11/11 Broke a record today that I hope I don’t have to repeat any time soon. My new one day climb record is 8444 feet (2575m). After leaving Fresno it was up, up and up for the next 44 miles. A taxi driver told me there was a motel in a little town where I’d been planning to stop but by the time I got there it was getting dark, the little town was back uphill a couple miles on a different road and I was freezing to death. My shirt and shorts were wet from climbing so when I finally started heading downhill at 12,000 feet the cold wind wasn’t doing me any favors.
Shaking at a little more than I should have been I stopped at some kind of tourist info place/restaurant but the guy wouldn’t let me camp there. I rode for about 2 minutes before stopping and putting on my awesome neck gaiter and winter gloves (that seem to have shrunk a little). About 2 miles further down there was another restaurant and they were happy to let me stay there. I even made it in time for a hot meal and some coffee. Kind of excited to be camping higher up than I’ve ever camped before– 10,493 feet. Glad I still have my toasty sleeping bag because I’m sure it’ll get cold tonight.
I still hate dogs and was glad to give another one a good swift kick. Most of the dogs live in the houses that you run into every mile or so. Almost every house has a stupid dog and most have 2 (double my pleasure). There were a couple times that dogs would come running after me and the people that “own” them would just stand there. I would have liked to kick them too. Not everyone was this useless though; a few people called the dogs back which worked about 75% of the time.
Something a little suspicious happened when I was leaving Fresno and I’m not sure if it means anything. Right before the town ends there was a huge line of trucks blocking both lanes heading the same way I was going. After weaving through them I arrived at a blockade run by the military. They didn’t make an effort to stop me so I asked if I was on the right road to Manizales and kept going. For the entire day hardly a single truck passed me which made riding so much nicer. The same was true of traffic coming the other way. There was none. At some point I’m either going to run into a washed out road or some kind of armed rebellion. Not sure which I’d prefer. No one has yelled out any warnings so we’ll see. I could have stopped and asked someone but I like dealing with the unexpected.
Entries (RSS)