PowerCycle

06/25 Slacked off for a couple days and didn’t write anything. There just wasn’t much to comment on I suppose. Arrived today in the big city of Huancayo (pop. 323,000). The road was a mess coming into the city thanks to construction that went on for 20 miles but other than providing plenty of nourishing dust to eat it wasn’t bad. Got mobbed by a bunch of construction workers but managed to get out of there after a dozen roadside pictures.

After leaving Carhuamayo there was a nice downhill ride on a beaufiful paved road with a big fat safety lane to the mining town of La Oroya. There I ran into Justin and Nedo, two guys heading north on their way up from Ushuaia. We met up for dinner and shared road stories for a bit. It was nice to finally run into some other cyclists–it’s been a while. Besides Karin and Marten I haven’t seen anyone else riding since Quito (3 months ago). La Oroya was a surprise after passing through my last mining town (Quiruvilca). Mining activity seemed to be going on all around the town but the residents managed to carve out a nice little “normal” area where all the shops/hostels were located.

From La Oroya I thought I’d be descending down pretty far along a river valley all the way to Huancayo but that didn’t happen (I had the route info which shows elevation info–I just didn’t read it). It was downhill but very gradual which wasn’t the end of the world but the lack of scenery and slower pace made the ride a bit boring. The safety lane also disappeared which made riding a bit dangerous thanks to a steep drop-off into a gutter and a good amount of heavy truck traffic.

Last night I stayed in the town of Jauja. This place was unremarkable except for the amazing amount of road construction they had going on around the plaza. I ended up staying on the other side of town in a place that also has saunas open to the public. I skipped that however. I get stared at enough as it is.

Planning on staying here Sunday to relax and then I’m off to the highest drivable pass in the world (or so they say). It’ll be nice and high up there at 16,578 feet. That won’t be for a few days but I’m kind of excited about it.

I’m at the Hotel Roger. Nice place for S40. Wifi, hot shower and a big bed… all the comforts of home. Did some shopping and bought yet another pair of sunglasses. Managed to break pair #5 yesterday. These ones are some Oakley rip-offs called Okey’s. They are actually pretty good quality and might survive stretching around my fat head.

GPX track