Andes Trail Stage 15 of 109 Lambayeque to Pacasmayo, Day 20 of 142

117.4 km, 347m climb, 4:40, 40.3 kph max

I was really not feeling like a full day of riding in the morning. Breakfast was ok and we met a local rider outside as we were preparing. We all left at 8:13, slow, in a big group. As we left town I got warmed up and even though the sky was as gray as the trash piles everywhere along the road, I started to feel better. This part of Peru is not pretty.

But 13 km in, our first real disaster struck. Carol suddenly crashed, and hit her face on the road. She was knocked out but came to after a few minutes and got to the side of the road. It looked bad and we did all we could for her, wrapped a space blanket around her, blocked traffic and a local called an ambulance. Bill, our doctor, stayed with her and most of us pedaled away with heavy hearts. She was taken to the big hospital we had just passed in a pickup truck ambulance and will be kept at least until tonight for observation. [Update: Carol is back with us, broken little finger, sore and bruised but in good spirits. I’m so relieved!]

We were in a group of eight I think and cruised to lunch that was at just over 60. The sun had come out and the scenery was amazing, amazingly boring that is. Perfect scenery for making a post-apocalyptic movie I guess. Km after unchanging km. “Zona Militar Ingreso Prohibido” signs, lots.

After lunch, nine of us took off and cranked away. Around 105, Kees somehow talked Chris into stopping at a roadside place and we inhaled 4L of Inca Kola, the standard yellow type. Burps after were interesting.

The last 10 km should’ve been easy but a vicious head/side wind came from nowhere and it was hard. But we came to Pacasmayo and soon I saw a weird color on my Garmin map: bright blue! We were at the sea coast and pulled into the hotel which looked like it could’ve been on the coast of Portugal!

Hot showers, first time in a few days! Wow was that great! No soup but tons of snacks. WiFi is crap but my phone works so well in Peru, it doesn’t matter. Google Fi FTW!

I took a short power nap in the afternoon then we had the luxury of eating a delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant! I went for Spaghetti Frutti de Mar and it was great. Lots of octopus and shrimps. Washed down perfectly by a large Cristal Cerveza. It was a truly great dinner, talking mainly about travel. This group of amazing individuals has been everywhere! And they’re great storytellers.

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh39177756517

Andes Trail Stage 14 of 109 Motupe bushcamp to Lambayeque, Day 19 of 142

72km, 36m climbing, 2:28, 37.7 kph max

Wow what a great night! I slept over ten hours in my little tent and it was perfect. There were about 18,000 roosters in the morning but not very close so no problem. Breakfast was very nice, outside but oh so civilized, and at 7:30 since today is sort of a half day.

We left camp at 8:40, in a pretty big group. The speed slowly ramped up to 34, at which point I noticed no one was behind me! We had dropped everyone so just Chris, Niek, Jens, Andrew and I cranked out 72 km non-stop to Lambayque. Most of the road was very smooth and nice. There was some construction and narrow one-way places with speed bumps where you had to be careful. Feet went down once for a few seconds at a one-way construction zone.

Overall it was boring scenery but the pace was fast (for me) so that kept me fully engaged. Entering Lambayeque … it looked like a war zone. We went the wrong way down a one-way street for a while to the hotel. It is surprisingly nice, with an inner courtyard for bikes and nice rooms. The wifi works well most of the time. The shower is a good Spanish lesson: F stands for Frio (cold) and C stands for Cold (also cold). We’re not complaining though, the water felt great and I did laundry too.

Lunch was combined with soup today, a big, full meal. Next some of us walked over to the famous museum, Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán. It was pretty interesting although some of us were flagging by the time we got out. Then we went to a bank (which was in the back of an appliance store) and Martin tried to change his $ to Soles. He was partially successful but it took a long time. They really only accept new looking bills. Bills with writing on them are right out. I had a nice video chat with Beau in SF and Grace at home.

