well at last on Thursday 23rd September after 3 rest days we leave Cusco, with a police escort for about 20K. Unfortunately after about 8K there was a grid across the road with the slits running in the direction of the riders and wide enough for a narrow tyre to go down into! Unfortunately that is exactly what happened to one rider and others came down as a result, luckily only slight damage to riders and bikes occured but it just showed that there are not many riders in Peru otherwise the grid would not have been designed that way.
So after the police escort waved us goodbye we continued up and down a few gentle climbs before we reached lunch at about 62K. Didier had found another nice spot beside a river and we enjoyed our lunch in the sunshine. After lunch we had the bonus of a tail wind as we continued to climb a total of about 500 metres spead over the many gently undulating climbs in the remaining 60K.
We made camp beside the village where the Raqchi Ruins are and some people visited the ruins and other just visited the village and the little market in the square.

Another riverside lunch spot, thanks Didier

Days 46, 47 & 48 Rest Days in Cusco

2010-09-23T12:42:00.000+01:00

Well we were only supposed to have 2 rest days in Cusco but a 2 day national strike started on September 21st, our 2nd rest day. So the plan now is that we do not have the scheduled rest day in Puno but do 6 days riding straight through to La Paz in Bolivia! A number of the riders went to see the sights of Machu Pichu by starting on the 1st rest day and coming back on the 2nd one. All would have been okay except that the public transport stopped on the strike days, so their visit was a mixture of a good visit to the sight but very disrupted travelling.
I have been before and was pleased not to have gone again as it gave me more time to rest my left knee which I hope is now good enough to get me through the rides that follow, it feels a lot better. I did the usual things that you are now familiar with on rest days, but there was one bonus this time. One of the guys spotted that Paddy's Bar in town had Bread & Butter Pudding with Custard on the menu! He knows like most of them by now that I like my puddings, so I went there on the 3rd day and was not dissappointed!! It was a real treat and I savoured every moment of it!!!
So it is early on September 23rd and we will leave at 9am for the first of two bushcamps on the way to Puno and then the border crossing to Bolivia. Hope to get back to you all in Puno, but here's what my pudding looked like:-)

It tasted as good as it looks - Yum Yum!!

Day 45 Limatambo to Cusco

2010-09-20T04:16:00.000+01:00

The last day before we get 2 rest days!! Unfortunately my left knee was feeling a bit painful, maybe as a result of the hard day yesterday. Anyway, my intention to do all the kilometres between the Middle and the End of the world meant that I had to press on. Not such a hard day as yesterday but it still started with a further climb of 27K and the weather was warm again. It is quite amazing to think that you are already over a mile above sea level and with these climbs you are going up to over 2 miles or more!! Looking back down you can see the road you have climbed getting smaller and smaller while there is still more to come. I just wish I still had my camera, but I know some of the other riders have some photos I can copy. Hopefully I will be able to get a new camera in Cusco.
Anyway, after the top we dropped down about 10K to the lunch truck which was at a village square so again the locals looked on at these people from the planet Zob who had arrived in their village! After lunch we continued to drop fo about a further 15 to 20K before we had to climb up to over 3500 metres for the second time today and then drop down into Cusco. We are staying at a hotel that Avril and I stayed at when we visited Peru some years ago, quite a coincedence. So 2 days of rest and hopefully my knee will recover!

Day 44 Abancay to Limatambo

2010-09-20T04:06:00.000+01:00

This was one of the hardest days in the entire trip so far, with over 2500 metres of climbing in only 116K. The weather was fine as we left Abancay but we immediately started climbing and it lasted just over 35K reaching a height of over 4000 metres again. We are going over 4000 metres quite a lot and it gets a bit cold up there! Lunch was at the top and I had caught quite a lot of people on the way up who had started a bit earlier than 8am, which pleased me as it indicates that my climbing has improved. My waist size has certainly gone down so I am sure that I have lost some weight which means less of me to get up these climbs!
After lunch there was a descent of about 55K which was on smooth tarmac so made it much easier than the recent days on un-paved. However, the famous Murphy's Law came into play as there was a headwind all the way down, it's just not fair to have to pedal downhil!!
The last 20K or so was lumpy with a few un-paved roadwork bits and a short sharp climb up to the finish which was camping in the grounds of a hostal. It had taken 7 hours 45 minutes for the day but I was pleased to get it over with so quickly and to get in ahead of quite a few riders.

Day 43 Eucalyptus Bushcamp to Abancay

2010-09-18T01:03:00.000+01:00

A short day, only around 60K but with at last the prospect of getting back onto smooth tarmac roads! First of all we had to climb a bit more before starting another long un-paved descent down to a river. Imagine a ribbon of road made up of a stone base covered with a mixture of loose gravel, grit, stones up to fist size and the famous dust that resembles talcum powder. Add in numerous bends, gentle to tight hairpins, and drape this over the mountain such that you travel about 40K and loose more than about 2000 metres in height. Right now you have the picture you can imagine the prospect of getting down to the river a bit more. Oh, I forgot there is the usual traffic of trucks, including our two, coaches, mini-buses and all sorts of other vehicles. The top of the descent was also misty and a bit cold until we got further down. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the river, but what a journey! I know that with age I have become even more aware of my mortality and so I descend just a bit slower than I used to do, but it was still an real challenge. One guy had a tumble, but escaped with a cut to the chin and a few bruises but was lucky.
After the river we were back on smooth tarmac for the 20K along the river and climb up to the hotel. A short but interesting day and a well earned bonus of a half day off!

Day 42 Andahuaylas to Eucalyptus Bushcamp

2010-09-18T00:39:00.000+01:00

Yet again we awoke to another fine day on Thursday 16th September. A climb again straight from the start, still on un-paved roads and with the water spraying trucks out in force to keep the dust down, what did I say about cleaning my bike being a waste of time!! 40K found us at the lunch truck and after lunch there was a brief drop down a gritty road before we had another 10K climb. After this we started the final drop of the day down to the bushcamp. This descent was not too bad to start with but soon had large areas of deep talcum powder type dust which made some of the corners tricky. The bushcamp was just off the road in a small wood of Eucalyptus trees, which was quite a pleasant place to end the day. Once again being well over 3000 metres up it did not take long for the temperature to drop as the sun went down, and again soon after dinner most people scurried off to their tents to get warm.

Day 41 Rest day in Andahuaylas

2010-09-18T00:23:00.000+01:00

Rest days come and go, and they never really have any highlights, this one was no exception. I decided I really should clean my bike, although you sense that it Will be a waste of time with more un-paved days to come! Not the most exciting place to walk around and the only exception to this rest day was that I went to an Internet café to let people know on my Blog that I was still in business. My room mate Peter also did the same thing.

Day 40 Chincheros to Andahuaylas

2010-09-18T00:13:00.000+01:00

Another fine day greeted us and we were still on un-paved roads and immediately started climbing from the town. 40K of climbing awaited us but it was made worse today as we had to pass through large amounts of road workings. As we climbed there were trucks going up and down to the main road works, which meant you were almost always in a fog of dust and exhaust fumes. The end of these un-paved days made you think your nose had become a brick production factory!! Luckily after about 2/3rds of the climb the main workings were over and it was a bit more pleasant to complete the climb to lunch. The road surface had varied between fairly smooth compacted dirt to gravel, sand, dust and mud in any combination!
After lunch we expected a reasonable descent to the hotel, wrong!! It was full of road works, deviations and people with Stop/Go boards making progress as slow as possible. It was a rubbish descent, and we are all convinced that between us we found about 5 different ways down to the hotel which was going to be our home for another rest day.

Day 39 Abra Huamina Bushcamp to Chincheros

2010-09-17T23:55:00.000+01:00

The night had been cold, thermals, long socks, woollen hat needed to keep warm. We awoke to frost on the ground, frozen water bottles, but a sun rising to warm things up a bit. After breakfast we set off and I was feeling much better than yesterday. There was a bit further to climb before we started on a long drop of just over 50K! It was still un-paved but I was really enjoying it, catching people up and having a great time. Unfortunately as I came around one corner a Dutch Guy who I had made good friends with was on the road with others frantically waving at the road side. They were trying to attract the attention of the luggage truck a few hairpins down. I said I would carry on and try to get help. Another guy and I carried on and caught the truck up about 5K further down at a garage. They went back up as we carried on down the rest of the hill to tell Didier, our nurse at the lunch truck about the accident. The end of the story is that Dolf had broken his right arm and was out of the ride. I rode the 30K to the hotel realising how lucky I had been to have enjoyed the downhill and not have come to any harm, bike riding can be fun but you should always be aware of the possible problems that can occur. A good day for me but for Dolf the beginning of an early trip home.

Day 38 Ayacucho to Abra Huamina Bushcamp

2010-09-17T23:28:00.000+01:00

Sunday 12th September and as you can imagine after the burglary I did not sleep very well and was not really in the mood for cycling! The weather was fine and warm but we were off road for almost all of the day. I have to admit that the 40K uphill to lunch took me 5 hours!! I was close to giving up, but one of the others rode with me for the last 10K and would not let me abandon. After lunch I felt a bit better and made myself get on with the job. I got to the finish and was pleased I had gone on. Some of the guys had pitched my tent for me and I was really qrateful for that. Our dinner was accompanied by a thuderstorm which was fun! We were over 4000 metres and it was getting very cold so after dinner almost everyone took to their tents to get warm. The end of the day and I was glad to get to bed!

Day 37 Rest day at Ayacucho

2010-09-15T23:23:00.001+01:00

Well another rest day, but one with a twist!! Ayacucho is quite a nice town and we were all enjoying a sunny day off. I was not going to clean my bike with 3 days of un-paved ahead, just give my chain some lubrication. Good job I was going to do only that as I discovered a large thorn in my rear tyre, so that required attention too. Otherwise I did not do much else but update my blog etc.
Now the twist, if you have not already seen my son´s comment on day 36. A man booked into our hotel in the morning and happened to be in the room opposite me and my 2 room mates. He tried twice to enter our room during the day by just walking in, and apologising each time as if he had made a mistake and come into the wrong room. Each time one of my room mates was in, and on one occasion Peter was on his laptop. Maybe he also saw me in reception on my laptop. The evening arrives and we all gathered to go for a meal as usual. About 45 minutes later Wilbert, of Bike Dreams, comes and finds Peter and I to give us the bad news. Leaving half our dinner un-touched we retrurned to the hotel and found the door of our room jemmied open and the room in a mess! We both lost our laptops and cameras, and I also lost my backup disc and Ipod as well as other bits and pieces. So apart from my pictures on Picasa website I have lost them all. Luckily there are loads of other peoples that we can take copies of but there are some I know are not replacable. We spent the rest of the night with the police, who looked in his room and found a lot of crumpled up newspapers! Seems he booked in with a bag of newspapers and left with our goodies insttead!!!!
I will endevour to keep my blog going as I know there are a lot of you looking in, but be patient as we are soon going to be at fewer hotels and either bushcamping or at official campsites. I plan to get another camera in one of the bigger cities as I feel lost not being able to take pictures, but will make do with internet cafes and my friends laptops, when they are not using them, to update my blog.
I am sure you can imagine my reaction to all this but more about that when I catch up on the following days reports. I am now more calm and and still setting the whole trip as my major target, there are less than 8000K to go! Keep in touch please!

Day 36 Mayocc Bushcamp to Ayacucho

2010-09-11T20:32:00.000+01:00

Another fine day and only the sandflies to get angry with at breakfast and while taking down the tent, I have given up counting the bites per leg, more like the bites per square inch per leg!! On top of this I have a very tight lower back which is making life difficult.
After setting off I realise this is going to be a long day, my back is feeling every bump in the un-paved road and there is 30K to go before the smooth paved section starts. Also within about 500 metres there is a drag up of around 11%, not what I want so early when the legs are still waking up. The countryside this side of the river is more dominated by the Saguaro type of cactus along with the Prickly Pear and others. The road is un-paved but flatter and soon there are more in the way of agricultural fields on each side growing maize and other types of cultivated crop.
Eventually I get to the paved section and the relief on my back is good, but I still feel any bumps. The lunch stop is around 40K in the centre of a village where as usual the kids gather around us. Didier gives me an Ibuprofen tablet to ease my back pain which works after a few more K on the road. Sadly, about 10K from the finish a double dog attack takes place and by the time I have safely out-ridden them my back has cramped up again. I was relieved to get to the finish and a rest day in Ayacucho, I hope my back gets better with the rest. Just about 80K and about 1000 metres of climbing have taken place today, and if my back had been in good condition it would have been a pleasant day, but I don't want to admit how long it had taken today!!

Saguaro type cactus dominate.

Fascinated kids look on at lunchtime.

Day 35 La Esmeralda Bushcamp to Mayocc Bushcamp

2010-09-11T16:36:00.000+01:00

Another sunny day! After breakfast we leave along the same un-paved road and continue to follow the river downstream. The river looks calmer and the reason is soon clear, a dam exists to provide hydro power. After the dam the road continues up and down alongside the now trickling river. There are many twists, turns, climbs and drops along the road today and my off-road skills are improving by the minute! On some corners the gravel and dust give the pulse rate a quick jolt as the edge of the road seems to approach too quickly!! Another feature along the way is the water-splash, as the road crosses a stream dropping down from the hills and usually flowing across the road at a hairpin. These may be only inches deep, where you can see the bottom and pick your root through, or much deeper and wider where you hit the water and hope you come out the other side without falling off!! They also provide you and your bike with a quick wash before even more dust clings on to your legs and bike. Later in the day you also realise that the water and dust is clearing off any lubrication to your chain.
After about 50K we reach the village of La Esmeralda for lunch. There is a festival going on as well and we get involved in the dancing. As usual many kids and adults surround us and the lunch truck convinced that we have just beamed in from the planet Zob!! They are fascinated by everything we do and are always curious as to why we are here, sometimes we wonder ourselves!
After lunch there are about 35K more to do before bushcamp. The areas beside the road are becoming more and desert like with thousands of Aloe Vera plants, Prickly Pear Cacti and quite a varied selection of other Cacti too. About 90K of un-paved road with almost 900 metres of climbing, stunning scenery and good weather have passed before we are arrive at the bushcamp beside the river which looks quite picturesque, but it harbours one unseen problem - we are entering into the private world of a zillion sandflies!!! My legs have only just recovered from the last onslaught but are not prepared for what awaits in the next 12 hours!!

Another bend on a downhill stretch.

Bushcamp in Sandfly territory!

Day 34 Huancayo to La Esmeralda Bushcamp

2010-09-11T13:43:00.000+01:00

At last we awake to a blue sky and it's warm again. I feel good after the rest day and we set of a couple of hours late as one of the trucks needed a new tyre and it had to come from Lima. The police lead us out of town but unfortunately slightly wrong, which needed an unscheduled off-road bit to get us back on course!
We soon started climbing on a well surfaced road for about 20K. We later turned off towards Izcuchaca, the village where the lunch would be. It was not long after the turn we had a really great descent down into the valley which was smooth and a mixture of fast and testing. The scenery today was beginning to unfold and quite a few photo opportunities were taken. Lunch was reached and Didier had set it up on an old bridge near the start of the town.
After lunch we immediately went onto the un-paved road that followed the river along it's course. The surface was not too bad and after around 30K we say the flag indicating the bushcamp site which was in a glade just off the road. The usual pitch tent, get changed routine before a slightly later dinner due to the later start. A small campfire was lit and enjoyed after a day of around 100K and a day where we had climbed quite a lot but had dropped in real terms from around 3200 metres to around 2800 metres.

