Mexico City and south on a bike
My Diary - Ecuador
4/04/07 Quito (Arrived by plane)
Arrived at around 10:45pm. Bike and luggage O.K. Cycled out of the airport and found a hotel for $12 per night.
5/04/07 Airport to Old City (6 miles)
Found a nice hotel just a couple of blocks from Plaza Grande. My right calf muscle started playing up quite badly
6/04/07 Quito (Rest day)
Had a wander around Quito on foot and using the trolley busses. Tried (and failed) to find a map of Quito and some waterproofing spray for my tent. I did buy a nice MSR cooking pot and some camping cutlery. Most of the shops were shut on account of a holiday.
7/04/07 Quito (Rest day)
Resting
8/04/07 Quito (Rest day)
Resting
9/04/07 Quito (Rest day)
Bought a map of Ecuador and after a lot of hunting managed to find some waterproofing spray for the tent. This is the rainy season in Ecuador and it has rained every afternoon that I have been here so far.
10/04/07 Quito to Control Norte, Cotopaxi national park (32 miles)
Cycled out of Quito uphill and then down to Sangolqui. From here I took a minor road to the village of Rumipamba. After here the road got very narrow and in places it was cobbled, but mostly dirt. This route is obviously very rarely used to access the Cotopaxi national park. It was all climbing after Sangolqui. Towards the end of the day I was cycling through pine forest. I made it to the northern control station where the official on duty (Emiliano) invited me to camp in his hut which was very welcome as it was cold and raining. The altitude was 3740m.
11/04/07 Cotopaxi to Sigchos (58 miles)
I woke up at 6:20am to see the best view of Cotopaxi (After only 30 minutes the light changed significantly and by 10:00am the volcano was covered in mist as is usually the case this time of year. I cycled to Laguna Limpiopungo and cycled around the shore. I then descended to the Panamerican highway at Laso, crossed over and cycled to the town of Sigchos. The road was mixed - some tarmac some dirt but worst of all was a cobbled surface. Some stunning mountain scenery today
12/04/07 Sigchos to Laguna Quiliotoa (28 miles)
More stunning scenery with views of deep green valleys. A lot of climbing today from 2800m up to about 4000m. Towards the end of the day there was a lot of mist and rain so I could not see much. Luckily it cleared a bit so that I could see the volcanic lake Quiliotoa. I cylced clockwise around the rim for about 1 mile and camped right on the edge with the lake 400m below.
13/04/07 Laguna Quiliotoa to Latacunga (58 miles)
Lots of ups and downs today. It was all tarmac today. There were massive panoramic views of the patchwork fields from the high passes. Had a race, and won, for a couple of miles up to the top of the last pass - my legs were like jelly after that.
14/04/07 Latacunga (Rest day)
Finished my book "Dracula" - a bit crap really.
15/04/07 Latacunga (Rest day)
I had intended to get going today, but felt too tired. Changed front brake pads on bike.
16/04/07 Latacunga to Chimbazaro pass (55 miles)
I set off in the rain and cycled along the Panamerican highway to the city of Ambato. From Ambato I took a smaller road leading to Guranda over a 4300m pass close to Volcan Chimbarazo. The Panamerican was easy going but I felt tired on the climb out of Ambato until I stopped for a meal of Pork and corn. After this the scenery got nicer, but later got misty. I had a run in with a local Indian teenager: He threw stoned, clods of earth and rotten fruit at me from the safety of a 50 foot high cliff. Luckily his aim was poor. I found a nice spot to camp beside the road about 13 miles before the top of the pass. While I was pitching the tent the mist cleared for a few minutes to reveal the peak of Chimborazo.
17/04/07 Chimborazo pass to Guranda (33 miles)
There was light rain in the night and my calf muscle prayed up a bit. On the ride the mist cleared again to give some more glimpses of Chimborazo. Just after the top of the pass I stopped at an Indian run restaurant and had some "trucha" fish and potatoes (the only thing on the menu) - very nice. I noticed that the rear tyre was bulging in a couple of places (a sign of an iminent explosion). A nice ride downhill all the way to Guranda - nice place. In the hotel I patched up the inside of the rear tyre with some gaffa tape.
18/04/07 Guranda to Riobamba
A bright and sunny start to the day. The road was dirt all the way over the pass to the village of San Juan. On the ascent the gradient got steeper and steeper and the scenery more spectacular. Fun descent on dirt to San Juan. I found that people were very friendly along this road. On the outskirts of Riobamba I saw Volcan Urahua chuffing out a great column of smoke thousands of feet high. It took 5 hours to get to the top of the pass (18 miles).
19/04/07 Riobamba (Rest day)
A repair day today - I bought some needle and thread and mended my shorts and bought and fitted a new rear tyre. The tyre is a "Vee Rubber" from Thailand and cost $8, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will last. They are usually fitted to the utility tricycles which are common in Latin America. It weighs twice as much as my Schwalbe tyre and it is rated at 65 PSI so it may last well.
20/04/07 Riobamba to Alausi (60 miles)
All tarmac main road today, traffic not too bad. Up and down, fairly scenic but mist towards the end of the day. I saw some cycle tourers go past in my direction while I was stopped in a shop having some food. I caught up with them later. They were a german coulple who were doing the big Alaska to Tierra del fuego ride on some expensive Rolhoff 14 speed hub gear equipped bikes. More than 500m climbing (the Germans had an altimeter) but it felt like a fairly easy day. Arrived in Alausi at 4:15.
21/04/07 Alausi to Caņar (65 miles)
A very difficult day - forever climbing and it was mostly foggy so the views did not compensate and I could not tell how close I was to the top. Ten hours on the road. Mostly tarmac, but 10 miles of sticky mud which plastred the bike and has now set like concrete.