We walked out for dinner past the church next door and there was a huge fancy wedding going. Must’ve been a military family as many officers with swords and lower level soldiers where watching. A Phantom 3 was filming from the air. The street had chicken restaurant after chicken restaurant and we eventually picked one. I had a great salad and some fries with plantains. Not the best but it was a fun, family place. Beers were expensive at S7.50 each (about $2.20). Now it’s time to recharge the leg batteries for tomorrow’s 119 km ride to Pacasmayo.

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh39118611724

Andes Trail Stage 11 of 109 Catacocha to Macará, Day 16 of 142

91.7 km, 1,428m climb, 4:09, 69.8 kph max

10% of the Andes Trail riding days are done!

• 911 km done out of 10,943, that’s only 8.3% – so we’ll have longer days ahead.
• 16,265 m climbed out of 110,971, 14.7% – luckily our altitude balance is positive.
• We’re 99.6% done with riding in Ecuador, Peru here we come tomorrow morning.

If anyone wants to know what I carry everyday, here it is…

On the bike including under the seat bag and top tube bag:

• Three 750 ml water bottles, only two normally filled. Can add a 4th, if needed
• Pump, Spare tube, tire irons, dynaplug (tubeless tire repair kit)
• Garmin Edge 530
• Handlebar mounted bell
• On seat tube: Rear red LED light, run flashing all the time – Cygolite Hotrod 50
• On front shock: Pair of front white LED lights – Cygolite Hotrod 110
• Ass-savers rain/mud guards, front and rear (the small ones)
• My Bike Dreams name card is also working as a rear rain/mud guard
• Set of hexes/torxes
• Wallet in plastic bag
• Wide angle and telephoto lenses for my cell phone camera
• A couple of bars
• The printed instructions for the day, including the all-important hotel name.

In my handlebar bag:

• Rain jacket – Showers Pass Men’s Elite 2.1 – awesome!
• Thick leg warmers
• Thin arm warmers (plan to use for anti-sun on super hot days)
• Full finger gloves
• Waterproof shoe covers
• A long sleeve shirt
• Glasses.

Jersey pockets:

• Cell phone – Pixel 3
• Banana(s) and bars
• Sunglasses when not wearing.

Breakfast this morning was up the hill in the garage where we parked our bikes for the night. Since we had an easier day I passed on eggs and just had muesli and yogurt. We packed up and took off at 8:18. The profile showed it but I think most people didn’t realize how the awesome descent started pretty much right in town! It lasted 15 km and dropped us down 1,000m to our lowest point yet, just under 1,000m altitude. It was truly a gorgeous descent. Not a single car came by while I rode. I was out with Kees, passing each other over and over, with giant grins. At one point we even took the lead by somehow passing Niek, but he has a massive gear and knows how to use it so we never saw him again during the ride.

From where we had to start pedaling it was up and down to lunch, about 40 km. Gorgeous riding and I finally got to pass one of the Bike Dreams trucks – like it was standing still on another awesome descent. We pulled off and rode down a sandy dirt road to a river where the lunch truck was parked. We got there early so there was time for swimming and relaxing. Only a couple of people went in but the water looked pretty good. There were lots of sandflies though which was the only downer. Eventually an awesome lunch was ready and we ate hard. The flies were bad though so I took off right after.

The second half of the ride had more climbing including one 8 km long climb that was over 10% for the first half and under for the second. It was pretty warm but not too hot – luckily the clouds stayed all day. Occasionally a couple of rain drops and occasionally some sun. Once we got up that climb we had another 20 km of cruising, mostly down, some awesome, to town. We’re only 4 km from the Peru border and it will be exciting to cross tomorrow morning.

The hotel in Macará is down at 500m altitude and was billed as a hostal but is actually a pretty nice real hotel. I have a big airy triple with Andrew and Martin, the shower offers unlimited hot water, and the internet is surprisingly fast and solid. What more do you want? To top it off, the soup was ready after my shower, a super hearty bean soup – delicious.

We went out for a sort of early dinner at a pizza place downtown. Again, no cerveza, but we bought most of the supply from the nearby ice cream shop so all was well. The pizzas were great – we had a grande and a media between three people which looked ridiculously big but were all finished of course. Back at the hotel we got to set the alarm for later having drawn second breakfast shift – clean living!