Calcification as the water drops into the river.

Lunch stop on the Old Bridge.

Day 33 Rest day in Huancayo

2010-09-08T15:11:00.000+01:00

Well another rest day over, we are leaving a bit later today for a bushcamp, one of two in a row. The delay is because one of the trucks had a blow out on a front wheel as we were coming here two days ago. Needless to say no new tyres here, so replacement coming from Lima which should be here in time for us to start the day at 10am.
We have been spoilt here in the hotel with buffet breakfasts, I'm sure that any profit they normally make from their guests has been totally wiped out with 30 or so hungry cyclists grazing for over an hour each morning!! Also last night we went to a shopping mall here with about 15 fast food outlets, another grazing contest took place there too, what exciting lives we are living! Now it is back to reality of life on the road again, but that is what we are here for.
My cold is getting better so after a generally lazy day here I am feeling better. I cleaned my bike and that is about as much hard work as I did. Will catch you all up with the news at the next hotel, wifi being available. Keep your comments coming they give me a boost, and as I have said before - Thanks to you all!!

Day 32 La Oroya to Huancayo

2010-09-07T16:45:00.000+01:00

Well I again managed to sleep quite well even though my room was right by the main road. I stayed awake until about 11pm and slept until about 5am when the noises outside started to get louder.
After the usual breakfast we were ready to set off and follow the river downstream for about 85K before turning onto another road into Huancayo.
The weather was still dull, quite cool and a few spots of rain in the air. I was feeling a bit better, my cold seemed to be going away - I thought! It was good having quite a lot of downhill alongside the river for about 20K, with the occasional rise as you often find with roads following rivers. I was with 3 others and felt good but after about 20K there was a rise too many and I realised that my chest had not completely recovered and my breathing was not good. We were still well above 3000 metres at this point so breathing with a chest cold gets even more difficult! Anyway, the lunch truck was at 70K today, in a field by the river and in the sunshine, which after numerous showers earlier on was a pleasant change.
Leaving the lunch stop it was still mainly downhill but as it had been all day the wind was still against us, but when we turned onto the other road at about 85K the wind was a bit stronger and the road was flatter. I was now beginning to realise I had been a bit rash earlier on and my earlier pace was now getting its own back. I just decided to plod on as well as I could to get to the hotel. My spirits were somewhat raised as I entered town, with one of the others, as a young attractive police woman on a motorbike came up alongside me and asked if I was going to the hotel we were staying at in town. I said "yes" and off she went in front of us clearing all the traffic aside along with another young attractive police woman who joined us. At junctions and sets of traffic lights we were ushered through as point duty police stopped the traffic, and eventually we were guided right to the front door of the hotel, wow what a finish to the day! We had done just over 126K and dropped down to 3200 metres, but after feeling a bit jaded the end was good and the hotel is the best we have stayed in all trip too!!

The real world over here, not a display in a Country Fair!

Day 31 Cerro de Pasco to La Oroya

2010-09-06T03:33:00.000+01:00

I had not slept very well with a lot of noise outside the room until at least midnight and starting again at 5.30am. Yesterday had been the third test in a week of riding at altitudes over 4000 metres and I had been lucky each time not to suffer from Altitude Sickness. Sadly some of the others had, and had either given up at the lunch stop or in the most frustrating case get in the truck, that had gone back out about 1 hour before dark, with only 10K to go to the finish!
So all the riders left this morning feeling very tired from the day before but relieved that this days route would actually end with us being down at about 3700 metres. We had to climb back out of the town and continue on the road we had left yesterday to get to Cerro de Pasco. We then started to drop down about 200 hundred metres but this time the rain came early after about 10K and gave us a really good soaking for at least 10 minutes!! So now cold and wet we continued on a gentle drop until we crossed a plateau at around 4100 metres for 50K. It was also made harder, apart from our tired legs, by a nagging headwind and also the fact that at these altitudes even taking a drink takes all your breath away! The lunch truck was a bit before halfway and had parked up in a roadside cafe carpark, the owner happy to have the potential of supplying hungry cyclists with extras to what we would already get from the truck. It was also a good place to shelter from the cool wind blowing outside.
After lunch we had to gently climb 100 metres before we finally dropped 500 metres in 30K to our destination. This would have been so much more pleasant if the wind had dropped or become a tailwind, instead we had to pedal downhill most of the time which is something that really annoys cyclists. I managed on a really long steepish stretch to get up to 67kph, but that would have been much higher without the headwind. So we had covered just over 132K and were now back down at 3760 metres.

Day 30 Huanuco to Cerro de Pasco

2010-09-06T03:00:00.000+01:00

We were all nervous about this day, especially after a rest day. It was only scheduled as 120K but had a scheduled 2615 metres of climbing, and we were already at 1899 metres, so the climbing to distance ratio was high but more problematic was the altitude increase!
So on September 4th at 8am we set off in not very warm conditions and it was not long before we started to climb at a fairly steady rate. At about 20K I came across a traffic jam and soon realised both our trucks were in it. I was soon at the "lunch" truck where I was told that road works meant the road was to be closed until mid-day, it was now about 10am. Susanna, our translator, was negotiating with the police to try and get us through in convoy because of the daylight problems the riders would face if they had to wait until mid-day. It looked promising as the trucks were asked to move to the front by the barriers, but it failed and we were still waiting.
Eventually some of the riders decided that they could get through even if they had to walk when they reached the road works. Stalemate was broken and after we had all walked or slowly cycled a police car came along and escorted us through, but the trucks had to wait until mid-day! So we were on our way again having lost valuable time on this time critical day.
The trucks overtook us eventually and the lunch truck set up at around 70K where I had a quick lunch and got on my way because there was still a lot of climbing to go in the last 40K. Shortly after there was a stretch of unmade road which was very bumpy and slowed the pace down as well as getting you covered in dust as all the heavy stuff overtook. Then, the last thing to give problems on this hard day was a thunderstorm! It was not actually overhead but close enough to give you a good soaking, make you cold and soak the roads for a few K.
Finally after the last hard kilometres with much steeper gradients I arrived at the hotel with 7 minutes to spare before it got dark. The hotel was not the best we have stayed in but after my soup, a couple of rolls and a cup of tea I decided to go to bed and get warm. It had been a long day, 9Hrs 45Mins for 118K with the final altitude we would be sleeping at a moderate 4417 metres. I like most of the others was shattered!

Day 29 Rest day in Huanuco

2010-09-04T05:30:00.000+01:00

Well another rest day and the usual sort of pattern, get up when you feel like, go find some breakfast, do some computer stuff, go find some lunch, more computer stuff, have a nap, watch the tuk-tuks, go find some dinner and come back write blog before going to bed. Notice anything different?
Yes, I did not clean my bike, in fact I did not even look at it today, all I will do is lubricate the chain in the morning - I just wanted a complete day away from the bike!
Oh and the other difference, the tuk-tuks! Peru has a lot of them but outside our hotel the roads are quite narrow and there is a crossroads a few metres away. Dodgem cars at the fair, banger racing and karting are just a foretaste of these guys here. Put in sets of traffic lights and you have a mixture of sheer entertainment for a few minutes of unadulterated chaos to watch!

