PowerCycle

04/13 Looks like I can finally scratch this off my list:

- Ride the worst road known to man

Leaving Huancabamba the road wasn’t bad at all– it was dirt but nothing like what I was going to experience later in the day. The first and only town I’d be passing through all day was Sondor. Not too much going on there but the road through town was paved which was a treat. Then the climb started. This was the best part of the day. The grades were decent, the surface mostly hard packed and not nearly as much mud as before Huancabamba.

The top is where things got interesting. Actually maybe a mile before the top. The dirt became less hard packed which wasn’t so good because it rains a lot. I only got a brief shower and then it was nice again. It must pour in this area pretty regularly because when things leveled out it was a mess. The road is pothole heaven and I was constantly trying to avoid them since they were full of water and I never knew how deep they were or how steep the drop into them was (which is how I broke my front rack a few months ago). Some puddles covered the entire road and there was no way around them. Most were shallow but a few almost up to my knee. The stream, and in one case river, crossings were fun. Lots of loose rocks and fast moving water. In one case the stream had diverted onto the road and I found myself riding upstream like the mighty salmon.

It stayed level for quite a while and then it went to hell. The road was just a mess. It was either soft and wet or hard packed and rutted out with huge channels running all over the place. The surface was almost always covered in rocks. I’d rather ride down cobblestone. At least the rocks don’t move. At times it was like riding down a dry stream bed. My hands were killing me from braking pretty much all the way down.

It’s hard to say if the scenery made it worth it. The sun was out a lot and some of the areas were amazing but I couldn’t take my eyes off the road for more than couple seconds. All the pictures of mountains/valleys were on the way up. I think I like just knowing that very few, if any, cyclists have ridden this route. I’d do it again I suppose.

Big fail on trying to get my bike shorts fixed. The guy says, “No problem, I’ll have them ready the next morning…” after I’d dropped them off early in the day. At 9am I walk back over. No luck. He tells me they’ll be done that afternoon. At 4pm I head back again. Now he tells me 30 more minutes. I gave him 2 hours. This time he wasn’t there and his wife was pointing to a bottle of beer on the floor. Not sure what she was saying. I didn’t care. I told her I was leaving the next morning and couldn’t keep waiting. Back at the hotel I busted out my sewing kit and went to work. They held up for most of the day today until I caught them on my bike seat and tore them so bad they are worse than what I started with.

My bike was giving me some grief and the worst possible time. Just before this village is a hill and the chain kept sticking when I was riding up it. I had no idea what was wrong and I was too tired so I pushed the last couple hundred feet. It turns out (hopefully) that I’m just stupid. The chain was completely free of oil and I didn’t even notice. I put oil on it couple days ago but the sand and water must have dried it back up.

This village is very different. The buildings are lined up and grouped like you’d expect but there are no roads. There are a few dirt paths that serve as roads but usually it’s just grass. It’s kind of neat. I was hoping there’d be a bike shop here but it’s really a small place. They have dorm rooms at the community center so I stayed there. For $3.50 US it’s not bad at all. I have the room with 2 bunk beds to myself, there’s a shower and free wifi. Camping spots were slim for the entire day. There were hardly any areas off the road big enough to even pitch a tent.

There’s a little blurry picture of a snake below. It the only non-human thing I saw all day (besides goats/stupid dogs/donkeys).

GPX track