Tom and Dave’s BIG Ride

The riding to the border was extremely tough at times but had some spectacular scenery. We were every day climbing over 1000m to over 3000m in regular intervals. We crossed over the border to Ipiales and were instantly impressed with how civilised and friendly Colombia appeared to be. We were approached by several people asking us about what we were doing as we went through town, including a couple of students who wished to practise English with us and were intent on helping us find a bank and somewhere to stay. Again in I had card issues with it refusing to work in any ATMs as it turned up to have been blocked by Barclays fraud team again (spending hours on the phone to the bank is really is getting annoying if anyone from Barclays is reading this!).
 
We still were riding every day without a day off since Baños, and the roads continued to be just as hilly…if not even worse! The heat was also increasing as we were lower in altitude. The amount of sweat we were producing really was disgusting, the hill climbs being the worse as there is no breeze due to the slow speed! However a few well-timed ´truck surfs´made them a lot more tolerable! But is was the ever improving scenery that keeps us happy. The surroundings would turn from lush sub-tropical vegetation (such as banana and papaya trees) to more open grassy landscapes more in likeness to African Savanna.
 
By the time we got to Popayan we had rode 10 consecutive days and a distance of over 800km and an average climb each day of around 1000-1500m!! We were definitely in need of a day off and that night we binged ourselves on the biggest pizza we have seen out here-perfect! despite Popayan being a pleasant city of low white washed buildings we had no real need to stay here and rather would get to Cali for a `proper´holiday for the last few days Tom Schroeder was out with us. So again another tough hot days ride for us clocking up 138km as we eventually arrived in Cali and at the third Casa de Ciclistas of the trip.
 
Hernan and his family were extremely welcoming to us to their house, and despite no space within the house they had plenty of space in the garden for our tents. Straight away we were given a cold drink and made to feel at home. The next day we went into the city for an explore and to get my camera fixed, which was a sucess. The weather was extremly hot and the city very big, so we decided for our ´holiday´we decided to bus to the mountain city of Manizales where there was lots of things to do and a slighty more favourable temperature.
 
So after a terribly long bus journey and some good white lies from the people selling the tickets (the bus will be direct, the bus has air con, the bus has a toilet and the bus will only take four hours all of which were quite far from the truth!!) we eventually turned up in Manizales and at the nice Mountain House hostal. we made it our mission not to waste any time here and on the first day we booked up three excursions, the first of which was a coffee tour for that day.
 
The coffee tour was really good. We visited a farm a little way out of the city called Hacienda Guayabal. Our English speaking guide was ver good and our English group were good fun. We looked at the whole process from seed to cup and had the obligatory taster cup at the end. We were told what to look for when tasting. I quite like my coffee so this was good for me, but even Dave a recently converted drinker of the dark stuff liked it! We even got a certificate to prove our new found coffee expertise! (something else fo the CV!!) We then went for a few drinks to discuss coffee (obviously) with the others in our group.
 
The next day we had booked up to go rafting, which was a 5.30 am start to get the bus which was quiet a challenge! We arrived at the hotel we were due to go from, only to be told we may have a two hour wait for our rafting! Just before we had time to explode with anger we were taken to the hotel swimming pool and told we could relax there and what drinks did we want…all of a sudden we calmed down! The spot was idyllic, as was the weather. Rafting was great fun, and one of the highlights for us was when the guide said if we want we could go in the water and swim-we didn´t need telling twice and were staright in, much to the the surprise to the two Colombian tourists in our raft! The other highlight was stopping of and a lovely waterfall with a deep plunge pool and a good rock to jump from. Again we were the silly gringos and were the only ones out of our group to be straight up there!
 
After that full day we were up again at crack of dawn for our third activity planed which was climbing the volcano Nevado del Ruiz. We got picke dup around 7am by our very lively guide. He provided us with great entertainment on the long drive up with little facts an anedotes on the way up. He said ´why?´ after nearly everything he said in a funny drawn out way, but instead of telling you ´why?´ he would side track onto something else which then became an on going joke! The volcano was very beautiful in an eerrie way with a very lunar-like landscape speckled with snow and volcanic rocks. The climb was fairly simple and we ascended above the snow line to 5125m to take in the views. We then found an ingenious way to descend. we layed on our back on the glacier next to path and slid down turtle style!
 
We are now back in Cali and have said goodbye to Tom last night. Now the two of us have just the home stretch to finish now with about 1200km seperating us form Santa Marta. We could be only 12 days cyling left in South America which is a strange thought! Well we will keep you posted on how we get on up to the end.
 
Ciao for now…
 
Tom and Dave

Well… we´ve just arrived in Otavalo, a nice little market town just north of Quito. The past few days leading up to otavalo have definitely been exciting.

After arriving in Quito we wandered around the city for a few days taking in the sights, climbing up the pretty impressive Basilica to look over the city and having lots of coffees. One of the highlights of Quito had to be the Ciclopaseo. This happens every second Sunday with the streets through the centre of the city being closed off for bikes. It was a real shame we didn´t have our own bikes there (they were in Baños) as it looked like it´d be a great way to see the city. It was really good to see so many people out enjoying a ride in the sun. Maybe Boris Johnson should visit Quito and get some ideas for having a London Ciclopaseo!!