Red car surrounded by Tuk-Tuks!

This is a one-way street but watch the 2nd red Tuk-Tuk!

Yes, he's trying to get on past the pick-up, just a pedestrian to miss!

Day 28 Bushcamp to Huanuco

2010-09-03T21:26:00.000+01:00

The rain the evening before and the spitting rain at breakfast did nothing to increase my enthusiasm for the day ahead, even though we had learned last night that the planned 110K of un-paved route was in fact now paved! The Peruvian road workers had in the last 2 years since Bike Dreams were last here tarmaced the whole twisty route between Quivilla and Huanuco, maybe not very thickly but it was at least smooth. Whether it will be in as good a condition in two years time remains to be seen, but for us it meant an easier ride than we had expected.
Anyway, packing away our wet tents we got ready to start another day of climbing. We have in fact changed sides of The Andes since yesterday, in other words rivers on this side will eventually empty into the Atlantic not the Pacific.
It wasn't long before we started to climb, up and down at first, slowly gaining altitude. On the way up at Chavinillo we came across an impromptu dance in the road, on a Thursday morning? We joined in before the traffic holdup put an end to it, bizarre! The lunch truck was to be at the top of the day's climb at about 50K. It took 4 hours to reach 50K which considering how I felt was not too bad, and also the fact that the summit was at 3990 metres. Shortly after the summit, which was clouded in mist, I saw Didier driving towards me through the mist, on a mission to see if anyone needed help as the conditions were worsening, luckily all were okay. The lunch stop had got hot drinks today! Didier and Filip had asked some locals where they could park the truck and if anyone could supply some hot water, this was something they jumped at with relish! What the hell were these stupid gringos doing on their bikes in weather like this in their village? We all asked ourselves the same question! Anyway during some hard rain we sheltered in the "local shop" and ate our food with hot drinks while the perplexed locals looked on!!
Eventually we started the remaining 53K drop down towards Huanuco, what a ride that turned out to be, almost completely downhill, just about 200 metres which actually went back up a little, no armco barriers and drops that could have been 1 to 1000 metres from the side of the road!! It was wet and misty to start with but as we continued dropping it got warmer and drier. The total altitude lost was as near as makes no difference 2000 metres taking us down to about 1800 metres in Huanuco. The downhill took about 1Hr 45Mins to do because there were so many twists, turns and hairpins that speeds of just over 50kph were as good as you could expect, but it was great fun and made the end to my day really enjoyable.
Drying our tents out in the hotel car park whilst having our soup was only marred by one thing - sabre toothed sand flies eating away at my legs, which now have about 20 bites each below the knees, ouch!

Impromptu dance at Chavinillo!

Day 27 Bushcamp nr. Huallanca to Bushcamp nr. Quivalla

2010-09-03T20:41:00.000+01:00

Well I suppose I should not be surprised, even though I felt good the last two days, and they were really tough, I did not sleep well last night! So the 1st day of September was not such a good day, it was not going to be a long distance and there was not much climbing but I was not going well.
We started by going through a quite spectacular gorge before we travelled through farming type scenery and we began to climb quite high up above the river that got smaller and smaller below us. The hill was not very steep, and was well paved but I just seemed to crawl up it. Maybe I had got a chill yesterday as I dropped down from the top of the big pass, through the cold mist. I had put my racing cape on to protect my chest from the cold blast but I did feel my head getting cold. Anyway, the top of this climb of about 450 metres was reached before staying at that height for a while before dropping down to the bushcamp which was in a field beside a river.
I pitched my tent, had some soup, and just lay in my tent listening to my Ipod for an hour or so. I had a small nap but really I just tried to relax before it got too hot in the tent, so I got changed and came out and walked into the village over the bridge. I met some of the others, had a Coke, bought some crisps and a yoghurt, came back and sat down doing a quizword.
After the evening meal I went to the tent updated my laptop and lay listening to music until gone 10pm hoping that I would have a good sleep. Sadly, at 1am it started raining hard and I lay awake most of the next 4 hours listening to it. The best laid plans don't always work I guess! But at least I had maintained a full record of all the kilometres completed so far!!

Wilbert, Bike Dreams Organiser, comes through the Gorge.

Day 26 Bushcamp NP to Bushcamp near Huallanca

2010-09-03T12:21:00.000+01:00

We awake to skies not as nice as the day before, overcast and cool. One problem we also face while we are still relatively near the Equator is that the days and nights are about 12 hours each and the nights are much colder. This is a nightmare for someone like me, I don't do long sleeps! So last night was quite amazing, I went to my tent about 7pm, wrote my daily log, uploaded my photos onto my laptop and still managed to sleep for about 9 hours!
After breakfast we set off for the highest pass of the trip. Today is also a day for taking lots of pictures as well as tackling the 41K on un-paved track whilst climbing over two peaks of 4800 metres plus! Not long after we leave camp we see our first Puya, a strange plant native to only Peru and Bolivia. It takes about 30 years to grow and "bloom" and its "leaves" are more like wood than normal leaf texture. See the picture to get an idea of how tall they are! The other thing we start to see and get close to are some quite large glaciers, see another picture.
However, the main thing is to get up over the first pass and get to the lunch stop. This one is only 4805 metres and just a few K before lunch. As I approach lunch Didier is driving the truck back towards me, some of the riders are experiencing headaches and he goes to check them out. I am feeling okay and stop briefly as it is quite cold and the sun is still not happy enough to come out to play today!!
In about 12K I reach the second summit of 4865 metres and know that it is now all downhill to the end. One other thing about being up so high and on a rough road is you have to stop to take a drink from your bottle! There is no way that you can steer, and have enough breath to even think of it even on a flat or slightly downhill stretch! Dirt track continues until about 20K from the end we join a main road and apart from it being cold, damp and windy to start with it is great to be on paved road again. One serious attempt by 2 dogs to get me going downhill into a hairpin fails, luckily, and soon the temperature rises as I get down towards the end at just over 3500 metres. Unfortunately it's another bushcamp, the hotel had booked a load of road workers in, so we had to make do with a bushcamp just outside town. Baby wipes come into their own again as you try to keep yourself clean after another hard day!! Altitude sickness had let me off, thankfully, and Francine was almost back to feeling normal again. The two faces of what can happen at these seriously high altitudes whilst trying to do something as simple as riding a bike for 70K and climb 1330 metres in the day!

My bike at the base of the right-hand Puya!

A Glacier on the way down after second summit.

Day 25 Huaraz to Bushcamp

2010-09-03T11:21:00.002+01:00

We are all nervous about today & tomorrow as we are into serious Altitude Sickness territory! We leave Haraz and proceed on paved roads towards the entrance to National Park Huascaran where we will set up another bushcamp. The stage is only just under 56K but we are climbing from just over 3000 to a shade under 4200 metres. Didier sets up the lunch stop opposite to the turn off to the NP just so we don't miss it, it's a dirt track of around 13K to camp!
There is some quite nice scenery before lunch, but after lunch it changes. We are now on a gravel path across open fields with mountains all around. The progress is slow as the gravel makes following a straight line impossible, plus there are small climbs of up to 10% just to add to the pleasure! I decide to just tackle this head on and do not stop until bushcamp is reached which takes me about 1Hr 30Mins to do the 13K. I make it and set up my tent so I can get changed and have a rest while I drink my soup that is waiting for us!
I have felt alright, no signs of altitude sickness, but Francine our main cook is hit very badly! I see her not long after I have arrived and she looks so different to just a few hours before, and she retires to her tent very quickly with a serious headache and nausea. A few hours later she has to be taken back down to a village about 800 metres lower where Didier, our nurse, stays with her overnight. Altitude sickness can hit anyone at anytime, and she had been in a truck all day, we had just climbed about 1200 metres on our bikes. Scary stuff!