22/04/07 Caņar to Cuenca (43 miles)
A better day today - no fog. A moderate climb for 5 miles then downhill for 20 miles, followed by flattish roads. Feeling exhausted.
23/04/07 Cuenca (Rest day)
I have a sore throat today, but to my surprise my credit card worked in a cash machine - I have come to dread the days where I have to make cash withdrawals after all the problems I have had with my bank. I had some problems using the card in Quito, but it worked after many attemts.
24/04/07 Cuenca (Rest day)
Fitted new Shimano IG31 chain at 2485 miles. Chain working O.K.
25/04/07 Cuenca to Oņa (67 miles)
Bright start, flattish for about 20 miles then uphill for 6 miles, up and down for a few miles over the pass. A bit of rain and mist but I still saw some nice views. The hills up on the pass are not cultivated and not many houses around. Descended to the river before Oņa, then a cruel 6 mile climb to Oņa. Arrived at dusk. I stayed at a nice big old colonial hotel and ate at an old world restaurant with an outdoors kitchen and seating. Bad stomach in the night.
26/04/07 Oņa to Loja (67 miles)
Before setting off I noticed a crack in my drive side crank arm. I decided to press on and take it easy - no honking on the pedals up the hills! Uphill for about 7 miles then downhill to a valley before Saraguro. Uphill to Saraguro fore 6 miles. I had a meal here. The Indians living in and around Saraguro wear distinctive clothing and are more prosperous than most Indians. The men wear black trousers cut just above the ankle with white shirts and have long hair in a pony-tail. The women wear long black skirts and white blouse. The Saraguro Indians were moved to here from lake Titicaca in Southern Peru by the Incas. Uphill for 6 miles then downhill to Rio Zamora. Uphill for many grueling miles before descent to Loja. The decent was made difficult by darkness, thick fog, a badly potholed road and a weak front light (headtorch). I found that wearing the headtorch was no good because the light was reflected straight back into my eyes by the fog - It worked better strapping the light onto the front rack. I arrived in Loja at 8:15pm. An exhausting day. Luckily the crank arm held out.
27/04/07 Loja (Rest day)
I looked around a few bike shops for some replacement crank arms. I could not find the type of crank arms I wanted (in order to reuse my existing chainrings) but I did find a reasonable quality chainset - Shimano Alivio and a matching Shimano UN53 Bottom bracket for $40 and $25 respectively. The shop was "Zona Mountain" and the owner just happened to have organized a downhill mountain bike competition just a mile from the shop from the "Teleferica" over the next two days. I paid my $2 entrance fee, signed up and received my race number plate to fit to the bike handlebars.
28/04/07 Loja (Race day!)
I went to the shop at 10:00am to pick up my borrowed helmet. I saw a pair of used and very basic Suntour suspension forks and decided to buy and fit them just for the race. They were only $10. I did 5 practice runs - forks made a horrible metalic "bottoming out" noise over the bigger bumps, but it was quicker than using rigid forks and they did track well enough. I took a tumble when I got caught in a rut and cut my knee and shin up a bit (and knocked out a fence post!) I met loads of people - very friendly and came in 2nd in my class of the qualifying stage which was Masters A (30 - 35 yrs age) with a time of 2 mins. 7 secs. The winner had a time of 2:06. One of the elite class riders did the course in 1:37. I was very pleased with myself considering I did not have a full suspension downhill specific bike and all the body armour and full face helmet (as nearly everybody else had). A great day.
29/04/07 Loja (Race day!)
I made 2 practice runs. After the 2nd run and just half an hour before the race (only one run) I noticed that one of the supports for one of the springs in my suspension fork had collapsed so that effectively only one spring was working. I managed to fix it with a bent metal washer and several wraps of electrical tape. I came in 3rd with a time of 2:01. The winner of the qualifying stage came in at 2:11 because his chain broke. I was presented with a medal by "El Doctor" who was also a competitor (age 56 yrs). I even had a brief T.V. interview - unfortunately I hardly understood anything the interviewer said, but I did accross the fact that I am from "Gran Bretaņa". Another great day.
30/04/07 Loja (Rest day)
I had a fever in the night and a very bad stomach. I had had a bad stomach since Oņa but now it got much worse. I was lucky again with the cash machine - it gave me $300. I started refitting the touring equipment to the bike (rear rack, bar ends).
1/05/07 Loja (Rest day)
I went back to "Zona Mountain" to refit my rigid forks. Started reading "The Russia house" by John Le Carre.
2/05/07 Loja to Yangana (40 miles)
Tarmac roads all day. I passed the small touristy town of Vilcabamba. There was nice lush vegetation on the route and some good mountain scenery. Good weather most of the day.
3/04/07 Yangana to Valadolid (30 miles approx. - the mileometer packed up)
Dirt roads all day. A big climb up to 2700m through cloud forest in the Podocarpus national park. A big descent and some heavy rain to Valadolid. I got quite cold on the descent.
4/04/07 Valadolid to Zumba (39 miles)
In the morning, after dismantling the whole speedo system I traced the fault to the reed switch which senses the passing of the magnet attatched to a spoke of the front wheel, as the wheel rotates. I just gave it a tap and it came back to life. There was very heavy rain in the morning. There were 2 quite deep river crossings with strong currents (about 14 inches). Dirt roads all day. The vegetaion is quite tropical around Zumba.
5/04/07 Zumba to the boarder with Peru (20 miles)
Down, Up, up and down to the Rio Canchis which forms the boarder between Ecuador and Peru. One oof the uphill stretches was on the limit of what is possible to cycle with a loaded touring bike. The boarder formalities went smoothly. I cycled on to the town of San Ignacio In Peru.