02/09/13 Stage 19 Yuracmarca - Caraz
Today I was
very grateful Malcolm had pushed me to carry on last night because it
made for a very manageable ride today. To be fair it was mostly in my
head. I thought we were going to stop after 1000 meters of ascent.
Instead we climbed nearly 1500 meters so the last 500 were tough.
There was very little breeze today and since we are still quite low
the temperatures soared. Again the views were spectacular with
occasionally white snow capped mountains. Diving into 43 tunnels
helped to keep the sun off our backs. I still haven't got used to the
fact that the sun is in the North at midday. It doesn't help my
already poor sense of direction. Luckily Malc is firmly in charge of
the navigating. We met two very friendly French cyclists. They had
started in Ushuaia eight and a half months ago. One of them was
carrying a complete spare wheel. I think we probably travel with less
than the minimum amount of spares and can only hope that we don't
come unstuck.
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| Malc trying to cool down with the help of a little water |
The route
remained on ripio for the first half of the ride but it was so good
to be back on a paved surface for the latter half . The walls of the
gorge became steeper and closer ( 5 meters)and the tunnels more
frequent until we popped out the other end coincident with the road
surface changing . As we'd done more yesterday it left us with less
to do today and there was almost a feeling of guilt as we arrived
early in Caraz. No there wasn't I thought it was brilliant
(Marjet)
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| View from hotel room Of course Alpamayo at nearly 6000 meters is covered in cloud |
I`m impressed stil going strong
ReplyDeleteDon't feel guilty! Arriving early means more time for wine!
ReplyDelete