Two rivers meet!

Didier meets some locals at lunch stop.

A few K to go to bushcamp, taken by Geert Jan.

Bushcamp at 4200 metres!

Day 24 Rest day in Huaraz

2010-08-30T02:24:00.000+01:00

Well another rest day nearly over! The weather this morning was good, breakfast in the sunshine. Later it was coffee in the sunshine, we know how to live on this trip!! Bike cleaning duties followed and most of our bikes looked almost new again, but the clouds were gathering as we had our lunch. A few spots of rain turned to showers later and by dinner tonight it was full on rain. We are all just hoping it passes through overnight as the thought of climbing up to a bushcamp at 4200 metres tomorrow is not pleasing us! The day after we leave bushcamp for the biggest climb of the trip at 4800 metres. The temperature overnight at bushcamp is likely to be below zero, so climbing another 600 metres after that is not a great prospect. Anyway, we all signed up for this but the reality is not always what you expected from the holiday brochure you looked at before, why do they always have sunny pictures??
So apart from catching up with computer stuff the day was spent relaxing, and we shall see what the morning brings - watch this space for news in a couple of days!

Day 23 Caraz to Huaraz

2010-08-29T04:42:00.000+01:00

Back on paved roads again for the journey up to Huaraz and the eve of another rest day. It is Saturday 28th August and we travelled through scenery which was in its own way good but we had been spoilt by yesterday. Shortly after leaving Caraz there was a fantastic double peaked mountain on our left which was just too difficult to photograph as the sun was still rising above it and making a photo to bright. Lunch was around 35K on a concrete slab that was also used for games like basketball. The young kids gathered around and some had their tyres pumped up so they could ride around on "non-flat" tyres!
After lunch there was an opportunity to catch another snow capped peak on camera, but otherwise it was just riding gently uphill to reach our destination. A by now familiar habit of stopping for a beer near to the end was indulged in, but we eventually got to the hotel after 70K, another total of 1180 metres of climbing which took us back up to an altitude of 3060 metres. After the rest day we go to a bushcamp at around 4200 metres before the next day takes us over the highest pass of the trip at around 4800 metres!

Just look in the distance not the foreground!

Day 22 Bushcamp to Caraz

2010-08-29T04:18:00.000+01:00

This was only a short day of around 66K, but with only about 33% paved and a lot of climbing it was going to take us a long time. There was one other reason for the day to be long - it was by far the most stunning scenery we had seen on the trip so far! We left bushcamp at 8am and continued to travel up the Canon del Pato, gently climbing all day. The sun came out quite early on, the wind was behind us again and the scenery just got better & better. I was certainly in no rush to get to lunch which was around 30K and just by one of the early tunnels of the day, there were more than 30 today!.
After lunch we travelled through most of the tunnels for the day, and in one of the longest I got off my bike and pressed myself with my bike close to the wall as at least 3 pick-ups came through. They all saw me, thank goodness, but the air was now thick with the talcum powder type dust they threw up! I could not get my orientation again and ended up walking the remainder of the tunnel to the exit, it was the safest thing to do.
Eventually the Canon del Pato ended and the valley widened as the last 15K to Caraz was mainly on smooth tarmac. With the winds assistance it was weird as you felt like you should be going down hill as you looked at the road ahead, but slowly the altitude was getting higher! We had seen some amazing scenery, only travelled just over 67K, climbed a total of 1780 metres and were now at an altitude of just under 2300 metres - a really fantastic day that we all talked about through the evening.

Stunning scenery!

1225 metres up and more to come!

More stunning scenery and big cactus above!

Another tunnel on the route!

Day 21 Bushcamp to Bushcamp

2010-08-29T03:31:00.000+01:00

Today we left one bushcamp to go to another. We continued along the same track as we had come along. It was much the same type of surface, except there was to be about 90% un-paved today. Lunch was at around 50K and we were beside a river which was about 30 metres below us. The weather had brightened up since the start of the day and now it was bright sunshine as we enjoyed our lunch break.
After lunch we started to come across some of the un-lit tunnels that we were told to expect in Peru. These varied in length between 10 and 200 metres, with the same un-paved surface within them. Luckily I managed to get through them without meeting any traffic in either direction which was a relief.
The scenery was variable but there was too much to concentrate on with the road beneath our wheels. Eventually we came into a small village where I heard my name being called out from a little bar! Only about 500 metres to go to the bushcamp on the other side of the river, but a number of riders had already got a beer so I decided to join them. We managed between about 12 of us to empty the owners fridge, I think he was pleased we dropped in! We then carried on to bushcamp which was better than the night before. Two reasons, the ground was flatter and not so stony, also there was a river near to us where we could have a quick wash and not feel so un-clean when we went to bed! We had travelled just over 84K, climbed over 1140 metres and we were now just over 1000 metres above sea level.

Typical surface for the day!

Almost ghost town status.

Reward for another dusty day in the saddle!

Bushcamp in the Canon del Pato.

Day 20 Huanchaco to Bushcamp

2010-08-28T03:20:00.001+01:00

We left the coast, until South Argentina, on Wednesday 25th August and travelled inland towards the high mountains. The day started cool, but soon started to warm up, and as a bonus the wind was in our favour after all the headwinds down to the coast. Police escort still with us as we cleared Trujillo and various roadworks. The road was mainly paved and slowly we started to gain some altitude. Not a lot happened until we turned off the main road after lunch and took to the un-paved stuff. It seemed okay to start with as it was quite hard packed and reasonably smooth as as surface. After about 10K it got more like what was to follow over the next 2 days, bumpy, mixture of rocks, gravel and worst of all dust like talcum powder, which if you drift into it can stop you dead depending upon how deep it is. Eventually the bushcamp site was reached and we set up our tents for the night. Unfortunately as I arrived I must have run over one of the thorns from the bushes and later noticed my front tyre was flat! It was in fact worse because I must have hit some glass somewhere and this had slashed the tyre as well, new tyre and inner tube required!!! The tent pitching was also a bit hard because of the ground and the sleep that followed after dinner was a bit lumpy. In summary we had travelled 113K and gained 900 metres into the foothills.

Bushcamp near Chavimochic

Day 19 Rest day in Huanchaco

2010-08-24T18:58:00.001+01:00

Well it is good to be sitting on normal chairs for the day instead of a saddle, the backside is enjoying the luxury! The sun is not shining yet but maybe it will come out a bit later this afternoon, it is nice and warm though. Our hostal is about 100 metres from the Pacific and the waves are crashing in onto the beach, there is something so relaxing about that sound. We are all just taking things easy and getting ready for the next 4 hard days ahead as we go back into the mountains and eventually back up to the dizzy heights between 2000 and 4800 metres. We have days of 118, 80, 66 & 70K to look forward to. Doesn't sound to bad but these days involve 83, 10, 34 & 100% paved roads, along with 662, 861, 1600 & 1223 metres climbing respectively. These last figures make the prospect look a little harder, offroad & climbing too, as well as bushcamp for the next 2 days. The Andes Trail now starts for real, there are days with 0% paved roads to come in the remaining weeks to the end. We have only had the prologue over the past 1500K, now the real work starts, so keep watching this space!
Thanks to all of you who have put comments on my blog, you are really helping to keep me going, I cannot thank you enough, please keep going with them. I hope I can keep you informed & provide you with a few funny anecdotes along the way. The more we move into camping, especially bushcamps, the less frequently I will be able to keep you up to date, but I will get the stories up as soon as I can when wifi is available. Thanks again to you all for looking in & commenting too!

