May 10, 2017
Maybe sitting on our asses drinking beer and wine and relaxing for 5 months wasn’t the smartest way to prepare for the Peruvian Andes.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Jesus, Cajamarca, Peru
Destination: Wild camp outside Jesus, Cajamarca, Peru
19.9 km trip, 4:22 time, 22.6 km/h maximum speed, 4.5 km/h average speed
1194 meters climbed, 53 meters descended, highest elevation 3675 meters
Route Description:
The first 10K up is poor road conditions of mud and rock and we needed to push up a lot of it. At about 11.5 up the road there was a small community where they said there was a store but we never found it. After about the 10K mark the road smooths out a bit. Then the road went back to loose rocks and the grade became much steeper. We camped at about the 20K mark. It was pretty windy so finding shelter from the wind was key.
Accommodations:
No hotels of any kind up here. Up to about the 8-9 K mark there are some flat areas to put a tent. There was even an abandoned building you could use for some wind protection.
What happened…
Andrew writes: Starting at the crack of dawn, we climbed high above Jesus, and it was hard. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m out of shape, the altitude (hard to breathe), or the road conditions…perhaps all three! Today was rough. I’m happy to be back on the road, but kind of sad that we didn’t even make it to the top of the pass today. Look at that ride time, a little over four hours; we started at 0600hrs and finished at 1700hrs! That left a lot of time huffing and puffing, wheezing and sneezing.
Very disappointed.
Amanda writes: Holy shit! My legs hurt. Okay so any friends reading this, the next time that we visit Canada please encourage me to go for a run instead of just hanging out. It will serve me far better. On the flip side the views are incredible and I just love riding my bike. While physically we haven’t prepared ourselves I’m confident that we are prepared mentally. Some of our friends struggled with altitude sickness in this region and so we are taking all measures recommended to battle the symptoms. So far they seem to be working for us. Sure the breaths are a bit harder to take and we feel like we have less energy than normal but some of that could be attributed to simply being out of shape. In any event we are staying fully hydrated, taking a small dosage of aspirin in the morning and night, eating cocoa leaves and climbing slowly. The last one might be involuntarily but so far it seems to be working. The last time we slept at this high of an elevation I had a headache and no signs of it this time.