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh38972022110

Andes Trail Stage 10 of 109 Loja to Catacocha, Day 15 of 142

93.6 km, 2,294m climb, 5:13, 76.9 kph max

It was really nice to have a rest day and Loja was a great place for it. I think pretty much everyone spent some time cleaning their bike. The 30 km dirt section left lots of grit all over the bikes. Our mechanic Lucho fixed my slight shifting problem too which was great. The contrast in Loja from the super quiet Sunday night to the business of a Monday was huge. People everywhere, and the place looks prosperous and nice. A few of us went to lunch at a hole-in-the-wall place; some had tigrillo, a local brunch stew of plantains and cheese (and maybe some other stuff) with an egg on top. They didn’t have enough for all of us so some had Mote Pillo, another local specialty, hominy also with eggs. We went to a bike shop and bought a few things (mostly warmer gloves). We had a relaxing afternoon then I looked up “Brewery” on Google maps and we walked 1.6 km to the Zarza Brewing Company with six people. We walked in to Black Sabbath and a very nice looking place. It’s owned by a Texan so there are giant longhorn horns over the bar. We had a couple of their beers (IPA was good!) and nachos and burgers. Tasty and filling. The rain had stopped when we were done so we walked back. Andrew and I tried to go to the Symphony practice at the Teatro Simón Bolivar, but no luck. No matter, we got to bed earlier.

In the morning, breakfast was a half hour late at 7:30 so that was great. The forecast rain did NOT appear at all, in fact I hardly felt a drop all day. We started out together although Carol’s tire blew completely off the rim right away. The first climb of the day was a bit over 600m and pretty much started right away.

We climbed to a very windy ridge with 16.5 MW of wind turbines cranking away at full speed. I think eight turbines – video of riding by them. This was all on a little-used old road with some rough spots. But near the top of the descent we rejoined the Pan American Highway and this part had the best pavement yet. I got to pass a truck using the left lane and had a great time until maybe 3/4 of the way down when a bunch of us got bottle-necked behind a slow truck. It was nearly a 1,400m descent though, very fun.

We didn’t stop in the town below but headed though and started the second big climb of the day, this one 1,100m. It was somewhat a grind with more traffic, but pretty quickly we hit lunch at a little coffee/chocolate house by the side of the road. The PB was nearly empty but when I went back for seconds it was replaced and full! Awesome! Powered up, we started again, with 800m to climb. Andrew had a flat but we got up pretty easily – the tailwinds at the top were strong enough to blow us up the hill!

From that summit to Catacocha was something like 40 km, trending down but with quite a few little climbs. Soon enough we were doing the last one up to town, about 250m. And then we entered the town and the road went up SO steeply it was almost funny. I was thinking 22-25% but others thought 30%. It was rideable but I was panting at the top. We didn’t really find the hotel but found the fast guys at an ice cream shop. Fortified, we eventually rode up another 20% grade to the hotel where soup was set up. Tasty broccoli soup and extras, then we walked back downtown to our hotel. It has hard beds but hot showers so we’ll take that as a win! I was not passing the stairs test on the way up to the 4th floor.

We took a walk around town and settled ourselves in a little restaurant, again without beer. But this time Martin zipped out to the corner and returned with four “1 litro” bottles which Andrew reckons lasted the five of us less than 20 minutes. There were two choices for dinner, the chicken dinner or the sausage dinner. After asking a few times what else she could make, I gave up and asked for a sausage dinner without the sausage. That was a total no-go so (to everyone’s delight) I ordered a regular sausage dinner and just gave away the sausage. But the food was fine and she brought us glasses to enjoy our beer…

We managed our biggest climb yet and have only 99 more riding days to Ushuaia!

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh38927487495

Andes Trail Stage 9 of 109 Oña to Loja, Day 13 of 142

98 km, 2,014m, 5:34, 71.8 kph max

Where	Distance	Dirt km	Climb
South America	1,007	39	16,256
Andes Trail	725	30	12,543

When I woke up a bit after 6 am, I sure didn’t think this would be the best day of the tour yet. I was feeling slow and tired even though I got over eight hours of quality sleep (unlike those on the other side of the building that faced the town – the music went on until 4 am). Breakfast was so-so, just muesli and yogurt and hot chocolate for me.