Day 18 Pacasmayo to Huanchaco

2010-08-24T16:58:00.002+01:00

This was another day of barren landscape with the wind gaining strength as the day went on. We left the coast to go back inland onto the Pan American Highway again and continue south to our rest day stop of Huanchaco. The wind from the Pacific just grew in strength and continued to batter our tired bodies until the end of the day. The police were still checking our progress and paid a bit more attention as we went through a place called Paijan which is a bit of a dodgy area for travellers, especially cyclists. There were a few shady looking characters with masks on who looked a bit menacing, but we went through in a group and came out the other side intact!
The landscape for the day, as well as the last couple of days, was of desert and rubble. It was not even nice clean yellow sand, but dusty gritty stuff and loads of dumped rubbish from plastic bottles to old building materials. It looked a bit like some of the desert war places around the globe! We all realise how lucky we are that we have lives that are so privileged compared to so many of the friendly people we pass by each day. The kids come rushing to the roadside and wave and cheer at us as do a lot of the grown ups, it is really great and so humbling as we go past on our very expensive bikes!
The day was 111K long with 410 metres of climbing and at the end we were all pleased to have a rest day in front of us, minds, legs and rear ends that needed a day off!

This was as good stretch!

How better to relax at the end of 7 hard days!!

Day 17 Lambayeque to Pacasmayo

2010-08-23T03:00:00.000+01:00

This was another day where the scenery was not too special as we headed towards the Pacific Ocean. We were going through very sandy areas, sometimes flat and sometimes very large dunes, with a few low hills interspersed. The pace was quite high soon after we started and it soon increased until there were only 9 of us left in a group heading towards lunch at just over 60K. The weather was quite dull and the wind was blowing hard from the ocean! After lunch we set off again at a reasonable pace and so it continued until about 5K from the end 3 of us got blown off the back on the last rise before the end. The wind was so strong that it was almost impossible to get back with the others, and that is how the day finished with 5 in a group followed by 2 others and one solo rider completing the original 9. Just after we arrived at the hotel on the seafront the sun came out for the first time and so we could enjoy sitting in the sun after our showers following the 118K and just over 320 metres of climbing. We have one more day along the coast before another Rest Day and then it's back up into the serious mountains of The Andes!

Day 16 Bushcamp near Motupe to Lambayeque

2010-08-23T02:41:00.000+01:00

Short flat day to Lambayeque and it was sort of decided that we get there as quick as possible without anyone actually saying anything! We all stayed together for about 30K then the race guys broke away and the rest of us just kept up an even pace through to lunch, with police guidance through the towns still! Lunch was at 50K and that only left about 25K to go, which we soon got under our wheels. It took us just about 3 Hours to cover the 75K of the day. Very nice hostal awaited us at Lambayeque after a quick morning of riding. A number of us visited a museum about the Sipan people who pre-date the Incas, which was very interesting. The rest of the day we just relaxed, and some of us tried to catch up on our blogs etc.

Day 15 Chulucanas to Bushcamp near Motupe

2010-08-22T13:24:00.001+01:00

So before the days story more about the Police in Peru. It seems that Bike Dreams had sent details of our trip through Peru to the Peruvian Embassy, mainly because there are some small areas of Peru that it is useful for the police to be aware of our prescence. So there is often a police car along the road whose occupants wave and check us through as we pass. Then in many of the smaller towns they blow their whistles and stop traffic, or if there are a number of us in a group we are often treated to a police car escort with lights on, siren blazing, and all the vehicles kept to one side as we "race" through! It has been really great so far, makes you feel that your in the Tour de France!! They also count us all in to make sure we are all safely home at the end of a day, it will be interesting to see if it does last all the way through Peru.
So, this day started a bit cooler than the last ones but as we are dropping slowly down towards the coast the terrain was still fairly flat and boring. There were two small climbs today, and we did pass through a few foothills just to break it up, but here was still the nagging headwind! So nothing really interesting happened on the journey to our first bushcamp. We should have been in an hotel but it was found out that it was full, so a bushcamp was found, only about 7K short of Motupe, on a less than green or flat football pitch about 500 metres from the road. We had ridden 147K with just over 500 metres of climbing. We all had our dinner at about 6 pm which was really good for the first wild cooking experience of the trip. A few chats and bed about 9 pm, after keeping my diary up to date.

Mine is the Green Tent!

Day 14 Macara to Chulucanas

2010-08-22T04:38:00.000+01:00

We were about to leave Ecuador and enter Peru, but that was not going to be as quick as you may think! We arrived at the border about 8:20 am and the plan was to let the trucks go ahead of us and the riders follow once the trucks had been cleared. Well, first surprise, the border guards on the Ecuadorian side were not exactly sober shall we say. It was quite a while before we got our passports stamped and we could progress the 100 metres to the Peruvian border. Another slow process getting through, but the sobriety seemed to be better here! During our wait the Peruvian Police were chatting to us and explaining that they would be "escorting" us all the way through Peru, around 5 weeks! We did not really understand what they meant at the time, but after over 2 hours we were all cleared and on our way with a police car, lights flashing, leading us into Peru. The police escort continued all day. More about that later.
Unfortunately by now the sun was really getting hot after our long delay and I soon dropped off the group. I was finding the terrain very boring, rolling roads with a nagging head wind. We did not have lunch until around 60K by which time I was really feeling low.
After lunch we carried on until nearer the finish we had our first serious stretch of unpaved flat road for about 14K including riding through a couple of rivers for good measure! By the time we reached the end I was in quite a bad way, really suffering from dehydration and when I arrived at the hotel Didier, our nurse, took my bike from me and got me sat down and drinking straight away. He took my bags to my room and I just sat drinking anything that was put in front of me and trying to enjoy the soup that we always get at the end of each day. Slowly I got better and went off for my shower and washing out my kit before going out to get some Peruvian money from an ATM. I bumped into some of the guys in a bar/restaurant and stopped by for a beer or two along with some food. There were some Peruvians playing a guitar and the spoons as well as singing. It was a really good night and it turned out that the first day of 124K into Peru was not that bad after all!

Welcome to Peru!

Day 13 Catacocha to Macara

2010-08-22T04:12:00.000+01:00

This was to be our last full day in Ecuador, and it was another hot one! The start was a 20K drop down from Catacocha on a road similar to the one that bought us into town the day before, lots of pot-holes and unpaved sections to negotiate. once the descent was over we proceeded onto lunch over rolling roads until we came to the place Didier had chosen for lunch, right beside a river! It was a beautiful spot with the river running past us as we ate our lunch. Some of the riders had a paddle or were brave enough to go in for a complete dip.
Soon after lunch we had the major climb of the day which took us up another 500 metres with gradients varying between 7 & 12%. The sun was now above us as it was around mid-day, and my legs were really feeling like lead! Eventually the top was reached and with a few more ups & downs we came to the refreshingly long descent of 700 metres to Macara and an altitude of under 500 metres above sea level. 94K of cloudless sky had bought us to within 3K of Peru, but that was to wait until tomorrow!

Lunch stop from the bridge on the road afterwards!

Day 12 Loja to Catacocha

2010-08-22T03:52:00.000+01:00

Today we were to experience our first serious unpaved sections of the trip. We left Loja and the weather was good as we started to climb up to just over 2600 metres which had a few small unpaved sections. However, once we started to descend the other side we soon came across our first stretch of downhill unpaved for about 5K, made more scary by a very strong wind behind us! Soon after this we re-joined the Pan American Highway and descended for another 10K or so which dropped us down to around 1300 metres.
It was not long before we started another serious climb which was interrupted by the lunch truck at around the 50K mark. After lunch we continued to climb for another 10K with an average gradient of 10% and taking us back up to 2350 metres. Once the summit was reached it was a series of ups and downs until the last climb of about 8K of pot-holed road up to Catacocha, an interesting village perched high up on a hill. The weather was a vast contrast from the cold at the top of the climb a few days ago, today had reached 40C with 2100 metres of climbing spread over the 94K.

