PowerCycle

Just kidding. Although it’s been suggested that I just go ahead and buy a home here already. I have been having a great time hanging out with the other cyclists staying here and of course with Monika, who is slowly but surely being subjected to all the crazy things that make me me.

Karin and Marten left here a week ago on their way south but unfortunately Marten’s dad became ill and they had to fly back to The Netherlands. They are coming back in mid-March so I might run into them again. Hopefully everything works out OK at home for them.

My birthday was back on the 21st of this month which marked Year Two on my trip. It also marks my last year that will have a 3 in front which I find a bit depressing. I don’t feel at all like I’m pushing 4 decades (I can’t even write the number) which is good. This last year has had a few more obstacles to overcome than the first year but every little thing that happens just makes me that much better at handling the next crisis. I can’t wait to see where I end up on my birthday next year.

Did some shopping a couple days ago. Bought some new pants–the kind that zip off at the legs and turn into shorts. I’ll try not to lose the pant legs on these ones. Also bought a new black shirt since the other one was looking pretty bad. Watched my 2nd movie in 2 years at the theater. It was that movie Unstoppable. I spilled half the popcorn which was the most exciting thing that happened during the movie. OK, the movie wasn’t that bad.

Nothing else new at the Casa de Ciclistas. A few other groups of touring cyclists have come through. Meeting people from all over the world is one of my favorite things about this trip. 99% of them actually know what’s going on in the world too. The nasty little dog that peed on my sleeping back has been avoiding me which is a good move on its part. Its name is Odie but I call it Grody Odie. They gave it a bath a week ago but after 4 days it looks and smells like it just crawled out of the grave.

When I was walking by one of the other cyclists tent yesterday I heard a noise like a bird flapping up against the inside. The noise turned out to be a huge bubble forming at one end of his Thermarest (air mattress). I guess the heat inside the tent was too much and it finally just expanded the air in the mattress to the point that the seams just burst. It was pretty much ruined so he had to buy a new one. It was 5 years old–not sure if that’s good or bad for air mattress longevity.

I’ve been reading a lot about everything going on in the Middle East (and China and North Korea). Glad to see people rising up to change things instead of just sitting back and doing nothing while their rich leaders suck the country dry.

Just a quick update. I’m still in Tumbaco at the Casa de Ciclistas. No plans to leave but that bridge will have to be crossed sooner or later. The young lady responsible for making Tumbaco my new home is Monika. She’s staying here for another month so she can take part in this huge 3 day race they have in Ecuador. Unfortunately she’s riding north up to Alaska after that and I’m heading south. Such is life I suppose.

Finished up all the work on the bike this morning. Taping the handlebars with some cork tape was the last thing to do. I still want to lower the handlebars a bit because they seem too high. The problem is that any height adjustment involves cutting the fork and if I cut it too short I can’t uncut it. Kind of a stupid thing not to be able to adjust the height without having to cut things with a hacksaw but whatever. I might leave it where it is and maybe after a couple weeks I can lower if if I still don’t like it.

Good news and bad news. The good news is that my new frame is here and everything from the old bike fit quite well on it. The bad news is that I’m finding out there are much harder things to deal with on the road besides problems with the bicycle.

The thing is there are two rather amazing women that I’ve met in the last couple weeks and, well… it’s complicated (very, very complicated). I can’t ramble on about what I’m going to do but honestly I don’t know anyway so it doesn’t matter. I have every intention of continuing my trip which is no secret but the longer I stay the harder it is to leave and it’s not just my feelings I have to consider. I’m just kind of living hour by hour so we’ll see what happens.

I’m extremely happy the new frame finally arrived. The Koga rep we were dealing with put a value of $0 on the invoice but it seems that someone else there valued the frame at 450 euros when it was shipped so I had to pay customs $250 in taxes. They also shipped a new headset (Cane Creek) and fork.

The frame does look pretty sweet and I’ll post a couple pictures when the bike is finished. I still have to destroy the old frame and send Koga pictures as proof but I’m not going to do this until I take the new frame out for a test ride (in a day or so). Karin (they are still here) called Koga and asked if I could sell the old frame to recoup some of the $250 I spent but they said no (not surprised) because they have to submit pictures of the destroyed frame so they can get credit from the place in Taiwan that builds the frames for them.

Nothing else going on. Weather was crappy for a couple days but mostly it’s hot during the day and rainy/cool in the afternoons. Karin and Marten gave me an early birthday present in case I don’t see them after they leave tomorrow but I can’t open it until my actual birthday (couple weeks). That’s kind of tortuous I think.

I’m back at the Casa de Ciclistas in Tumbaco. The ride from Latacunga was along the busy PanAm highway but there was a nice shoulder which made it bearable. Stopped halfway in the city of Machachi. Stayed at a nice hotel called the Hotel Estancia Real. After Machachi it was a short 33 mile ride to get here inurrupted only by one very big hill.

Veronica from Ecuadorian customs wrote back to let me know that my frame cleared customs and was due to be delivered in a couple days. That was great news although, as I soon found out, there would of course be a problem.

FedEx showed up yesterday, the day after I arrived, to deliver the frame but the delivery guy wanted $220 for an import tax. I didn’t have the cash on me and it was kind of a shock to owe that much. After explaining everything to him he said they’d contact Koga and see about resolving the tax. Another delivery attempt would be made in a couple days. And so I waved goodbye to my frame.

Karin and I called Veronica this morning and she is going to talk to her manager about the tax. It sounds like the customs agent just wrote down a value on the frame based on whatever information he had available. Apparently it doesn’t matter that Koga put the value as $0 on the invoice and said it was for a warranty replacement (which it is). $450 was the number he came up with and the tax ($220) was calculated based on that. Not sure why the tax came out to 50% of the value though. Normally an import tax is 20-25% max. She said she’d email me and let me know what’s going on. Nothing is ever easy.