The 1 km downhill warmup when we started at 8:09 am didn’t help and then a long 800m ascent started. Rob and Wytze passed early on (Wytze’s advice to me was “GET IT!”). I kept cranking and did catch up with Rob eventually. We rode together a while then it started raining. We did part of the descent together too, both with shit-eating grins going fast. But right at the bottom, a 700m climb started. Lunch was supposed to be a little ways up in a village but no sign of the truck so we kept climbing, raining on and off.

Finally near the top we pulled over and lunch was setup at a restaurant. It was great because:

• We got to eat inside, in front of a nice warm wood fire.
• I discovered there was Peanut Butter! Take some of the big crackers, smear thickly with PB, then embed as many roasted almonds as can fit. Repeat until done (after eating some power burritos). That is a Power Lunch.
• When we started up again there was only 100m or so to climb.

It started raining soon after I started up again and the descent was challenging – the rain drops felt like needles on the exposed parts of my face. I couldn’t feel anything on my legs. Around km 58, it all got better. We turned off the Pan-American Highway onto an unmarked dirt road which is a genius move from Rob: this road cuts off about 12 km and saves something like 500m of climbing to Loja! Also it’s got little traffic and is SUPER scenic, and IT’S DIRT for 30 km! It was still raining and somewhat muddy but that did not detract. The mud was actually packed by vehicle tires in a great way – it was very secure and you could go fast.

It was mostly down, and I got a ways out in front then stopped for photos and the rest of the guys caught up. But Chris had another flat. A little piece of glass had wedged in his tire – Wytze found it and that should be the end of those flats for him. We continued down, the rain stopped and it was just awesome. Eventually we did some climbing and the road dried out and we ended up going up a river rather than down which seemed strange. A few full-sized buses passed by which also seemed strange. There were giant puddles, lots of animals and people by the side. I saw everyone else had a trail of mud up their bum and back but when I looked at my jacket it was clean. Ass-savers for the win!

We ended up doing the last 10 km of the dirt plus the final 9 km through town in a group of five, nicely spinning fast and made it to the hotel at 3:15. We have a great triple room with Martin with a beautiful shower. We did laundry then went down for soup and it was the thickest and best yet. I’m really loving having four meals a day. Martin came in a bit later super enthused – he also had had a fantastic day. I think we are all glad tomorrow’s another rest day though!

About ten of us went out for dinner and relearned how hard that is on Sunday night in Ecuador. Google said that just about every restaurant was closed, but we walked seven blocks to the one that it said wasn’t and it was. We finally found the one place open in town, a ice cream shop that also made hamburgers and pizzas. I think they were a bit overwhelmed when we all walked in. My first question was “¿Tienes cervezas?” The answer was “¡No!” but that didn’t stop us. We had Jens and he found 3 one liter bottles plus about eight more of the smaller 625 ml ones. So we had plenty of beer while we waited and eventually all had dinner. Mora ice cream cones or tiramisu for dessert – great for about $6 per person. It turned out to be a fun ending to a fabulous day. Now it’s time for sleep. 100 stages to go!

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh38821863869

Andes Trail Stage 8 of 109 Cuenca to Oña, Day 12 of 142

106.9 km, 1,683m climbing, 5:24, 66.9 kph max

Our rest day yesterday in Cuenca was really nice after seven straight days of cycling. Breakfast was surprisingly good for just a hotel breakfast, then I did two hours of Garmin loading. Many people needed the recently received courses for Peru and Bolivia put on their Garmins and some still needed the detailed maps. It was interesting seeing so many different models but in the end all but one were updated and the one just needed another factory reset and it was good too. Andrew and I walked downtown to the Cathedral which was quite cool. There’s a good view from “the Terraces”, about 100 stairs up. We looked around more, then did some shopping on the way back to the hotel. I bought a duffel bag for simpler packing and clothespins and toilet paper. We had lunch at another place recommended by Beau, Café de Ñucallacta, which did not disappoint at all. There were people in there working on laptops so I could really imagine Beau there doing the same last summer.