Relief after the scary unpaved downhill section!

Day 11 Rest Day in Loja

2010-08-22T03:19:00.001+01:00

Sorry to all those trying to follow my progress but wifi has been hard to come by since arriving in Loja! So I will try to catch up on the news:-
The second rest day within a couple of days on the road since the first one was simply because of the hardness of those two days. A lot of us did such things as clean our bikes, visit supermarkets for a few food treats, have a look around the town and generally renew our batteries ready for the next 7 days during which we would end our riding in Ecuador and more into country number 2 - Peru.
Just to add another touch of amusement to my blog here is a small example of pavement design in Loja!

Just remember to look where your going!

Day 10 Ona to Loja

2010-08-16T15:38:00.000+01:00

After the hard day yesterday the 15th of August started better - no rain and warm. This was to be a harder day with more climbing in a similar numbers of K's. We were immediately back on the PA Highway and dropping down to cross a river prior to the first climb of the day, this process was repeated 2 more times this day. We crossed the river at 2200 metres and then climbed up to 3007 metres to reach the first summit. Today at this height the weather was kinder and although cooler than below it was at least dry. We then dropped down to around 2230 metres over another bridge and started the next climb up to 2916 metres which was soon followed by the lunch stop at around 45K. Today I felt good and had ridden quite hard over these two climbs reaching the lunch stop in 3 hours 45 minutes. Each day, unless there is a specific reason like traffic problems etc., we are timed so that there can be a rider who can say they road the day, or whole event, the quickest. I am never going to be the fastest, there are too many younger riders than me, but it is still interesting to see how you can do on a day when you feel good. The timing for this day was only until lunch and I came in 8th which I was really pleased with, even if it was 70 minutes after the fastest riders!
Lunch was spent in a nice clearing with good views and a little sunshine before continuing the remaining 62K to the finish. We dropped down to 2370 metres and climbed up again to 2732 metres as well as quite a few other ups and downs on the way to the finish. The only annoying part of the day being that when we had a good long descent there always seemed to be a strong headwind in our faces!!
The hotel is good, very good hot showers - sad reflection on what we all consider to be a major luxury - and after a good meal in a local grill and a nice cold beer it was time to hit the sack after another hard day of 107K riding with 2416 metres climbing.

Day 9 Cuenca to Ona

2010-08-16T14:26:00.000+01:00

Saturday August 14th dawned with dull skies and drizzle, not a bright prospect for a hard day in the saddle. It took us almost 1 hour to clear the town negotiating road works that bikes could get though as well as general traffic.
Soon we started climbing up to the highest point of the day, at 3279 metres. As we gained height so we gained rain, mist and cold!! Reaching the summit after about 4 hours I was wet with sweat and rain. I put on my waterproof cape before starting the descent to the lunch stop which was about 6K down. I was getting colder and colder as the road passed under my wheels, eventually reaching the lunch stop where Filip, our mechanic, helped me off my bike! My fingers were numb with cold and I just sat shaking, too cold to really hold the plastic cup of coffee Filip got me. All around there were other riders in similar states of cold. Soon the lunch truck returned, which I had seen going in the opposite direction a few K earlier. It had been to pick up Jasper, a Dutch rider, who had had 2 punctures and I had seen walking along the roadside. Once his bike was out of the truck a number of us got in it for warmth. I eventually managed to drink the coffee!! We stayed in the truck as Didier decided to go back and find the remaining riders on the road, and like me none of them wanted to give up and got to the lunch stop before or just after we returned.
I was now much warmer, still in wet clothes, but with some others decided to carry on to Ona. We were soon descending down out of the mist and into warmer temperatures and with most of the remaining distance being downhill we all got to the hostal where we could get into a warm shower and dry clothes. Many stories were told that night over dinner before getting to bed ready for the longer harder day to follow this one of just 107K and 1771 metres of climbing!

Day 8 Rest day in Cuenca

2010-08-16T13:57:00.001+01:00

Friday August 13th was our first rest day and it was spent doing various things. Getting some well needed laundry done, going for a walk around town, eating all our meals out - the crew are of duty as well on rest days = and for those of us with PC's catching up on all sorts.

I also asked Didier, our nurse, if he could get me something for a very tight chest. He got two tablets from the chemist (you can buy tablets singularly over here) and they solved the problem over the next 24 hours.

Having a real coffee in the morning was a treat as well as a superb ice cream sundae!!

The laundry gave us all problems as the hotel staff managed to mix up, or loose bits of our kit. Luckily I made a list of what I had put in my bag and eventually I was reunited with all my kit.

Other times of the day we were all discussing the following two days on the road, both over 100K and both involving a lot of climbing. Remember we are already over 2000 metres up before we add on any climbing metres!!

Day 7 Ingapirca to Cuenca

2010-08-13T05:36:00.000+01:00

We left our overnight hostals in the coolness of the early morning to take another way back to join the Pan American Highway. The twisty lane had it's full share of potholes, as the way in had the day before, but it also had a new selection of annoying dogs! There seems to be a continuous stream of dogs who, when not staked down in a garden, take great delight in chasing cyclists. Sometimes the are alone, other times the work as a group. Today a second rider was bitten by a dog, both riders being lucky to escape with non-puncturing bites.
Once back on the PA Highway there was another 5K to climb before the days summit was reached at 3550 metres. We then dropped down about 1000 metres before we came to Cuenca. The PA Highway whilst both ascending and descending had another sprinkling of unfinished lengths, potholes and smooth surface. Over 900 metres climbing and around 79K of riding bought us to our hotel and the slightly warmer environs of Cuenca. We are here for two nights because Friday 13th August 2010 is our first REST DAY!!

Not 5* but it saved packing wet tents!

Day 6 Chunci to Ingapirca

2010-08-13T00:51:00.001+01:00

Today, 11/8/10, was supposed to be the first day that we were to bushcamp. However, that did not work out! We left Chunci with fairly clear skies and with the temperature really pleasant for riding. There was a reasonable amount of climbing to do today and it was on smooth tarmac and with comfortable gradients to start with. Just before the lunch stop the wind increased a little and the temperature dropped slightly. We had a good lunch before setting off again to find a different story for the afternoon. The Pan American Highway changed on a number of occasions to the PA DUSTway, and the wind also became very strong. Unmade sections of the road gave us a new experience whenever we were overtaken by trucks etc., a cloud of dust to breath in. One section of partly completed concrete sections was also accompanied by strong winds reducing uphill speeds to around 4kph. 2 riders were blown off there bikes by the wind. But on top of that we arrived at the ancient Inca site of Ingapirca to find that the access road to was dug up and the trucks could not gain access, therefore no bushcamp! We were booked into alternative accomodation of two hostals which had seen better days. It actually proved to be a blessing in disguise as heavy rain during the night meant that our tents would have been soaked. Packing them away for the next camping night in 2 weeks would have given us a great problem. So we had ridden about 70K, climbed over 1900 metres and actually had a good evening together in our new homes for the night at 3200 metres!

Pan American DUSTway!