So after a few days in Quito Tom arrived. We picked him up from the airport then hastily set off to a nearby bar for some beers and a good catch up. Both of us had been really looking forward to seeing Tom and getting some good riding in over the next month WE spent another day in Quito, going up the Teleferico to 4100m where we decided to have a race up a hill. Needless to say, at over 4000m we could only manage about 200m running before having to stop, gasping for air!

Next it was south to Baños, the place we´d start the riding from. We went for a few rides around the area, checking out the retty magnificent Volcan Tungurahua which overlooks the town and several waterfalls along the “Ruta de las Cascadas”. Before starting the proper riding, though, we had to visit the rainforest… We chose to do a 2 day tour and had such a great time. We swam beneath waterfalls (i had Peter Andre´s “Mysterious Girl” in my head for almost 2 days solid!), saw loads of crazy plants and insects, got to play with monkeys and cruised down some rapids in a dugout canoe. Finally, our stay in Baños came to a close with a dip in the local thermal baths before hitting the road the next morning.

So Tom (Schroeder´s) first day of riding was a bit of a baptism of fire, climbing 1750m (our 6th biggest in 6 months!). luckily we had a bit of a tailwind making it a bit easier, but nevertheles it was a pretty tough first day. We reached Latacunga, checking in at the Hotel Central where we were were given some of the best hospitality to date. The landlady there was great, offering us tea coffee and a nice breakfast and really showing an interest in what we were doing.

The next day saw us head to Sangolqui, a town with a massive market which seemingly only sold fruit and veg. Considering this market had a few hundred stalls i thought this was quite an achievement not to be selling anything else! the road was great… Smooth tarmac, lovely views (despite a lot of cloud) and some awesome downhills. Coming into a town called Machachi we managed not only to break a 70kph speed limit, but also broke our land speed record, hitting 81kph!!!!!!!!!!

Then it was over the equator (with the compulsory standing in both-hemispheres photo, some equatorial cakes and a rather irritating equatorial puncture!) before cruising down to Cayambe then on to Otavalo where we´ll have a wander round the market and have a little rest before heading into Colombia in 2 or 3 days.

So that´s about it for the time being… the next updae will be from sunny Colombia, land of beautiful girls, great coffee and, of course, some more great riding.

Until then,

Ciao    

Dave and myselfs original plan for leaving Trujillo was to bus straight up to Quito to meet our friend before our loop of Ecuador, but like most things our plan had changed…
 
We decided on riding across the border from the town of Sullna into Ecuador and riding as far as we could before our friend is due to arrive in Quito. The overnight bus we took was pretty terrible and I barely managed 1 hours sleep as we arrove at about 5am. We snatched a couple of hours sleep on the floor of the bus terminal before grabbing brekkie. We were heading onto the Pan American highway with lots of vigor after our rest in Trujillo. However we ran into a spot of bother at a petrol station on the ouskirts of town as we stoped to ask directions. I noticed two large Rotwielers patroling the area, however unlike the average South American dog it was not barking at us, thats nioce I thought.However,  this was its devious plan so it could sneak up on me unoticed and sample my bare leg. Owwww! Its ran off pretty quick and just left me with teeth imprints on my leg! We decided best thing was to get checked out in hospital. We manged to get a ride in a Police truck to the hospital. It was al kitted with amoured windows and we were told they were on the look out for some armed crooks in a tut tut…we were looking forward even more to leaving Northern Peru now! After much deliberation I got the first vaccination jabbed into my stomach which the nurse seemed to struggle getting in, much to my discomfort! next jab three days time.
 
There was no way we were going to stay in this town any longer, we got a note written and we decided we would get our selves in Ecaudor asap! We got a lift to the border and rode across and into the first toen in Ecuador. We hadn´t time to ride to Loja to the next injection point for me so we got a bus that night.
 
Loja was a refreshing surprise for us, the town was clean, the houses were not all still under construction and probably the nicest part was the roads were quiet…the car horns had finally halted!! We spent two nights here and I got my second injection, however was told i needed more.
 
We headed to Riobamba and had planned to ride to Banos. We started riding out on the route on our map around 60kms and with a net downhill. We were excited at the prospect of an easy mornings ride. But it wasn´t to be! We were warned that they may be problems with the road, such as landslides, but we were assured that you would be fine on bikes…
 
What we wasn´t prepared for was after 40kms the roaded ended with what can only be described as a canon! the rode had been breached and a casm of around 50m layed beween us and the road the otherside. After back tracking back to the nearest junction and signs of civilisation. The only way by road we were told is by going all the way back to Riobamba and going a completely different route. It was there that we ran into a flat bed truck who was heading back up the hill to Riobamba. We accpeted their offer and hopped onj the back. We then helped them unload the back of the truck which was stacked with 50kg cement bags, we definately earnt our lift! By this time we were running out of daylight and got a bus to Banos. Banos is a nice little touristy town with lovely surroundings and plently of things to do. We hired out a quad and motorbike for an afternoon which may have been a bad idea as we both took quiet fondly to going up hills so fast on the motorbike…next tour!?
 
Well, our plan now is to leave our kit here and bus up to Quito to meet our frend, Tom. It in hindsight would have been alot easier if we had just bus straight from Trijillo! But it had turned out to be an eventfull few days and I don`t even have rabies yet, so we can´t moan…
 
Adios,
 
Tom and Dave
 
Pictures of trip.
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomskipper73