PowerCycle

After a wonderful Christmas vacation with my family and friends I’m back in Ecuador. Big thanks to my Aunt Leigh Ann, Uncle Alan and cousin Zach for letting me crash at their place for 3 weeks. Their new couch was a perfect fit, the home-cooked meals were amazing and the wifi was always there when I needed it.

Getting here didn’t go very smoothly. I missed on the Copa web site that they don’t accept boxes for transport during December. I had to run over to a place that sells luggage and buy a $28 duffel bag that I’ll never use again. I’ll try to sell that before I leave.

The next problem happened after I repacked everything into the duffel bag and was tying to get my boarding pass. The lady asked me for proof that I was leaving the country since I was flying in on a one-way ticket. Of course I didn’t have proof since I’m going to be riding a bike out of the country. She ended up getting on the phone with her “manager” and getting an OK after I explained what I was doing.

The flight was smooth. Landed at 11pm and walked across the street to a hotel. I’m staying with a warmshowers.org host for the next couple nights. Not sure if I am going to stay for New Year’s. It would be nice to spend it with the family where I’m staying, especially since they have been so nice and have sooooo many computer problems to keep me busy. I’m very stir crazy from not having been on the bike for so long and would love to be back on the road.

I really need to plan out the next few months. If I started now I’d get to the bottom of Argentina on July 4th. That’s right in the middle of winter and the average high is 32 F (0 C). I’d be OK heading south until I got to northern Chile but then I’d have to stop lest I freeze to death. I kind of want to ride this new highway that runs from Peru to Brazil but getting a visa for Brazil sounds like it’s going to be a pain. What I’ll probably end up doing is hanging around in Ecuador/Bolivia for 3 months.

This afternoon I went over to a bike shop and had my new tires installed (same ones I had before–Schwalbe). After considerable effort they were able to fix my bike sandal for me. One of the screws that holds the clipless metal thing onto the bottom was stripped. 2nd time this happened. I need to unscrew them more often and grease them up. The pedals are shot but I bought some new ones in Florida so I’ll install them before I leave.

Having a blast catching up with family and friends. Almost wish I had a little more time to spend visiting everyone because I might not be back here again for a while.

Just ordered maps for Australia and New Zealand. Had to go with 1-day shipping because I forget to get a map for Bolivia which is bad because I’m planning on riding there right after Peru. That was an expensive mistake. I probably could have picked up Australia/NZ maps when I got there but it’ll be nice to have them and not have to worry about tracking them down on the road.

Yesterday a bunch of us went down to Miami Metro Zoo for the day. That place must be hurting for money because everything cost a fortune. We rented one of those bike things to ride around in for the day. That set (my Aunt) back $70. $70! To rent a bike! And we had to pedal! For $70 it should have come with a guide/driver. They even wanted $5 for access to an area that was a little closer to the rhinos.

Visiting Florida sure makes me appreciate not having to deal with the stress of actually having to live here. In the last 2 weeks I’ve seen 6 different incidents where one person was screaming at someone else. A couple nights ago my Aunt and I were in a big superstore and 2 of the employees were yelling at each other. People need to chill out.

Safe and sound in Florida. The flight from Quito was smooth although when I landed in Miami I kicked the TSA agent in the foot angering him but he didn’t say anything. Security was a big joke which annoyed me considering what passengers are subjected to when they fly out from a US-based airport. Did they forget about people flying into the US? I know they work hard to screw us over improve security once something bad actually happens but can’t they at least get the basic stuff right?

After forgetting to take my laptop out in Quito, which no one seemed to care about, I walked through the metal detector which went off like I knew it would. Expecting a pat down I was surprised when a guy walked over and just waved a handheld wand over me. That went off as it passed over my cargo pockets and again when it went over the front of my shorts by the belt buckle. Inside my pockets I had my iTouch and a short metal pen. The belt buckle was covered by my shirt so he couldn’t have known what it was. I didn’t have to lift my shirt up or open/empty my pockets. The pen could have easily have been a knife or even a gun capable of firing a .22.

In Panama City I had a 4 hour layover and had to go through a very unofficial-looking bag search/pat down before getting on the flight to Miami. This was right at the gate. The bag check was useless. They just rummaged and didn’t actually open anything. I think one of them stole my 32GB flash drive. I’ll know for sure when I get back to Quito and can see if I just left it in my bags (I didn’t). The pat down was also just for show. She must have felt the iTouch and pen but didn’t ask to see them. Her hands were so far from my crotch I could have had a trained attack dog, a couple mercenaries and an Apache gunship stuffed into my underwear.

It’s nice that those expensive new scanners making Chertoff lots of money are protecting the rest of the world from Americans but there’s a long way to go before inbound flights are secure. Quito and Panama City didn’t have full body scanners (which have been shown to be ineffective) but you’d think they would at least have to pat you down. All I learned is that I could have quite easily boarded a flight into the US with a knife and a gun without even trying. We’re screwed if someone actually put some effort into it.

All the things I ordered for my bike are here. The VDO bicycle computer is pretty sweet and I can’t wait to try it out. Having some new bike shorts will also be nice since my other ones have been sewn back up a dozen times.

I’m staying with my Aunt Leigh Ann and Uncle Alan and cousin Zach. It’s so nice seeing family again. My Aunt is the best cook so I’m starting to fatten up.

I’m here until the 27th of December and then I fly back to Quito to continue my journey down to Argentina. After that my tentative plan is to fly to Australia and do a Sydney to Darwin ride.

12/05 Big event of the day was crossing over the equator! This was kind of exciting for me if only because I wanted to see all 0′s on my GPS. Sure enough it hit N 00 00.000 right where it was supposed to. Not sure why it said N (for north). It should have been blank because I was in the middle of the world. The toilet flushes counterclockwise as expected.

The weather was perfect for a change. After leaving Cayambe the road climbed up and down and then dropped for a screaming descent into a river valley. Then life started sucking because the road climbed right back up almost 4000 feet. Those friendly Ecuadorians let me have it the whole way up. Every time traffic, of which there was a lot, got backed up behind a semi, people would cheer, honk and wave as I trudged up the hill. It was actually quite embarrassing.

It wouldn’t be a normal riding day without something breaking and today was no exception. Near the top of the last big hill my right pedal went out. It still spun but it jumps around so much I can’t stay clipped in. Looks like I’ll be doing a little more shopping in Florida.

In Quito I tracked down my warmshowers.org host’s apartment complex but he wasn’t home and I think the cell number I had for him was wrong. I shot him an email and grabbed a hotel over by the airport. He’s the awesome guy letting me store my bike with him for 3 weeks.

While I was hanging out over there I ran across the street to a bike shop to see if my pedal was fixable. It’s not. Dead at 17,120 miles. I did some rough math and that pedal has spun around 8,734,260 times since I left Florida almost 2 years ago.

The airport in Quito is insane. It sits right in the middle of the city of 1.3 million. There are neighborhoods right up against it on all sides. Can’t wait to fly out. Quito is also the second highest capital city in the world at 9,300 feet (2850m).

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