Andrew went pedal shopping while I hung out at the hotel until it was time to go out for beers. 4 of us headed down to La Compañia. We scored a great table and had nachos and snacks with our beers. The sizes are 500, 650, 750, 1000ml – we went for 500. Andrew and I had the IPA which was supposedly 9.6% – tasty too. Then we walked over to the Bar Far Out Cervezeria German place and we had to try every single beer they had to find one we could stand. We shared a 1.5 liter pitcher of some Golden Ale that was about a 2 out of 10. But the bartender was quite funny and the music was great. Dinner was at the Moliendo Cafe, also recommended by Beau. I had the veggie dinner of the day, $3.50 for rice and a lentil patty and veggies and delicious guava juice. 1/10 the price of the previous night’s dinner. What a nice relaxing rest day!

Finally, I slept soundly for over eight hours! The alarm went off at 6:30 as usual and breakfast was the same and good. We packed up (the new duffel worked great) and left in a giant group at 8:07. We rode through the cobblestone streets for a few km with a couple of motorcycle police officers escorting us ensuring we didn’t have to stop for pesky red lights of which there were about a million. We just kept cruising for over 30 km, mostly together, gently climbing but mostly just nice flat cruising.

Finally the first big hill started and went on for over 10 km, climbing 800m or so. It was a grind, with headwind and rain, and it got colder and colder as we climbed. I had to stop before the top to put on warm gloves, a jacket and warm legs. We were riding through the mist and rain and the descent was quite cold. I don’t usually even say something was cold but this was pretty much “quite cold”. Lunch was a couple hundred meters down, sort of sheltered, and there was much shivering and adding more clothes. It was great to power up and it felt good to be off the bike for a little while. I took off with Wim, expecting more downhill, but there was still some up before we got to a viewpoint just over 3,000m and looked down to the bridge we’d soon be crossing almost 1,200m below. The descent wasn’t that great since the winds were strong and I couldn’t get that much speed up. But boy was the temperature increase good! At the bridge we stripped down to normal shorts and short sleeves and fingerless gloves etc. Then we had a 5.6 km climb up 440m which I powered up with Andrew at a perfect and consistent speed (not fast). At the top we had only a few km more to Oña and found the little dirt road that led to our hostals.

Again we didn’t all fit in one place, and this time, we got the crappy one with no bathrooms, no wifi, etc. That’s fair since we have had great luck at the other places. We locked up our bikes and soon were enjoying delicious soup and snacks, listening to Radar Love again, sharing videos, and feeling great to be warm and done with the ride. We invaded the other hostal for showers then hung out on a very nice deck writing and relaxing. Tomorrow’s ride is a little longer with a bit more climbing. Time to get tough!

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh38769898791

Andes Trail Stage 7 of 109 Ingapirca to Cuenca, Day 10 of 142

75.8 km, 937m, 3:23, 63.8 max kph

Description	Distance	Climb
South America	802	12,559
Andes Trail	520	8,846

Since it was a short and supposedly easy day today, we had breakfast at 7:30 instead of 7. We coasted down to the breakfast hostal on our bikes and the sun was busy warming the place up. It was SO nice sleeping under a big pile of warm blankets and after a pretty hard ride, I finally slept really well.

Breakfast was the usual minus eggs which was fine with me. We did some washing up – Bike Dreams has a great system for that. Then we cycled back to pack up. We started the stage at 8:30, heading up though Ingapirca, then down a ways on the road to Cuenca. Actually the fun stopped pretty soon. Somewhere around 13 km in, the down of up and down stopped and we had a grind of a climb up to almost 3,600m. The headwind was pretty much constant, strong and cold. There was much rejoicing at the top and most people added a jacket there for the descent.

The descent was pretty amazing. It felt faster than it was but suddenly we had done another 20 km and were down in Biblián, the town for lunch. I even passed a motorcycle. Once we pulled over at the square where lunch was set up it was SO much warmer and nicer. The sun came out and I just stretched out and could’ve stayed a long time. But after a few power burritos, and a sweet granadilla to top it off, it was time to go.