Day 5 Guamote to Chunci

2010-08-10T23:07:00.000+01:00

I felt a little like I may have a headcold this morning, but it may just be because we had been sleeping at 3060 metres. So leaving the hostal we returned back to the main road and continued South. We were soon climbing again and reached a height of over 3300 metres before we started to drop down towards the town of Alausi which was about 47K into the ride. We had been told that the lunch stop would be somewhere around 50K. Just as we passed Alausi, which was below us on our right, someone spotted the lunch truck at the top of a long climb that lay ahead of us!! A few expletives were said but it was actually the best place for it to be, so after another 3K and 750 metres higher we pulled off the road to the truck at exactly 50K, tired but pleased that we did not have to tackle that climb with full stomachs!! After lunch it was time to set records, the high speed type! A long descent on smooth tarmac was just too tempting - I hit 81.2kph but others claim to have gone faster!! After another small climb along the way we dropped down to our hotel in the centre of Chunci after 80K and over 1300 metres of climbing. We have come from the dizzy heights of Guamote at 3060 metres to just around 2300 metres - feels like we have dropped into an oxygen tent!!!

Leaving the hostal at Guamote

View from lunch back down to Alausi!

Day 4 Riobamba to Guamote

2010-08-10T22:05:00.001+01:00

Today, 9/8/10, we travelled from Riobamba to a small village 52K away called Guamote. The ride today was the first one that would be timed, so that anyone who wanted to "race" could do. A number of us were not interested as we are treating the trip as a big holiday.

The day started one hour later than usual at 9am as the distance to go was short. It started by climbing away from the hotel and it just kept climbing for the next 30K to lunch. It was not one long climb but a lot of climbs with just a small drop to break them up, which if your legs are a bit dead is not so good. The lunch stop was by the side of the road in a field with lovely scenery around us. The area we travelled through was the most picturesque that we have seen so far, and the traffic was also quieter!

After lunch we carried on mostly downhill but with a stiff headwind. A short climb up to the Hostal completed the day after 810 metres of climbing. The hostal is along the lines of a youth hostel at home and is in a village that seems to be a hub for many buses and also the railway that passes through. The village was worth a visit before dinner and you really felt that you were seeing true rustic Ecuadorian life. Most of us are a bit tired and were pleased that dinner was cooked for us in the hostal.

Lunch at 3100 metres!

Downtown Guamote

Day 3 La Tacunga to Riobamba

2010-08-09T03:51:00.001+01:00

Today was a good and bad day! My legs, heart and lungs felt good, but a number of us went of course and my computer's battery ran out! Somehow we managed to miss some of the directions in the middle of the route and therefore missed the lunch truck. It was not a disaster, it just meant that we landed up going a different way in the middle of the proposed route. We stopped for some food in a little restaurant in a village called Quero and had a bowl of Chicken soup, Chicken with chips, rice, salad and a Pineapple Juice for the enormous sum of $2!! After lunch we still went over the main climb of the day which was around 3450m. As yesterday we were greeted with some rain at the top of the climb but it was not as bad as on day 2. We also had fewer vehicles to deal with, maybe because it was Sunday, but it was also because we are getting further away from Quito. Tomorrow we start to get into the countryside a lot more so the air should be cleaner.

Day 2 Quito to La Tacunga

2010-08-08T04:05:00.001+01:00

We have now left Quito and have had our first real day on the road. The weather was cooler but that was okay for the climbing that lay ahead. Unfortunately we have a couple of days after leaving Quito that involve using the PanAmerican Highway which is very busy. The biggest problem with that is the pollution from the big trucks and buses, not very nice to breathe in.
The day was fairly uneventful, except for the first puncture in the group and the rain that came in the afternoon. A total distance of around 95K with total climbing of around 1450m. The highest point reached being almost 3550m which is around 750m higher than Quito, oxygen was a bit more scarce up there but the day was a success. More of the same in the next week or so which will hopefully mean that we all get accustomed to the more rarified air.

We are on our way!

2010-08-07T12:44:00.000+01:00

On the morning of August 6th 2010 the months of waiting have ended! We cycled from our hotel in Quito to the Mitel del Mondo monument which is the symbol of The Equator and the start of our big adventure. The ride from Quito to the monument is North away from our eventual destination of Ushuaia, but after visiting the museum and some formal presentations we turn our bikes South and rode our first 27K back to our hotel. Day 1 was over and we were on our way at last!!

Our bikes on The Equator.

Ushuaia here I come!

South American Wiring!

2010-08-04T23:52:00.000+01:00

Waiting for the start of the trek and wandering the streets of Quito gives you time to see things that are different to what you are accustomed to in your own country. I am fascinated by the wiring in South America so here is a small break from things cycling:-

Of course it's safe!

Quito at last!

2010-08-02T03:04:00.000+01:00

Long day of travel over, up at 04:00 in London to catch 07:25 flight to Madrid followed by 12:40 flight to Quito! It is now 20:45 in Quito which is 02:45 in London. So nearly 23 hours awake, but I should sleep well tonight and be switched into Ecuadorian time in the morning.
Unpacked the bike and all is well, phew! Just got to sort out the luggage now.
Two other participants here today, the others will arrive in next 2 days. Hotel friendly and staff helpful.
I now feel as if the long wait it finally over, the next few days will be spent getting acclimatised to the altitude, meeting new people and counting down the last few days to the start. The excitement is mounting!

Two days to take-off!

2010-07-29T19:45:00.000+01:00

The bike and most of my requirements for over 4 months are now packed - and amazingly not excessively heavy! Just had a lot of very good friends up to wish me well on my adventure which was a very good way to spend a Thursday afternoon. Only two whole days left to go before take-off on Sunday August 1st and the chance to finally meet up with not only the organisers of the trip but many of the participants who will be starting off with me at Quito. The waiting is nearly over and "The Andes Trail" will soon begin, a few days of acclimatisation and then the reality will kick in as we hit the road in a southerly direction!

The packing has started!

2010-07-19T08:49:00.002+01:00

Less than 2 weeks to take off and the packing has started! I am not normally so concerned about packing this far from a holiday but this one is a bit different being over 4 months long. Luckily cycle clothing does not weigh very much but there still seems quite a bit to find space for. Packing the tent and camping stuff in with the bike will save carrying two cases hopefully, but it is still an interesting logistical problem.
The weather here has taken it's usual turn for the worst in July with what seems to be a constant procession of showers and cooler temperatures. It all started off so well until the 11th but now seems to be like the July conditions of the last 2 years. Still keeping fit down at the gym and getting out on the bike when I can, luckily the base miles have been done. Just want to get out to Quito, meet everyone and get going. The excitement and nerves are really buzzing now, roll on August 1st and take off, then August 6th and the start.

The countdown continues!

2010-07-12T11:15:00.001+01:00

The New Machine!

The countdown continues and I am getting more excited and nervous by the day. Training has been a bit less recently as various commitments have had to take priority, but it should resume today if the rain goes away. I normally ride on a road bike but this year have only ridden on a mountain bike to get more accustomed to the different riding style. I have also invested in a new one, see above, which I have found really comfortable and very responsive. So far since April I have covered about 4,000K of which about 2,500K have been on the new machine. Not doing such long rides now, just keeping the legs turning and riding the local 10K hill as practice for the longer ones on the trip. It would be helpful if I lived a bit higher up than 280 metres, not exactly High Altitude - Quito being 10 times higher!!

The Journey ahead!

2010-07-06T17:52:00.000+01:00

On August 1st I fly out to Quito in Ecuador to acclimatise for the ride down The Andes.

It will start on August 6th at The Equator - "The Middle of the World" and go south to Ushuaia - "The End of the World". Ushuaia in Argentina being the most southerly city on the globe!

The ride is organised by a Dutch group called Bike-Dreams whose web-site is www.bike-dreams.com and I will be joined by several other riders from across the world for all or part of the route through The Andes Mountain Range.