We did the last 28 km to Cuenca in a group of six which reduced to three as time went on. But it was a pretty good ride, generally down, more and more traffic, and then we were riding through town. The hotel was easy to find and we arrived about 1 pm. Soup was hearty and good today with lots of extra snacks. I think every single person (possibly one or two exceptions) is excited to have tomorrow off from biking. I know I am.

It was a relaxing afternoon; some explored the town, but I just hung out. Then it was time for dinner. A few of us walked down the streets, semi-randomly but it seemed that we were not in a restaurant district. Every other type of store was represented but not eating places. We kept going in the direction of a recommendation by my son Beau, Tiestos Cafe Restaurant. We eventually got there and had only seen a couple of other places so went in. It looked upscale as he had warned. But the kitchen was open and looked amazing. Soon the chef introduced himself and asked what we liked. He recommended two courses and said he didn’t really want to cook individual meals – it’s meant to be family style. So we put ourselves in his hands and what a good move that was! Wow, best meal on the trip so far, even including Midori in Puerto Ayora! Each of the two courses had two parts plus a ton of side dishes, toppings, salads, etc. The first course was fish in orange sauce complemented by eggplant with blue cheese sauce. The second course was giant langostinos and beef in tomato sauce (surf and turf, Mar y Tierra in the menu). It did cost a bit but was so worth it. Thanks Beau from all four of us!

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh38666865708

Andes Trail Stage 6 of 109 Chunchi to Ingapirca, Day 9 of 142

69 km, 1,969m, 4:45, 70.98 kph max

After a lousy sleep again, things started looking up at breakfast. Delicious fresh-baked rolls and the usual, plus both jugo de piña and jugo de mora. We finally left at 8 am, and as soon as I sat on my bike and started pedaling, everything fell into place. Yesterday was great but the first 30 km of this ride was almost magical. All the wind had stopped and we just rode up and down and along with beautiful scenery and friendly people all along. A few people had trouble with dogs but I was lucky.

Lunch was at 40 km after 1,000m of climbing in a nice spot, sheltered from the wind. We had an amazing fruit:

• Rob: Try this fruit.
• Nathan: What’s it called?
• Rob: Delicious

Turns out it’s Sweet Granadilla, and it is great! Later on this exchange was heard:

• Person 1: It’s really good but the inside looks like sperm.
• Person 2 (Martin): Oh, well then we’ll have to see if she spits or swallows.

After lunch we had 30 more km, mostly up (we ended up 800m higher than we started today), and the wind did not relent. Lots of headwind, sometimes sidewind, somewhat cold, although we were working so hard I stayed in shorts and short sleeves. Some of the grades were over 10% and the last part to Ingapirca was steeper.

It was great to arrive, actually quite early around 1:40 for me, before 1:00 for the hot shots who skipped lunch. We sat in the sun and then unloaded the cooking stuff from the truck. Eventually we rode 500m over to the second hostal where a few of us are staying. That extra may have put the actual climb today at 2,000m. Andrew and I are stuck with Martin tonight but it turns out, the rooms are large and just excellent and have nice showers etc. Before showering and laundry we got cervezas grandes from the restaurant below and enjoyed our veranda.

Later we walked back for soup and snacks, then headed over to see the famous Ingapirca Inca ruins. It’s the most significant and biggest and best preserved Inca site in Ecuador and was really worth a visit. I had wanted to see the famous large stones perfectly put together with no mortar since I was a kid. Sure enough, it’s for real.

Dinner was a first for the tour: a Bike Dreams dinner, cooked in the other hostal. We walked over and it was quite fun. Pollo a la Ingapirca with rice in vegetable soup (without the pollo for me) with local herbs and infinite cilantro. Red wine, lots of seconds, and a delicious fruit with whipped cream dessert. Rob gave a nice briefing for the easier ride to Cuenca tomorrow plus the rest day there the day after. Carol got the llama for all the troubles she had at the beginning with her bike etc. We got back to our palace before 8:30 and it’s time for sleep early tonight!

https://www.relive.cc/view/gh38620527663